Economic Mobility Corps Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 884 To authorize a grant program that strengthens the capacity of community development financial institutions through alignment with national service participants. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 26, 2019 Mr. COONS (for himself and Mr. CASSIDY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To authorize a grant program that strengthens the capacity of community development financial institutions through alignment with national service participants. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Economic Mobility 4 Corps Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 6 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 7 (1) There exists a network of over 1,000 Treas- 8 ury-certified community development financial insti- 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Apr 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S884.IS S884 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 884 IS tutions located in all 50 States, the District of Co- 1 lumbia, Guam, and the Commonwealth of Puerto 2 Rico. 3 (2) Community development financial institu- 4 tions are mission-driven financial lenders that pro- 5 vide critical and responsible financial products and 6 services that benefit low-income and distressed com- 7 munities, economically disadvantaged people, and 8 community businesses. 9 (3) Community development financial institu- 10 tions need more talent and human capacity to better 11 meet the needs of the low-income and distressed 12 communities, economically disadvantaged popu- 13 lations, and community businesses that they serve. 14 (4)(A) National service programs, carried out 15 through the Corporation for National and Commu- 16 nity Service, are national, State, and local service 17 programs provided through a network that connects 18 over 70,000 Americans each year in intensive service 19 to improve lives, strengthen communities, and in- 20 spire civic engagement. 21 (B) Economic opportunity is one of the Cor- 22 poration’s focus areas for national service corps or 23 programs. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Apr 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S884.IS S884 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 884 IS (5)(A) Community development financial insti- 1 tutions and national service programs each engage 2 local residents and community partners to improve 3 community safety, health, housing, and economic op- 4 portunities, and to meet community-identified needs. 5 (B) Residents of low-income communities, espe- 6 cially youth and young adults, can be empowered 7 through their national service, and can help provide 8 future leadership for community development finan- 9 cial institutions and for the communities they serve. 10 (6) The Corporation for National and Commu- 11 nity Service has engaged in partnerships, similar to 12 the partnership created under this Act, with Federal 13 agencies such as the Department of Transportation, 14 the Department of Education, the Department of 15 Justice, and the Forest Service. 16 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are to— 17 (1) create a partnership between the Corpora- 18 tion for National and Community Service and the 19 Department of the Treasury to connect the work of 20 covered community development financial institu- 21 tions with passionate and dedicated national service 22 participants, including volunteers in the National 23 Senior Service Corps; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Apr 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S884.IS S884 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 884 IS (2) strengthen the capacity of covered commu- 1 nity development financial institutions to provide 2 services, which services may include financial coun- 3 seling, financial services, job placement, small busi- 4 ness financing, affordable rental housing financing, 5 commercial facility financing, community facility fi- 6 nancing, single family home financing, and fore- 7 closure prevention services; 8 (3) expand the direct services provided by cov- 9 ered community development financial institutions; 10 and 11 (4) deploy national service participants, includ- 12 ing volunteers in the National Senior Service Corps, 13 in impactful national service that aligns with objec- 14 tives in the Corporation’s economic opportunity 15 focus area. 16 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 17 In this Act: 18 (1) CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER.—The term 19 ‘‘Chief Executive Officer’’ means the Chief Executive 20 Officer of the Corporation for National and Commu- 21 nity Service appointed under section 193 of the Na- 22 tional and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 23 U.S.C. 12651c). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Apr 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S884.IS S884 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 884 IS (2) COVERED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FI- 1 NANCIAL INSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘covered commu- 2 nity development financial institution’’ means any 3 nonprofit entity that meets the definition of a com- 4 munity development financial institution in section 5 103 of the Community Development Banking and 6 Financial Institutions Act of 1994 (12 U.S.C. 4702) 7 and is certified as a community development finan- 8 cial institution by the Department of the Treasury. 9 (3) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti- 10 ty’’ means— 11 (A) a covered community development fi- 12 nancial institution with an approved application 13 under section 5; or 14 (B) an organization, with an approved ap- 15 plication under section 5, that places partici- 16 pants with covered community development fi- 17 nancial institutions and provides technical man- 18 agement to those institutions. 19 (4) PARTICIPANT.— 20 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘participant’’ 21 means an individual in an approved national 22 service position. 23 (B) RULE.—A participant shall not be 24 considered to be an employee of an eligible enti- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Apr 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S884.IS S884 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 884 IS ty or a covered community development finan- 1 cial institution receiving assistance under this 2 Act. 3 (5) PLACEMENT SITE.—The term ‘‘placement 4 site’’ means the location of the covered community 5 development financial institution at which a partici- 6 pant shall be placed for service. 7 (6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 8 the Secretary of the Treasury. 9 SEC. 4. INTERAGENCY AGREEMENT FOR THE ECONOMIC 10 MOBILITY CORPS ACT OF 2018. 11 (a) INTERAGENCY AGREEMENT.— 12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Chief Executive Officer 13 shall enter into an interagency agreement under sec- 14 tion 121(b)(6) of the National and Community Serv- 15 ice Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12571(b)(6)) with the 16 Secretary that is similar to an interagency agree- 17 ment described in section 121(b)(1) of such Act (42 18 U.S.C. 12571(b)(1)), regarding the grant program 19 described in section 5, except that funds appro- 20 priated under this Act may be used as if appro- 21 priated for the purposes for which funds may be 22 provided through grants under section 121(a) of the 23 National and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 24 U.S.C. 12571(a)). Except as otherwise provided in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Apr 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S884.IS S884 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 884 IS this Act, the provisions of the National and Commu- 1 nity Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12501 et seq.), 2 other than paragraphs (1) through (5) of section 3 121(b) of that Act (42 U.S.C. 12571(b)), that apply 4 to a national service program supported under that 5 section 121(b) shall apply to the grant program de- 6 scribed in section 5. 