Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Educational Partnerships for Innovation in Communities Program Authorization Act”.
Educational Partnerships for Innovation in Communities Program Authorization Act
A BILL
To authorize the Educational Partnerships for Innovation in Communities Program, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Educational partnerships for innovation in communities program authorized
Grant program— The Secretary of Transportation, in coordination with the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, shall competitively award a grant to a nonprofit organization to train and support institutions of higher education to better assist local governments, by leveraging existing graduate and undergraduate classes at a large scale in order to magnify impact, with projects of need.
Award amount and duration— The amount of an award made pursuant to this Act shall be not more than $10,000,000 and shall be made available for a period not to exceed 3 years.
Permissible use of award funds— Awards made pursuant to this Act may be used to enter into agreements with any additional entity needed in order to complete a project of need.
Definitions— In this Act—
the term “institution of higher education” has the meaning given in section 101 or section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001, 1002(c));
the term “local government” means a county, municipality, town, township, village, parish, borough, or other unit of general government below the state level;
the term “nonprofit organization” means an entity that is described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986;
the term “project of need” means a project identified by a local government that would benefit from the expertise of an institution of higher education’s faculty and students, and that advances a sustainable development goal; and
the term “sustainable development goal” means a goal pertaining to climate change, homelessness, housing affordability, disaster resiliency, equity, economic opportunity, workforce development, and other similar high-road development principles.
Authorization of appropriations— There is authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2022 through 2026 for the purposes of carrying out the provisions of this Act.