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This bill would update a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant program that supports new ideas and economic growth in rural areas. It focuses more on job training, career pathways, and partnerships between schools, workforce groups, and local employers. The goal is to help rural communities build skills, fill job shortages, and grow industries that are important to the area. It would also extend the program through 2030 and require more reporting on results, such as jobs and earnings for people who take part.
- It expands who can take part in the program, including colleges, career and technical schools, and local workforce boards.
- It adds support for career pathway programs and industry partnerships that help people train for jobs in rural communities.
- It specifically highlights industries such as broadband and telecommunications, water and wastewater services, energy, health care, child care, manufacturing, and agribusiness.
- It requires grantees to report more information about training results, including how many people earned skills or credentials and how participants did in jobs and wages.
Official Summaries
Creating Access to Rural Employment and Education for Resilience and Success Act or the CAREERS Act
This bill reauthorizes the Rural Innovation Stronger Economy (RISE) Grant Program and expands the program to include support for career pathway programs or industry or sector partnerships in industries in rural communities.
As background, this Department of Agriculture (USDA) program offers grant assistance to create and augment high-wage jobs, accelerate the formation of new businesses, support industry clusters, and maximize the use of local productive assets in eligible low-income rural areas.
Under the bill, RISE grant program funds may be used to support career pathway programs (i.e., a combination of rigorous and high-quality education, training, and other services) or industry or sector partnerships in industries in rural communities. These industries may include public utilities (i.e., telecommunications, broadband, water, wastewater, disposal, and electric supply services), conservation practices and management, health care, child care, manufacturing, and agribusiness.
The bill removes the current requirement that the program provide grants (to the maximum extent practicable) for job accelerators in at least 25 states. Instead, USDA must ensure the regional diversity of grant recipients or participants in providing for job accelerators, career pathway programs, and industry or sector partnerships.
The bill also includes additional reporting requirements for career pathway programs and industry or sector partnership grant recipients.
Current Full Text
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 291 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 291
To amend the Rural Innovation Stronger Economy Grant Program of the
Department of Agriculture.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 9, 2025
Mr. Langworthy (for himself and Ms. Tokuda) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Rural Innovation Stronger Economy Grant Program of the
Department of Agriculture.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Creating Access to Rural Employment
and Education for Resilience and Success Act'' or the ``CAREERS Act''.
SEC. 2. WORKFORCE TRAINING PROGRAMS.
(a) In General.--Section 379I of the Consolidated Farm and Rural
Development Act (7 U.S.C. 2008w) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a)--
(A) in paragraph (1)(A)--
(i) in clause (iii)--
(I) by striking subclause (I) and
inserting the following:
``(I) an institution of higher
education (as defined in section 101,
and subparagraphs (A) and (B) of
section 102(a)(1), of the Higher
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001,
1002(a)(1)));'';
(II) by redesignating subclauses
(II) and (III) as subclauses (III) and
(IV), respectively, and inserting after
subclause (I) the following:
``(II) an area career and technical
education school (as defined in section
3 of the Carl D. Perkins Career and
Technical Education Act of 2006 (20
U.S.C. 2302);''; and
(III) in subclause (IV) (as so
redesignated by subclause (II) of this
clause), by striking ``and'';
(ii) in clause (iv)--
(I) by striking subclause (IV) and
inserting the following:
``(IV) an institution of higher
education (as defined in section 101,
and subparagraphs (A) and (B) of
section 102(a)(1), of the Higher
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001,
1002(a)(1)));''; and
(II) by redesignating subclause (V)
as subclause (VI) and inserting after
subclause (IV) the following:
``(V) an area career and technical
education school (as defined in section
3 of the Carl D. Perkins Career and
Technical Education Act of 2006 (20
U.S.C. 2302); or''; and
(iii) by adding at the end the following:
``(v) in the case of a career pathway
program, includes 1 or more member of the local
workforce development board established under
section 107 of the Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act and serving the region to
ensure such program is integrated with the
activities carried out by the local workforce
development board; and''; and
(B) by adding at the end the following:
``(6) Career pathway.--The term `career pathway' has the
meaning given the term in section 3 of the Workforce Innovation
and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3102).
``(7) Industry or sector partnership.--The term `industry
or sector partnership' has the meaning given the term in
section 3 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29
U.S.C. 3102).'';
(2) in subsection (b)--
(A) in paragraph (1)--
(i) in the matter preceding subparagraph
(A), by inserting ``carry out career pathway
programs or industry or sector partnerships
aligned with industry sectors in rural
communities'' before the 3rd comma;
(ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking
``and'' at the end;
(iii) in subparagraph (B), by striking the
period and inserting a semicolon; and
(iv) by adding at the end the following:
``(C) address workforce challenges faced by
specific industry sectors in rural communities; and
``(D) promote targeted skills development
initiatives to stimulate innovation and enhance
economic development in rural regions.'';
(B) in paragraph (3)--
(i) in subparagraph (A)--
(I) in clause (i), by inserting
``career pathway program, or industry
or sector partnerships'' before the
semicolon; and
(II) in clause (ii)--
(aa) by inserting ``career
pathway program, or industry or
sector partnerships'' before
``to provide''; and
(bb) by inserting
``leadership development,''
before ``customized'';
(ii) in subparagraph (E), by striking
``and'' at the end;
(iii) in subparagraph (F), by striking the
period and inserting ``; and''; and
(iv) by adding at the end the following:
``(G) the ability of the eligible entity to carry
out activities to address the issues of worker
displacement, an aging workforce, and youth
migration.''; and
(C) by striking paragraph (5) and inserting the
following;
``(5) Geographic distribution.--The Secretary shall ensure
regional diversity of recipients of grants or participants in
providing grants under paragraph (1) for jobs accelerators,
career pathway programs, industry or sector partnerships, and
related programming.'';
(3) in subsection (d)(1)--
(A) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period and
inserting ``; or''; and
(B) by adding at the end the following:
``(C) to support career pathway programs or
industry or sector partnerships to be carried out in
industries in rural communities, including--
``(i) telecommunications or broadband
services;
``(ii) water, waste water, and disposal
services;
``(iii) electric supply services;
``(iv) conservation practices and
management;
``(v) health care;
``(vi) child care;
``(vii) manufacturing;
``(viii) agribusiness related to
production, processing, and distribution; and
``(ix) any other sectors that are
identified by the local workforce development
board serving the region to be an in-demand
industry sector or occupation, as defined in
section 3 of the Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act.'';
(4) in subsection (e)--
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``and'' at the
end;
(B) in paragraph (2)(B)--
(i) in clause (xvii), by striking ``or'' at
the end; and
(ii) by redesignating clause (xviii) as
clause (xix) and inserting after clause (xvii)
the following:
``(xviii) the number of individuals who
have completed skills development, recognized
postsecondary credentials, or gained
specialized education through career pathways
programs or industry or sector partnership;
or''; and
(iii) in clause (xix) (as so redesignated
by clause (ii) of this subparagraph), by
striking the period and inserting ``; and'';
and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(3) in the case of a career pathway program or industry
or sector partnership, report to the Secretary the employment
and earnings outcomes for individuals who participate in the
program on the indicators described in subclauses (I) through
(III) of section 116(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Workforce Innovation
and Opportunity Act.''; and
(5) in subsection (f), by striking ``2019 through 2023''
and inserting ``2025 through 2030''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall
take effect on such date as the Secretary of Agriculture shall
determine, which shall be not later than 1 year after the date of the
enactment of this Act.
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