The Federal Youth Coordination Act (FYCA) was introduced in the 109th Congress to implement recommendations from the 2003 White House Task Force for Disadvantaged Youth, which found that federal youth programs are administered across 12 departments and agencies with little communication or coordination among them.

The original legislation, H.R. 856, passed the House in November 2005 by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 353 to 62, with 163 Republicans supporting it, and no Democrats opposing. The bill was introduced by Representatives Tom Osborne, Harold Ford, Pete Hoekstra and Donald Payne, and the companion bill in the Senate, S. 409, by Senators Norm Coleman, Mike DeWine, Lamar Alexander and Debbie Stabenow.

After much negotiation, FYCA was modified slightly, renamed for Tom Osborne, its Congressional champion, and attached as Title VIII of the Older Americans Act reauthorization bill.

It passed the House and the Senate with no opposition at the end of September, 2006. It was signed into law by the president on October 17, 2006.

The Tom Osborne Federal Youth Coordination Act

FYCA establishes the Federal Youth Development Council.

Functions:

• Ensure communication among federal agencies serving youth.
• Assess the needs of youth and those who work with youth; and the quantity and quality of federal programs offering services, supports and opportunities to help meet these needs.
• Recommend objectives and quantifiable goals for federal youth programs and recommend allocation of resources to support the goals.
• Identify overlap or duplication and recommend ways to better facilitate coordination, improve efficiency and effectiveness of such programs.
• Identify target populations of youth and focus additional resources or develop demonstration projects and model programs to target those groups.
• Conduct research and evaluation, identify and replicate model programs and promising practices, provide technical assistance relating to the needs of youth, and coordinate the collection and dissemination of youth-services related data and research.
• Provide technical assistance to states to support state-funded youth coordinating councils.

Membership:

• 11 federal department secretaries and heads of agencies
• Representatives from youth-serving nonprofits, foundations and faith-based organizations
• Youth

Report:

Interim report no later than one year after first meeting, and final report to Congress providing an assessment of the needs of youth and those who serve them. Recommendations for better integration and coordination of federal, state, and local policies affecting youth.

A report on the Council's work to facilitate interagency collaboration and the results of the collaboration.

For more information, visit www.youthcoordinationact.org.

(October 17, 2006)