Participant Recruitment: Program Eligibility

1. Is between the ages of 16 and 24 on the date of Enrollment; and
2. Is a member of a low-income family (including Youth experiencing housing instability), and/or a youth in foster care (including Youth aging out of foster care), and/or a youth involved in the justice system and/or a youth who is an individual with a disability, and/or a child of an incarcerated parent, and/or a migrant youth; and
3. Left high school prior to graduation, or an individual who left high school prior to graduation and has subsequently reenrolled.

YouthBuild regulations define low-income family as a family whose income does not exceed 80 percent of the median income for the area. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) reports median income by area within the annual eligibility income limits.

Read Summary of TEGL 23-19, Change 3 for YouthBuild Grantees for information on compliant program eligibility documentation.

According to WIOA regulations at § 681.230, DOL does not consider YouthBuild programs to be schools. Therefore, WIOA youth programs may consider any YouthBuild participant to be out of school for purposes of WIOA youth program eligibility. Youth participating in a YouthBuild program funded by the public K-12 school system who are classified by the school system as still enrolled in school are an exception; they are considered in-school youth.

Up to, but not more than, 25 percent of the participants in the program may be Youth who do not meet criteria 2 or 3 above, but they must meet the following:

• Be basic skills deficient, despite attainment of a high school diploma or its state-recognized equivalent; or
• Have been referred by a local secondary school for participation in a YouthBuild program leading to the attainment of a high school diploma.

NOTE: Male participants aged 18 or older must register for the U.S. Selective Service System (www.sss.gov) before being provided any program services. If they turn 18 while participating, they must register at that time.

Veterans' Priority for Participants (38 U.S.C. 4215) requires grantees to provide priority of service to veterans and spouses of certain veterans for the receipt of employment, training, and placement services in any job training program directly funded, in whole or in part, by DOL. The regulations implementing this priority of service are at 20 CFR Part 1010. In circumstances where a grant recipient must choose between two qualified candidates for a service, one of whom is a veteran or eligible spouse, the veterans' priority of service provisions require that the grant recipient give the veteran or eligible spouse priority of service by first providing them that service. To obtain priority of service, a veteran or spouse must meet the program's eligibility requirements.

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