Excerpts from a Congressional Research Service on “Disconnected Youth: A Look at 16 to 24 Year Olds Who Are Not Working or In School” (October, 2015 p.7)
Congress has taken interest in, and enacted, policies that can assist youth who are not working or
in school. Legislation was first introduced in the 110th Congress that specifically mentioned
disconnected youth. Since that time, notable legislation in this area has included the following:
Performance Partnership Pilots (P3): The FY2014 appropriations law (P.L. 113-
76) and FY2015 appropriations law (P.L. 113-235) provided authority for the
Departments of Education, Labor, and Health and Human Services (along with
the Corporation for National and Community Service and related agencies) to
carry out up to 10 Performance Partnership Pilot projects.
Such projects must include services to assist youth ages 14 to 24 (who are homeless, in foster care,
involved in the juvenile justice system, or are neither employed nor enrolled in an
educational institution) in achieving educational, employment, and other goals.
Federal agencies may use discretionary funding to carry out pilots that involve
federal education, training, employment, or related social services programs
targeted to disconnected youth, or are designed to prevent youth from becoming
disconnected.
The law enables the applicable federal agencies to enter into agreements with
states, regions, localities, or tribal communities that give them flexibility in using
discretionary funds across these programs. The pilots must identify the
populations to be served, outcomes to be achieved, and methodology for
measuring outcomes, among other items. Federal agencies that participate must
ensure that their participation does not result in restricting eligibility of any
individual for any of the services funded by the agency or will not otherwise
adversely affect vulnerable populations that receive such services under the pilot.
The law also specifies that federal agencies that use discretionary funds may seek
to waive certain program requirements necessary for achieving the outcomes of
the pilots, provided that the agencies provide written notice to Congress (and
with limitations on waivers related to non-discrimination, wage and labor
standards, and allocation of funds to states or other jurisdictions).9