Section 1, subdivision 1 requires the commissioner to establish a grant program with the goal of creating new jobs for long-term and chronically unemployed Minnesotans. The target population includes individuals who rely heavily on government services.
Subdivision 2 states that the objective of the grant program is to provide incentives to private employers to generate new employment opportunities and to foster cross-agency collaboration between local and state agencies.
Subdivision 3 requires the commissioner to award the grants, and provides that in order to be eligible for a grant, the applicant must be a nonprofit organization that can fulfill the requirements in this subdivision. Under paragraph (c), preference will be given to organizations that demonstrate the ability to meet objectives in a demonstration project for high-risk adults that passed in the 2007 session.
Subdivision 4 requires that an organization receiving a grant report certain information to the commissioner, and the commissioner is required to submit an annual report to the Legislature on the progress of the grant program.
Subdivision 5 provides that grants must be awarded to up to three organizations per biennium.
Subdivision 6 requires that applicants match, on a one-to-one basis, the amount of state funds awarded with nonstate funds.
Section 2 requires the Commissioner of Human Services, in consultation with the Commissioner of Management and Budget, to calculate the savings generated to the state resulting from the implementation of the grant program, and examine the feasibility of replenishing funding for the grant program by using the anticipated savings. The commissioner shall report the findings by January 15, 2016.
Section 3 appropriates $4,000,000 for the grant program. The appropriation does not cancel and is available until expended, and is ongoing. No more than two percent of the appropriation may be used for the administration of the grant program.
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