Following the scoring of proposals under § 2522.440 of this part, the Corporation will seek to ensure that its portfolio of approved programs includes a meaningful representation of proposals that address one or more of the following priorities:
(a) Program models:
(1) Programs operated by community organizations, including faith-based organizations, or programs that support the efforts of community organizations, including faith-based organizations, to solve local problems;
(2) Lower-cost professional corps programs, as defined in paragraph (a)(3) of § 2522.110 of this chapter.
(b) Program activities:
(1) Programs that serve or involve children and youth, including mentoring of disadvantaged youth and children of prisoners;
(2) Programs that address educational needs, including those that carry out literacy and tutoring activities generally, and those that focus on reading for children in the third grade or younger;
(3) Programs that focus on homeland security activities that support and promote public safety, public health, and preparedness for any emergency, natural or man-made (this includes programs that help to plan, equip, train, and practice the response capabilities of many different response units ready to mobilize without warning for any emergency);
(4) Programs that address issues relating to the environment;
(5) Programs that support independent living for seniors or individuals with disabilities;
(6) Programs that increase service and service-learning on higher education campuses in partnership with their surrounding communities;
(7) Programs that foster opportunities for Americans born in the post-World War II baby boom to serve and volunteer in their communities; and
(8) Programs that involve community-development by finding and using local resources, and the capacities, skills, and assets of lower-income people and their community, to rejuvenate their local economy, strengthen public and private investments in the community, and help rebuild civil society.
(c) Programs supporting distressed communities: Programs or projects that will be conducted in:
(1) A community designated as an empowerment zone or redevelopment area, targeted for special economic incentives, or otherwise identifiable as having high concentrations of low-income people;
(2) An area that is environmentally distressed, as demonstrated by Federal and State data;
(3) An area adversely affected by Federal actions related to managing Federal lands that result in significant regional job losses and economic dislocation;
(4) An area adversely affected by reductions in defense spending or the closure or realignment of military installation;
(5) An area that has an unemployment rate greater than the national average unemployment for the most recent 12 months for which State or Federal data are available;
(6) A rural community, as demonstrated by Federal and State data; or
(7) A severely economically distressed community, as demonstrated by Federal and State data.
(d) Other programs: Programs that meet any additional priorities as the Corporation determines and disseminates in advance of the selection process.
[70 FR 39600, July 8, 2005]