Economic Mobility Corps Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3845 To authorize a grant program that strengthens the capacity of community development financial institutions through alignment with national service participants. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 18, 2019 Mr. KILMER (for himself, Mr. MOOLENAAR, Mr. MCADAMS, Mr. STIVERS, Miss RICE of New York, Ms. PORTER, Mr. HIMES, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Mr. PERLMUTTER, and Mrs. MURPHY) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:30 Aug 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3845.IH H3845 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 3845 IH (1) There exists a network of over 1,000 Treas- 1 ury-certified community development financial insti- 2 tutions located in all 50 States, the District of Co- 3 lumbia, Guam, and the Commonwealth of Puerto 4 Rico. 5 (2) Community development financial institu- 6 tions are mission-driven financial lenders that pro- 7 vide critical and responsible financial products and 8 services that benefit low-income and distressed com- 9 munities, economically disadvantaged people, and 10 community businesses. 11 (3) Community development financial institu- 12 tions need more talent and human capacity to better 13 meet the needs of the low-income and distressed 14 communities, economically disadvantaged popula- 15 tions, and community businesses that they serve. 16 (4)(A) National service programs, carried out 17 through the Corporation for National and Commu- 18 nity Service, are national, State, and local service 19 programs provided through a network that connects 20 over 70,000 Americans each year in intensive service 21 to improve lives, strengthen communities, and in- 22 spire civic engagement. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:30 Aug 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3845.IH H3845 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 3845 IH (B) Economic opportunity is one of the Cor- 1 poration’s focus areas for national service corps or 2 programs. 3 (5)(A) Community development financial insti- 4 tutions and national service programs each engage 5 local residents and community partners to improve 6 community safety, health, housing, and economic op- 7 portunities, and to meet community-identified needs. 8 (B) Residents of low-income communities, espe- 9 cially youth and young adults, can be empowered 10 through their national service, and can help provide 11 future leadership for community development finan- 12 cial institutions and for the communities they serve. 13 (6) The Corporation for National and Commu- 14 nity Service has engaged in partnerships, similar to 15 the partnership created under this Act, with Federal 16 agencies such as the Department of Transportation, 17 the Department of Education, the Department of 18 Justice, and the Forest Service. 19 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are to— 20 (1) create a partnership between the Corpora- 21 tion for National and Community Service and the 22 Department of the Treasury to connect the work of 23 covered community development financial institu- 24 tions with passionate and dedicated national service 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:30 Aug 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3845.IH H3845 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 3845 IH participants, including volunteers in the National 1 Senior Service Corps; 2 (2) strengthen the capacity of covered commu- 3 nity development financial institutions to provide 4 services, which services may include financial coun- 5 seling, financial services, job placement, small busi- 6 ness financing, affordable rental housing financing, 7 commercial facility financing, community facility fi- 8 nancing, single family home financing, and fore- 9 closure prevention services; 10 (3) expand the direct services provided by cov- 11 ered community development financial institutions; 12 and 13 (4) deploy national service participants, includ- 14 ing volunteers in the National Senior Service Corps, 15 in impactful national service that aligns with objec- 16 tives in the Corporation’s economic opportunity 17 focus area. 18 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 19 In this Act: 20 (1) CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER.—The term 21 ‘‘Chief Executive Officer’’ means the Chief Executive 22 Officer of the Corporation for National and Commu- 23 nity Service appointed under section 193 of the Na- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:30 Aug 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3845.IH H3845 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 3845 IH tional and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 1 U.S.C. 12651c). 2 (2) COVERED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FI- 3 NANCIAL INSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘covered commu- 4 nity development financial institution’’ means any 5 nonprofit entity that meets the definition of a com- 6 munity development financial institution in section 7 103 of the Community Development Banking and 8 Financial Institutions Act of 1994 (12 U.S.C. 4702) 9 and is certified as a community development finan- 10 cial institution by the Department of the Treasury. 11 (3) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti- 12 ty’’ means— 13 (A) a covered community development fi- 14 nancial institution with an approved application 15 under section 5; or 16 (B) an organization, with an approved ap- 17 plication under section 5, that places partici- 18 pants with covered community development fi- 19 nancial institutions and provides technical man- 20 agement to those institutions. 21 (4) PARTICIPANT.— 22 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘participant’’ 23 means an individual in an approved national 24 service position. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:30 Aug 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3845.IH H3845 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 3845 IH (B) RULE.—A participant shall not be 1 considered to be an employee of an eligible enti- 2 ty or a covered community development finan- 3 cial institution receiving assistance under this 4 Act. 5 (5) PLACEMENT SITE.—The term ‘‘placement 6 site’’ means the location of the covered community 7 development financial institution at which a partici- 8 pant shall be placed for service. 9 (6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 10 the Secretary of the Treasury. 11 SEC. 4. INTERAGENCY AGREEMENT FOR THE ECONOMIC 12 MOBILITY CORPS ACT OF 2019. 13 (a) INTERAGENCY AGREEMENT.— 14 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Chief Executive Officer 15 shall enter into an interagency agreement under sec- 16 tion 121(b)(6) of the National and Community Serv- 17 ice Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12571(b)(6)) with the 18 Secretary that is similar to an interagency agree- 19 ment described in section 121(b)(1) of such Act (42 20 U.S.C. 12571(b)(1)), regarding the grant program 21 described in section 5, except that funds appro- 22 priated under this Act may be used as if appro- 23 priated for the purposes for which funds may be 24 provided through grants under section 121(a) of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:30 Aug 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3845.IH H3845 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 3845 IH National and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 1 U.S.C. 12571(a)). Except as otherwise provided in 2 this Act, the provisions of the National and Commu- 3 nity Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12501 et seq.), 4 other than paragraphs (1) through (5) of section 5 121(b) of that Act (42 U.S.C. 12571(b)), that apply 6 to a national service program supported under that 7 section 121(b) shall apply to the grant program de- 8 scribed in section 5. 