Section 3122 - Youth Apprenticeship Grant Program(a) The Youth Apprenticeship Grant Program is hereby established, to be administered by the division, for the purposes of awarding grant funds to eligible applicants to provide funding for existing apprenticeship and preapprenticeship programs or to develop new apprenticeship and preapprenticeship programs to serve the target population and satisfy the goals and objectives of the grant program as specified in this article. The grant program does not apply to building and construction trades programs that are within the jurisdiction of the council established pursuant to Section 3070.(b) Under the grant program, services shall be delivered principally through collaborative, mission-driven, community-based organizations with experience in providing services to, and with relevant relationships with, targeted populations, consistent with the objectives of the grant program.(c) The division shall consult with and seek feedback from state agencies during the planning process to ensure grant funds awarded under the program leverage and complement existing grant programs.(d) The division shall solicit proposals and select grant recipients from eligible applicants, including local educational agencies, county offices of education, regional consortia of community college districts, local intermediaries, regional and local workforce development boards, apprenticeship program sponsors, and organizations who contract with employers, local educational agencies, community-based organizations, labor, and other workforce development stakeholders.(e) The division shall require that grant recipients demonstrate a commitment to high road principles, as described in subdivision (r) of Section 14005 of the Unemployment Insurance Code, and shall evaluate the performance of recipients based on those principles.(f) The division shall complete the planning process to implement the program by October 31, 2023, and shall begin soliciting grant proposals no later than March 31, 2024.(g) As used in this section, "target population" includes individuals from 16 to 24 years of age who are at risk of disconnection or are disconnected from the education system or employment, unhoused, in the child welfare, juvenile justice, or criminal legal systems, living in concentrated poverty, or are facing barriers to labor market participation. "Target population" includes youth who face chronic opportunity educational achievement gaps, attend schools in communities of concentrated poverty, or attend high schools with a negative school climate indicated by factors, including, but not limited to: (1) School attendance rates.(2) Chronic absenteeism and truancy rates.(3) Dropout rates and low graduation rates.(4) Proficiency scores in English language arts and mathematics.(5) Pupil suspension and expulsion rates.(h) The provisions of this section shall be implemented only upon appropriation of sufficient funds by the Legislature for that purpose.Added by Stats 2022 ch 67 (SB 191),s 18, eff. 6/30/2022.