(a) The Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) is a program of summer employment for young men and women, aged 15 through 18, who work, earn, and learn together by doing projects which further the development and conservation of the natural resources of the United States. The corps is open to youth of both sexes, and youth of all social, economic, and racial classifications who are permanent residents of the United States, its territories, possessions, trust territories or commonwealths.

(b) The Youth Conservation Corps Act of 1970 (Pub. L. 91-378) provided for a 3-year pilot program to be carried out on lands and waters under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Agriculture or the Secretary of the Interior. Public Law 92-597 amended the 1970 Act to include a pilot program (beginning in fiscal year 1974) of grants to States to assist them in meeting the cost of Youth Conservation Corps projects on non-Federal public lands and waters within the States. Public Law 93-408 made the Youth Conservation Corps program permanent.

(a) Terms used in these Regulations are defined as follows:

(1) Act. The Youth Conservation Corps Act of 1970. Public Law 91-378, as amended.

(2) Secretaries. The Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior, or their designated representatives, who jointly administer the grant program. Within the Department of Agriculture, the YCC program is administered by the Forest Service; within the Department of the Interior it is administered by the Office of Youth Programs.

(3) States. Any of the several States of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

(4) Grant. Money or property provided in lieu of money, paid or furnished by the Secretaries pursuant to the Act to a State to carry out a YCC program on non-Federal public lands and waters. The amount of any grant shall be determined jointly by the Secretaries, except that no grant for any project may exceed 80 per centum of the cost (as determined by the Secretaries) of said project.

(5) Grantee. Any State which is a recipient of a Federal grant for the operation of a YCC program.

(6) Subgrantee. Any public organization, municipality, county, or agency which administers non-Federal public lands and waters which successfully applied through a State for the operation of a Youth Conservation Corps project within that State.

(7) Contractor. Any public agency or organization or any private nonprofit agency or organization which has been in existence for at least 5 years which operates a YCC project for a grantee or subgrantee.

(8) Program agent. Individual designated in writing by the Governor to have program responsibility for all aspects of YCC operations in that State except for those projects conducted under Federal auspices.

(9) State grant program. That part of the YCC program carried out on non-Federal public lands and waters by States receiving YCC grants-in-aid.

(10) Project. The operating unit of the State YCC grant program. A project will be designated as either residential or nonresidential.

(i) Residential project. One in which youth reside either 7 or 5 days per week at a site on or in proximity to the public lands where they conduct their work-learning program.

(ii) Nonresidential project. One in which youth reside at home and daily commute to the public lands to conduct their work-learning program.

(11) Operating year. January 1 through December 31.

(12) Non-Federal public lands and waters. Any lands or waters within the territorial limits of a State owned either in fee simple by a State or political subdivision thereof or over which a State or political subdivision thereof has, as determined by the Secretaries, sufficient long-term jurisdiction so that improvements made as the result of a grant will accrue primarily to the benefit of the public as a whole. Federally owned public lands and waters administered by a State or political subdivision thereof under agreement with a Department or Agency of the Federal Government are eligible under such definition if the Secretaries determine that the State or political subdivision thereof is entitled to or is likely to retain administrative responsibility for an extended period of time sufficient to justify classification as non-Federal public lands or waters.

(a) The purpose of the Act is to further the development and maintenance of the natural resources of the United States by American youth and in so doing prepare them for the ultimate responsibility of maintaining and managing these resources for the American people. The Departments of Agriculture and the Interior have stressed the following three equally important objectives of the Youth Conservation Corps as reflected in the law:

(1) Accomplish needed conservation work on public lands.

(2) Provide gainful employment for 15- through 18-year-old males and females from all social, economic, and racial backgrounds.

(3) Develop an understanding and appreciation of the Nation's environment and heritage in participating youth.

(b) These objectives will be accomplished in a manner that will provide the youth with an opportunity to acquire increased self-dignity and self-discipline, better work and relate with peers and supervisors, and build lasting cultural bridges between youth from various social, ethnic, racial and economic backgrounds.

(c) Each YCC project will have, to the maximum extent possible as determined by the Secretaries' representatives, the following characteristics:

(1) A properly balanced and integrated environmental work-learning program in which environmental knowledge and awareness derives principally from meaningful work activities on public lands.

(2) A mixture of youth of both sexes from various social, economic, ethnic, and racial backgrounds which is representative of the youth residing within the recruiting area.

(3) A group-living component, both in residential and nonresidential programs, wherein enrollees have an opportunity to relate to each other and to staff during nonworking hours in activities which promote social interaction and group learning (e.g., evening cookouts, overnight or weekend camping).

(4) An enrollment of sufficient size (not less than 10 enrollees) that will permit social interaction and group learning. The program encourages projects of a size of 20 to 50 enrollees as the most desirable size.

