Round 5 Details
Gain Flexibility from Federal Requirements to Improve Services for Disconnected Youth
Performance Partnership Pilots for Disconnected Youth (P3) Offer Waivers and the Opportunity to Blend Grant Funds
Performance Partnership Pilots for Disconnected Youth (P3) offer local, state, and Tribal governments flexibility to innovate to improve the outcomes of some of the nation’s most disadvantaged youth. On behalf of itself and five other federal agencies, the U.S. Department of Education published a notice inviting applications for P3 pilots in the Federal Register on June 24, 2021 at: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/06/24/2021-13382/applications-for-selection-as-a-performance-partnership-pilot-performance-partnership-pilots-for
Both Regulatory and Statutory Requirements Can Be Waived
P3 enables state, local, or Tribal government entities to obtain waivers of statutory or regulatory requirements that impede innovation and effective service delivery to disconnected youth. It also gives them the ability to blend dollars from multiple federal funding streams to provide more comprehensive, holistic services for youth without having to allocate costs among the contributing programs and separately track and report on each source of funding. The flexibilities afforded by P3 can help states, local governments, and Tribes address the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on disconnected youth. For example, in programs that limit services to youth of certain ages or that have time limits on participation, P3 can be used to extend the duration of an individual’s participation in a program as part of a larger strategy to compensate for the time and learning that youth lost to the pandemic. Examples of possible waivers are included in the Federal Register notice, and a list of waivers that have been previously granted for prior P3 pilots is located on the Youth.gov website.
P3 Includes Youth-Serving Programs across the Federal Government
P3 pilots must include at least two federal programs that target disconnected youth, or that are designed to prevent youth from disconnecting, and that provide education, training, employment, and other related social services. Disconnected youth are defined as “individuals between the ages of 14 and 24 who are low-income and either homeless, in foster care, involved in the juvenile justice system, unemployed, or not enrolled in or at risk of dropping out of an educational institution.” P3 programs can include formula and competitive youth-serving programs administered by the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Labor, the Corporation for National and Community Service, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the Office of Justice Programs in the U.S. Department of Justice with Fiscal Year 2021 funding. Entitlement programs such as Medicaid cannot be included in a P3 pilot.
Technical Assistance is Available
The federal agencies are offering technical assistance to help interested prospective applicants identify impediments to effective and integrated service delivery for disconnected youth and flexibilities that can address these barriers through P3 and to develop an application submission for a P3 pilot. To request technical assistance, please email DisconnectedYouth@ed.gov with the subject line “Request for Technical Assistance.”
Applications are Due August 23, 2021
Federal agencies will select up to 10 pilots for Fiscal Year 2021. Applications are due August 23, 2021. For more information about ho to apply and application requirements, please consult the Federal Register notice at the link above. For more information, please contact DisconnectedYouth@ed.gov by email or call Corinne Sauri at (202) 245-6412 or Braden Goetz at (202) 245-7405.