42 U.S.C. § 12592 — Selection of national service participants

(a) Selection process. Subject to subsections (b) and (c), and to section 12583(f), the entity that receives the assistance or the approved positions is the one that actually recruits and selects who serves in the program. (b) Nondiscrimination and nonpolitical selection of participants. Recruiting and selecting participants must follow the nondiscrimination rules in section 12635. (c) Second term. Only participants who performed well in their first term of service can be accepted for a second term under section 12593. (d) Recruitment and placement. The Corporation and each State Commission must set up a system to recruit people who want to do national service and help place them in approved positions — including positions available under titles I and II of the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973. They must spread information about available positions through secondary schools, colleges, employment offices, state vocational rehabilitation agencies, other state agencies that mainly serve people with disabilities, and other groups — especially ones that reach out to disadvantaged youth and youth with disabilities. (e) National leadership pool. (1) Selection and training. From the people it recruits under subsection (d), the Corporation can pick those with strong leadership potential for special leadership training, given either directly by the Corporation or through a grant or contract. (2) Emphasis on certain individuals. In picking people for this leadership training, the Corporation must make a special effort to choose those who have served (A) in the Peace Corps; (B) as VISTA volunteers; (C) as participants in national service programs under section 12571, especially if they were considered disadvantaged youth at the time; (D) in programs funded under the old part D, as it existed before September 21, 1993; or (E) in the Armed Forces, with an honorable discharge. (3) Assignment. If a program asks, the Corporation can assign someone who got this leadership training to work with that program in a leadership role, doing tasks beyond what regular participants do. That assigned person still counts as a participant in the program. (f) Evaluation of service. The Corporation must write regulations explaining how and by what criteria a participant's service gets evaluated — to decide if it was satisfactory and successful enough to qualify the person for a second term or for the national service educational award.