State programs must meet all of the requirements of section 4 of the act. Section 4 of the act which applies to the grant program reads as follows:

The following administrative requirements must be met:

(a) Recruitment and selection will be conducted in accordance with a Statewide plan designed to assure:

(1) An equal opportunity for both sexes, for all urban and rural youth regardless of social, economic, ethnic or racial background, with special outreach efforts toward minority, disadvantaged, non-public school youth, and youth having left school before graduation;

(2) That selections will be made on a random basis, without consideration of race, creed, religion, or national origin. Each project should be assigned as near as possible an equal number of slots for males and females;

(3) That enrollees have attained age 15 by June 1 but not age 19 by August 30;

(4) That not more than 10 percent of the enrollees in a project have been YCC enrollees in previous years and all returnees be designated as youth leaders and paid $1.50 per day in addition to their hourly rate of pay.

(b) To the maximum extent practicable, enrollees should be selected from an area within 1 day's surface travel from their home to a residential YCC project.

(c) Capital outlays for facilities should be kept at a minimum. No grant is to be made for construction of residential facilities other than to provide temporary facilities and their necessary basic infrastructure, and necessary renovation or modification of existing facilities.

(d) Operation of a project or session will be for a minimum of 26 consecutive calendar days. Projects during nonsummer periods may be authorized by the Secretaries when it can clearly be demonstrated that enrollment will not interfere with the established educational systems.

(e) The enrollee is an employee of the grantee or subgrantee. Depending on grantee's or subgrantee's work-week, grantees will insure that enrollees are engaged in up to 40 hours of work-learning activities each week, 25 percent of which will be in environmental awareness.

(f) To arrive at the enrollee weekly pay rate, the Federal or State minimum hourly wage (whichever is higher) should be multiplied by 30 hours per week, or 75 percent of the number of hours in the grantee or subgrantee established work-week, if less than 40 hours. To the maximum extent possible, the grantee should apply the same meal and lodging deduction as used by the Federal program.

(g) The Federal Government will cost-share as part of the grant enrollee pay based on up to 30 hours per week; any cost based on enrollee compensation for more than 30 hours per week will be assumed by the grantee or sub-grantee and will not be part of the grant.

(h) Grantees must provide for an effective accident control, health, and safety program. As a minimum, grantees shall follow U.S. Department of Labor Bulletin No. 101, “A Guide to Child Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.”

(i) Grantees will have a financial management system which will provide the information called for in attachment G of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) circular A-102 (formerly FMC 74-7).

(j) “Request for Advance or Reimbursement,” as outlined in OMB circular A-102, attachment H, item 4(a), will be used to obtain an advance to start and/or maintain the program. It can also be used to obtain a reimbursement during or at the end of a project. An advance, not to exceed 1 month's needs, may be made after approval of the grant application.

(k) Grantees will prepare a “Financial Status Report” required by OMB circular A-102, attachment H, item (3)a. This report will be prepared on a cash basis. Instructions and forms will be supplied each grantee at the time of grant award. Grantees shall require similar reports from all subgrantees and contractors to facilitate their own reporting to the grantor agencies. The Financial Status Report will be prepared as of December 31 of each operating year. This report will be forwarded in time to reach the Secretaries by March 31 of the following operating year.

(l) Allowable costs under the grant program are defined in FMC 74-4 and OMB circular A-102.

(m) Records retention and custodial requirements for records are prescribed by attachment C to OMB circular A-102.

(n) A budget revision is required in advance when the scope of the grant is to be changed through (1) addition or elimination of a project, (2) reduction in the State's grant program of 5 percent or more of enrollees, and/or (3) determination that the grantee will not utilize Federal funds in amount in excess of $5,000 or 5 percent of the Federal grant, whichever is greater. A budget revision must also be submitted when the State's matching ratio is reduced. No budget revision may be submitted later than March 31 following the end of the operating year. Procedures in attachment K of OMB circular A-102 will be followed.

(o) Grantees shall comply with the provisions of attachments N and O of OMB circular A-102 in regard to nonexpendable personal property and procurement standards.

(p) The Secretaries or their designees shall periodically review the conduct of the program of the State.

(q) Grantees will supervise those projects in the State being administered by subgrantees and contractors. Subgrantees and contractors will be required to operate in accordance with the procedures outlined in these regulations and the grant agreement with the State. Periodic inspection of subgrantee projects will be made by the grantee under the direction of the program agent or his designee. Grantees or subgrantees may contract with any public agency or organization or any private nonprofit agency or organization which has been in existence for at least 5 years.

(r) Grantees will meet the financial audit requirements of attachment G to OMB circular A-102 and will require the same of subgrantees. Copies of audits will be made available to the Secretaries upon request.

(s) Grantees shall provide accidental injury compensation and tort claims coverage under State laws for its enrollees. Enrollees shall be employed without regard to State personnel laws, rules, and regulations applicable to full-time employees. It is not intended that State enrollees be covered for retirement, unemployment compensation, health and life insurance purposes, or that they earn or be granted leave-with-pay or sick leave; such charges shall not be considered a qualifiying expense for Federal cost-share purposes.

