HR2506-119

What This Bill Does

The AID Youth Employment Act adds a new Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act subtitle for youth employment opportunities. It defines eligible youth as ages 14 to 24 who are in school, out of school, or unemployed, and gives special attention to marginalized youth who are homeless, in foster care, justice-involved, disconnected from education, or from communities affected by discrimination, poverty, violence, civil unrest, or overdose mortality. The Labor Secretary may make up to $1.8 billion available for subsidized summer employment and up to $2.4 billion for subsidized year-round employment, while the authorization section provides $375 million per year for summer grants and $500 million per year for year-round grants from fiscal years 2026 through 2030. Planning grants may be up to $250,000 for one year; implementation grants may be up to $6 million for three years. Eligible governments, tribes, tribal organizations, and community organizations must partner with schools, workforce boards, juvenile justice agencies, child welfare agencies, employers, and supportive service providers. The bill requires wage standards, mentorship, support services, rural and tribal set-asides, evaluations, performance measures, and continuous quality improvement.

Who Benefits and How

Youth ages 14 to 24 benefit from subsidized summer and year-round jobs, wages, mentorship, work-readiness training, and connections to education or employment. Marginalized youth benefit because grant applications and priorities emphasize youth experiencing homelessness, foster care, justice involvement, school disconnection, trauma, poverty, violence, or overdose exposure. State, local, tribal, and community-based organizations benefit from planning grants up to $250,000 and implementation grants up to $6 million. Employers benefit from subsidized wages and supervisor supports for hiring young workers in public, private, nonprofit, and tribal settings.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Department of Labor must run competitive grants, reserve technical assistance, set performance measures, review grantees, and administer evaluation systems. Grantees must build required partnerships, document need, provide support services, meet wage standards, track outcomes, and supply non-program shares for implementation grants. Federal taxpayers bear authorized spending of $875 million per year from fiscal years 2026 through 2030, plus any larger allocations made available under the new subtitle. Employers supervising youth participants must provide coaching, mentoring, structured learning, and performance feedback.

Key Provisions

• Authorizes $375 million annually for summer youth employment grants and $500 million annually for year-round youth employment grants for fiscal years 2026 through 2030.
• Creates planning grants up to $250,000 and implementation grants up to $6 million for eligible state, local, tribal, and community-based entities.
• Requires partnerships with education, workforce, juvenile justice, child welfare, counseling, employer, housing, tribal, and supportive-service entities.
• Requires performance measures, annual reviews, continuous quality improvement, rural and tribal funding minimums, mentorship, support services, and wage standards.