Employment and Training Administration May 8, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Employment and Training Administration (ETA), announces the availability of approximately $3 million in grant funds to create a blueprint to build systems of multiple education pathways. Grants will be awarded through a competitive process and will support small cities (population 70,000-350,000) in the development of a multiple education pathway blueprint which will serve as the city's plan to support youth who are at risk of dropping out of school and youth who have already dropped out of school. ETA is targeting cities of this size in order for the blueprints to have maximum impact on the community's dropout challenges. ETA will fund grants to approximately 10 cities to create blueprints for building multiple education pathways that encompass various alternative education models and strategies. These blueprints will be used to build educational ecosystems that bring together all the educational assets in a community and leverage them to support multiple education pathways that move students to post- secondary education and career pathways and integrate education strategies that may cut across multiple schools and community colleges. It is not the intent for these grants to fund programs and/or slots in educational programs but rather to be used as a catalyst to bring together community partners to assess and address the challenge of serving youth who are at risk of dropping out and youth who have dropped out of school. These blueprints must be integrated with the city's broader education strategic plan and connected to regional talent and economic development strategies. The blueprints should identify a wide range of innovative and academically rigorous learning environments that address the needs of youth who are at risk of dropping out of school and youth who have dropped out of school. The blueprint will serve as the city's strategic plan for developing and benchmarking progress toward creating a multiple education pathway system. This solicitation provides background information and describes the application submission requirements, outlines the process that eligible entities must use to apply for funds covered by this solicitation, and outlines the evaluation criteria used as a basis for selecting grantees.