(t) If the grantee fails to comply with the grant award stipulations, standards, or conditions, the Secretaries may jointly suspend the grant, in whole or in part, pending corrective action. Subsequent to or during any period of suspension of the grant, the Federal Government shall not be obligated to reimburse the grantee for any incurrence of obligations for suspended projects other than direct pay of enrollees and then only for a period of time which both the Secretaries shall determine to be reasonable. In addition, the Secretaries may jointly terminate the grant, in whole or in part. Termination shall be effected by notice of termination. Upon receipt of a notice of termination, the grantee shall:

(1) Discontinue further commitments of grant funds for the terminated project(s).

(2) Cancel all sub-grants or contracts, where possible, scheduled for payment with funds budgeted for the terminated project(s).

(3) Within 90 days after receipt of the notice of termination for the entire grant, supply either of the Secretaries with a financial status report, along with a refund check for any unused portion of funds advanced, or a request for reimbursement for allowable expenditures incurred in the grant program.

(a) Of the amount available for Youth Conservation Corps projects, 30 percent will be allocated for State projects. All States will be given an opportunity to participate in the program. Allocated funds not needed by a State will be reallocated, based on the merit of proposals submitted in accordance with paragraph (c) of this section.

(b) Pursuant to section (4)(c)(1) of Public Law 93-408, States may receive grants up to but not to exceed 80 percent of the cost of funding any project from the Federal Government. The combined Federal/State costs of individual projects and other program expenses as established in the grant application determine the Federal/State cost-sharing ratio. Matching State costs can consist of either direct expenditures or services of an in-kind nature.

(c) Application for Federal Assistance (Standard Form 424) will be used by applicants in applying for grants under this program. Application forms will be supplied to Program Agents. Only a Program Agent may submit an application. A single grant application must be submitted for the entire summer program within each State. A separate application must be used for non-summer projects. A non-summer project is defined as one which extends beyond September 30, or begins prior to May 1.

(d) The Secretaries have designated individuals for each State who will jointly represent them. Grant applications (original and two copies) must be submitted to the designated reresentative of either Secretary. January 1 has been established as the deadline date for acceptance of applications for each operating year. Names and addresses of designated representatives will be furnished to each State. The Secretaries' representatives must jointly approve grant proposals. Approval or disapproval of proposals will be documented by a formal letter to the Program Agent. The Secretaries' representatives will also be available for technical assistance and will monitor the program.

Grant application must be made using the Office of Management and Budget approved form (SF-424) entitled “Federal Assistance.” Specific instructions and requirements which must be followed are included in the Secretaries' State Grant Procedures Handbook. General instructions for completing the form by part numbers are:

(a) Part I—(SF-424 Cover Sheet, Sections I and II) shall be completed.

(b) Part II—(Budget Data). See YCC State Grant Procedures Handbook for definitions of cost categories and for budget narrative instructions.

(c) Part III—(Program Narrative Statement). Complete a separate description of each project, which will include the following information (Items 13, 14, 15, and 16 may be consolidated, if common to all projects):

(1) Project number.

(2) Project name and address.

(3) Project location (nearest city or town and county).

(4) Name of grantee, sub-grantee and/or contractor.

(5) Land Ownership class(es) benefiting from the program—State, county, municipal or other non-Federal public lands (identify).

(6) Number of male and female youth planned for project, including youth leaders.

(7) Type of project (7-day residential; 5-day residential; non-residential; other).

(8) Length of session(s) (e.g., number of weeks) and proposed beginning and ending dates per session.

(9) Cost of project.

(10) Description of living conditions, if residential project (types of facilities, age, condition, tents, cabins, dormitories, food service).

(11) Project staff (number and position titles).

(12) Work-learning program. (Describe major projects, planned units of production if applicable, and any constraints that are anticipated. Explain how environmental learning will be integrated into projects.)

(13) Complete calculation for daily rate of enrollee pay, including deduction for food lodging.

(14) Description of health and safety program.

(15) Description of enrollee recruiting and selection system. (The Statewide recruiting and selection plan may be substituted.)

(16) Description of staff recruiting and selection system, including affirmative action measures to be taken.

(d) Part IV—(Assurances) is preprinted within Attachment M, Exhibit M-5, OMB Circular A-102, and is to be included as part of the application. The following assurance is not preprinted and must be included by the grantee in the grant application: The grantee agrees to administer tests and questionnaires; conduct interviews; submit enrollee statistical and work accomplishment data; and otherwise assist the Federal Government in collecting information.

(a) Monitoring and reporting of program performance will be in accordance with Attachment I of OMB Circular A-102.

(b) The reporting and/or recordkeeping requirements contained herein have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget in accordance with the Federal Reports Act of 1942.

The decision by both of the Secretaries' representatives on grants to individual States will consider the following:

(a) The amount of grant funds allocated to the State.

(b) The quality of the proposed program in terms of meeting program characteristics and objectives.

(c) The overall cost per enrollee 8-week position.

(d) Actual prior performance of the State in administering YCC projects.

(e) The performance of the grantee in meeting the conditions of the grant and the requirements of OMB Circular A-102 and FMC 74-4.