Section 16.22. National and community service.

 

(1)   Definitions. In this section:

(a) “Board" means the national and community service board.

(b) “Corporation" means the corporation for national and community service created under 42 USC 12651 .

(c) “National service program" means a program that addresses unmet human, educational, environmental or public safety needs and that receives financial assistance from the corporation or the board.

(dm) “Youth corps program" means a full-time, year-round national service program or a full-time, summer national service program that does all of the following:

1. Undertakes meaningful service projects with visible public benefits, including natural resources, urban renovation and human resources projects.

2. Includes as participants persons who have attained the age of 16 years but who have not attained the age of 26 years, including youths who are not enrolled in school and other disadvantaged youths.

3. Provides those participants with crew-based, highly structured and adult-supervised work experience, life skills training, education, career guidance and counseling, employment training and support services and with the opportunity to develop citizenship values and skills through service to their community and country.

(2)   Duties of the board. The board shall do all of the following:

(a) Prepare and update annually, through an open and public participation process, a plan for the provision of national service programs in this state that covers a 3-year period, that ensures outreach to diverse community-based organizations serving underrepresented populations and that contains such information as the corporation may require.

(b) Prepare applications for financial assistance from the corporation.

(c) Prepare applications for approval by the corporation of national service program positions that are eligible for national service educational awards under 42 USC 12601 and 12604 .

(d) Make recommendations to the corporation concerning priorities for programs receiving federal domestic volunteer services assistance under 42 USC 4950 to 5091n .

(e) Provide technical assistance to persons applying for financial assistance from the corporation to enable those persons to plan and implement national service programs.

(f) Assist in providing health care and child care for participants in national service programs.

(g) Provide a system for the recruitment and placement of participants in national service programs and disseminate information to the public concerning national service programs and positions in national service programs.

(h) From the appropriations under s. 20.505 (4) (j) and (p) , award grants to persons providing national service programs, giving priority to the greatest extent practicable to persons providing youth corps programs.

(i) Provide oversight and evaluation of the national service programs funded under par. (h) .

(j) On request, provide projects, training methods, curriculum materials and other technical assistance to persons providing national service programs.

(k) Coordinate its activities with the activities of the corporation and any state agency that administers federal financial assistance under 42 USC 9901 to 9912 or any other federal financial assistance program with which coordination would be appropriate.

(L) Perform such other duties as may be required by the corporation.

(3)   Delegation of duties. The board may not directly provide a national service program. Subject to any limitations that the corporation may prescribe, the board may delegate any of the duties specified in sub. (2) , other than policy-making duties, to another state agency, a public agency or a nonprofit organization.

(4)   State funding. The department shall annually determine the amount of funding for administrative support of the board that is required for this state to qualify for federal financial assistance to be provided to the board. The department shall apportion that amount equally among the departments of administration, health services, public instruction, and workforce development and shall assess those entities for the necessary funding. The department shall credit the moneys received to the appropriation account under s. 20.505 (4) (kb) .

1993 a. 437 , 491 ; 1995 a. 225 ; 1997 a. 237 ; 2007 a. 20 ss. 77 , 9121 (6) (a) ; 2007 a. 97 .