7 (2) AMENDMENT TO THE NCSA.—Section 8 121(b) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 12571(b)) is amend- 9 ed by adding at the end the following: 10 ‘‘(6) COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FINANCIAL IN- 11 STITUTION GRANT INTERAGENCY AGREEMENT.— 12 Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the Corporation 13 shall enter into an interagency agreement similar to 14 an interagency agreement described in paragraph 15 (1) with the Secretary of the Treasury under this 16 subsection regarding the community development fi- 17 nancial institution grant program described in sec- 18 tion 5 of the Economic Mobility Corps Act of 19 2019.’’. 20 (b) APPROVED NATIONAL SERVICE POSITIONS.— 21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Chief Executive Officer 22 shall approve positions for Economic Mobility Corps 23 projects as approved national service positions in ac- 24 cordance with subtitle C of title I of the National 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Apr 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S884.IS S884 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 884 IS and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 1 12571 et seq.). 2 (2) DISTRIBUTION OF ASSISTANCE AND AP- 3 PROVED POSITIONS UNAFFECTED.—Nothing in this 4 Act shall be construed to affect the distribution of 5 assistance or approved national service positions 6 under section 129 of the National and Community 7 Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12581). Funds ap- 8 propriated under section 8 shall be used for the 9 costs associated with that assistance or those posi- 10 tions, for the program carried out under section 5. 11 (c) TREATMENT OF FUNDS APPROPRIATED.— 12 (1) NATIONAL SERVICE TRUST.—For purposes 13 of subsection (a)(1) and (b) of section 145 of the 14 National and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 15 U.S.C. 12601(a)(1)), a portion of the funds appro- 16 priated under this Act, as determined by the Chief 17 Executive Officer based on the number of partici- 18 pants selected for Economic Mobility Corps projects, 19 shall be treated, respectively, as funds appropriated 20 to the Corporation and made available to carry out 21 subtitle D of title I of the National and Community 22 Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12601 et seq.) and 23 as funds appropriated to the Trust established under 24 such section. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Apr 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S884.IS S884 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 884 IS (2) AUDITS.—For purposes of section 149(c) of 1 the National and Community Service Act of 1990 2 (42 U.S.C. 12606(c)), funds appropriated under this 3 Act shall be treated as appropriated funds for ap- 4 proved national service positions. 5 SEC. 5. ECONOMIC MOBILITY CORPS GRANT PROGRAM. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Chief Executive Officer, in 7 consultation with the Secretary, shall award grants, on a 8 competitive basis, to eligible entities to enable such eligible 9 entities to place participants at placement sites for the 10 purpose of engaging them in Economic Mobility Corps 11 projects. 12 (b) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a grant 13 under this Act, an entity shall submit an application re- 14 garding an Economic Mobility Corps project to the Chief 15 Executive Officer at such time, in such manner, and con- 16 taining such information, as the Chief Executive Officer 17 may require, including— 18 (1) a description of the long-term goals and ob- 19 jectives for the project involved and the benchmarks 20 that the eligible entity will use to determine whether 21 to place participants with a covered community de- 22 velopment financial institution and to evaluate the 23 performance of the covered community development 24 financial institution in carrying out the project; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Apr 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S884.IS S884 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •S 884 IS (2) the number of participants intended to be 1 placed with the covered community development fi- 2 nancial institution, in accordance with thresholds set 3 by the Chief Executive Officer, with respect to both 4 the minimum and maximum numbers of participants 5 that can be placed with a covered community devel- 6 opment financial institution, including such an insti- 7 tution that is an eligible entity. 8 (c) PRIORITY.—In making grants under this Act, the 9 Chief Executive Officer, in consultation with the Sec- 10 retary, shall give preferential consideration to entities pro- 11 posing to serve rural communities or veterans. 12 (d) USE OF FUNDS.— 13 (1) ORIENTATION AND RECRUITMENT.—An eli- 14 gible entity that receives a grant under this section 15 shall use the funds made available through the 16 grant— 17 (A) to develop a training orientation, in 18 which each selected participant will take part; 19 and 20 (B) to identify and encourage individuals, 21 including those who are residents in the com- 22 munity to be served or otherwise reflect the de- 23 mographics of the community, to serve as par- 24 ticipants in community investment, including 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Apr 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S884.IS S884 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •S 884 IS the activities described in paragraph (3), in the 1 projects. 2 (2) ASSISTANCE.—An eligible entity that re- 3 ceives a grant under this section for an Economic 4 Mobility Corps project shall use the grant funds to 5 provide assistance, consistent with subtitle C of title 6 I of the National and Community Service Act of 7 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12571 et seq.), for the project, in- 8 cluding assistance for participants selected for the 9 project in carrying out the activities described in 10 paragraph (3). 11 (3) ACTIVITIES.—In carrying out those activi- 12 ties, each selected participant shall— 13 (A) strengthen the capacity of, and expand 14 the direct services provided by, the covered 15 community development financial institution, 16 which services may include financial counseling, 17 financial services, job placement, small business 18 financing, affordable rental housing financing, 19 commercial facility financing, community facil- 20 ity financing, single family home financing, and 21 foreclosure prevention services; and 22 (B) provide such direct services. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Apr 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S884.IS S884 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •S 884 IS SEC. 6. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—As a condition on receipt of any 2 funds for a project under this Act, each eligible entity shall 3 agree to prepare and submit a report at such time, in such 4 manner, and containing such information as the Chief Ex- 5 ecutive Officer, in consultation with the Secretary, may 6 require. 7 (b) CONTENT.—In preparing the report the eligible 8 entity shall, at a minimum— 9 (1) collect and present data on [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]