9 (2) AMENDMENT TO THE NCSA.—Section 10 121(b) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 12571(b)) is amend- 11 ed by adding at the end the following: 12 ‘‘(6) COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FINANCIAL IN- 13 STITUTION GRANT INTERAGENCY AGREEMENT.— 14 Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the Corporation 15 shall enter into an interagency agreement similar to 16 an interagency agreement described in paragraph 17 (1) with the Secretary of the Treasury under this 18 subsection regarding the community development fi- 19 nancial institution grant program described in sec- 20 tion 5 of the Economic Mobility Corps Act of 21 2019.’’. 22 (b) APPROVED NATIONAL SERVICE POSITIONS.— 23 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Chief Executive Officer 24 shall approve positions for Economic Mobility Corps 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:30 Aug 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3845.IH H3845 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 3845 IH projects as approved national service positions in ac- 1 cordance with subtitle C of title I of the National 2 and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 3 12571 et seq.). 4 (2) DISTRIBUTION OF ASSISTANCE AND AP- 5 PROVED POSITIONS UNAFFECTED.—Nothing in this 6 Act shall be construed to affect the distribution of 7 assistance or approved national service positions 8 under section 129 of the National and Community 9 Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12581). Funds ap- 10 propriated under section 8 shall be used for the 11 costs associated with that assistance or those posi- 12 tions, for the program carried out under section 5. 13 (c) TREATMENT OF FUNDS APPROPRIATED.— 14 (1) NATIONAL SERVICE TRUST.—For purposes 15 of subsections (a)(1) and (b) of section 145 of the 16 National and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 17 U.S.C. 12601(a)(1)), a portion of the funds appro- 18 priated under this Act, as determined by the Chief 19 Executive Officer based on the number of partici- 20 pants selected for Economic Mobility Corps projects, 21 shall be treated, respectively, as funds appropriated 22 to the Corporation and made available to carry out 23 subtitle D of title I of the National and Community 24 Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12601 et seq.) and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:48 Aug 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3845.IH H3845 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 3845 IH as funds appropriated to the Trust established under 1 such section. 2 (2) AUDITS.—For purposes of section 149(c) of 3 the National and Community Service Act of 1990 4 (42 U.S.C. 12606(c)), funds appropriated under this 5 Act shall be treated as appropriated funds for ap- 6 proved national service positions. 7 SEC. 5. ECONOMIC MOBILITY CORPS GRANT PROGRAM. 8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Chief Executive Officer, in 9 consultation with the Secretary, shall award grants, on a 10 competitive basis, to eligible entities to enable such eligible 11 entities to place participants at placement sites for the 12 purpose of engaging them in Economic Mobility Corps 13 projects. 14 (b) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a grant 15 under this Act, an entity shall submit an application re- 16 garding an Economic Mobility Corps project to the Chief 17 Executive Officer at such time, in such manner, and con- 18 taining such information, as the Chief Executive Officer 19 may require, including— 20 (1) a description of the long-term goals and ob- 21 jectives for the project involved and the benchmarks 22 that the eligible entity will use to determine whether 23 to place participants with a covered community de- 24 velopment financial institution and to evaluate the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:30 Aug 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3845.IH H3845 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 3845 IH performance of the covered community development 1 financial institution in carrying out the project; and 2 (2) the number of participants intended to be 3 placed with the covered community development fi- 4 nancial institution, in accordance with thresholds set 5 by the Chief Executive Officer, with respect to both 6 the minimum and maximum numbers of participants 7 that can be placed with a covered community devel- 8 opment financial institution, including such an insti- 9 tution that is an eligible entity. 10 (c) PRIORITY.—In making grants under this Act, the 11 Chief Executive Officer, in consultation with the Sec- 12 retary, shall give preferential consideration to entities pro- 13 posing to serve rural communities or veterans. 14 (d) USE OF FUNDS.— 15 (1) ORIENTATION AND RECRUITMENT.—An eli- 16 gible entity that receives a grant under this section 17 shall use the funds made available through the 18 grant— 19 (A) to develop a training orientation, in 20 which each selected participant will take part; 21 and 22 (B) to identify and encourage individuals, 23 including those who are residents in the com- 24 munity to be served or otherwise reflect the de- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:30 Aug 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3845.IH H3845 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •HR 3845 IH mographics of the community, to serve as par- 1 ticipants in community investment, including 2 the activities described in paragraph (3), in the 3 projects. 4 (2) ASSISTANCE.—An eligible entity that re- 5 ceives a grant under this section for an Economic 6 Mobility Corps project shall use the grant funds to 7 provide assistance, consistent with subtitle C of title 8 I of the National and Community Service Act of 9 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12571 et seq.), for the project, in- 10 cluding assistance for participants selected for the 11 project in carrying out the activities described in 12 paragraph (3). 13 (3) ACTIVITIES.—In carrying out those activi- 14 ties, each selected participant shall— 15 (A) strengthen the capacity of, and expand 16 the direct services provided by, the covered 17 community development financial institution, 18 which services may include financial counseling, 19 financial services, job placement, small business 20 financing, affordable rental housing financing, 21 commercial facility financing, community facil- 22 ity financing, single family home financing, and 23 foreclosure prevention services; and 24 (B) provide such direct services. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:30 Aug 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3845.IH H3845 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •HR 3845 IH 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 S [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]