Sponsors (3)
The bill expands and stabilizes funded summer employment, training, and wrap-around supports for young people and builds strong evaluation and technical-assistance infrastructure—trading off higher federal spending, heavier administrative and evaluation requirements, and a competitive evidence focus that may favor established providers over smaller or newer local organizations.
Young people (students and young adults), especially in high-unemployment or high-crime areas, receive paid summer work combined with training, mentoring, mental-health/substance-use supports, and credentialing, improving short- and long-term employment, education, and safety outcomes.
State and local agencies and program providers get a steady federal funding stream (authorized amounts rising over five years), enabling multi-year planning and more stable summer employment programming for young people.
The bill requires independent impact evaluations, annual performance measurement, and a public database of results, increasing transparency and enabling taxpayers and practitioners to see which programs work and why.
Taxpayers face increased federal spending (authorized amounts totaling roughly $1.1 billion over five years and additional grant authorizations), which could increase budgetary pressure or require offsets.
Grantees—especially small, new, or resource-constrained local providers—will face substantial administrative, data-collection, and evaluation burdens that can divert funds from direct services and limit participation.
The emphasis on evaluated, evidence-based, and higher-quality programs (and competitive grant processes) favors established providers and programs with prior evaluations, concentrating funding and making it harder for new or smaller community organizations to win grants.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes federal grants (about $200M–$240M FY2026–FY2030) to expand summer youth employment programs, set program standards, fund innovation and evaluations, and create an advisory board.
Creates a federally funded summer youth employment initiative that provides competitive grants to expand or create summer jobs and related supports for youth and young adults. It authorizes $200 million in FY2026, rising to $240 million in FY2030, and divides funds between direct program grants, innovation grants, program evaluation, and an advisory board to set priorities and provide technical assistance. Grants must support at least four weeks of subsidized work for participants under 25, pay at least applicable minimum wage, include outreach and equity strategies, employer matching and technical assistance, coaching/mentoring, and post-program supports. The law also requires annual performance measures, independent multi-year impact evaluations using administrative data and surveys, and creates an advisory board to help run and assess the program and approve innovative elements.
Introduced February 18, 2025 by Mikie Sherrill · Last progress February 18, 2025