42 U.S.C. § 12583 — National service program assistance requirements

(a) Impact on communities. Every application must promise that any program the applicant runs, and any program the applicant funds with a grant, will: (1) meet unmet human, educational, environmental, or public safety needs through services that directly benefit the community; and (2) follow the rules against duplicating or displacing other work, found in section 12637, and the grievance procedure rules in section 12636(f). (b) Impact on participants. The application must also promise these programs will: (1) give participants the training, skills, and knowledge they need for their assigned work; (2) provide support services — (A) helping participants who are finishing their service move on to further education or a career, and (B) helping participants who dropped out of school earn the equivalent of a high school diploma; and (3) offer, where appropriate, structured chances for participants to reflect on their service experience. (c) Consultation. The application must promise these programs will: (1) design, recruit for, and run the program with broad input from (A) the community being served, the relevant local government, and potential participants, and (B) experienced community agencies and local labor unions representing the service sponsor's employees, if any exist in the area; (2) consult, before placing participants, with any local labor union representing workers doing the same or similar work, to make sure the program does not displace them, as section 12637 requires; and (3) if the program is not funded through a state — including a nonprofit operating in two or more states — consult and coordinate with the State Commission in each state where it operates. The Corporation must confirm with the State Commission that this consultation happened. (d) Evaluation and performance goals. (1) In general. The application must promise the applicant will (A) arrange an independent evaluation of its program, or run its own internal evaluation with the Corporation's approval; (B) use measurable performance goals and evaluation methods — such as surveys — to judge the program's impact on the community, on participants, and on any other area the Corporation asks about; and (C) cooperate with any evaluation the Corporation runs. (2) Evaluation. Subject to paragraph (3), the Corporation sets the evaluation criteria and performance goals that apply to every program funded under section 12571. (3) Alternative evaluation requirements. The Corporation can set different evaluation rules based on how much assistance a program gets, and decides which programs those different rules cover. (e) Living allowances and other inservice benefits. Except as section 12594(c) provides otherwise, the application must promise the applicant will: (1) give its own program's participants the living allowance and other benefits required by section 12594; and (2) require any program it funds with a grant to give its participants the same living allowance and benefits. (f) Selection of participants from individuals recruited by Corporation or State Commissions. The Corporation can also require a promise that the program will fill some of its participant slots with people recruited by the Corporation or State Commissions under section 12592(d). The Corporation can set a minimum percentage of participants who must come from the national leadership pool under section 12592(e), and that percentage can differ for different types of programs.