Sponsors (34)
The bill substantially expands and funds youth workforce-readiness programs, improving employer alignment, program quality, and supports for many young people, but it increases federal spending and administrative burdens and tends to favor larger providers and employer-driven, short-term credentialing—risking exclusion of small/local programs and some broader educational or equity goals.
Children, teens, and young adults will gain substantially expanded access to supervised out-of-school and multi-year workforce-readiness programs, internships, apprenticeships, and skill-building activities tied to career pathways.
Local employers, industry partnerships, and Job Corps representatives will be engaged to shape training and credential pathways, improving alignment between what youth learn and local labor-market needs and creating more direct pipelines to jobs.
Federal grant funding and national-level awards (including the bill's authorization of roughly $100 million per year) will enable scaling of programs and expand delivery capacity across states and communities.
Local workforce boards, schools, nonprofits, and providers will face substantial new administrative, reporting, and coordination burdens to form councils, meet partnership/data requirements, document evidence-based practices, and align performance measures.
Competitive grant design and a funding preference for large, national organizations (and requirements for statewide presence) will likely exclude smaller, regional, or rural community providers, reducing local control and program diversity.
Taxpayers face an ongoing federal cost (authorized ~$100 million per year) that could increase deficits or crowd out other priorities, and the bill's funding language lacks detailed allocation or oversight rules.
Based on analysis of 10 sections of legislative text.
Requires youth councils on local workforce boards and funds national grants for out-of-school workforce readiness programs serving youth (focus on ages 15+).
Introduced April 14, 2025 by Josh Harder · Last progress April 14, 2025
Creates a new youth council requirement for local workforce boards and establishes a competitive national grant program to fund out-of-school workforce readiness programs for young people. The bill sets membership and duties for local youth councils, requires states and local plans to account for council recommendations, funds multi-year grants to national youth-serving organizations to run programs through community-based organizations and cross-sector partnerships, sets program and performance requirements, and authorizes $100 million per year for FY2026–FY2030.