Bumping this.
Not sure if the honorable gentleman from Washington is offering an amendment, but I do have some concerns with this bill - I'm not sure if funding private organizations is the equitable way to encourage kids to learn the skills they need to enter the workforce.
Opinions may differ on that, I suppose, but the bill as written would specifically give an assist to organizations that know what they're doing and have proper roots in the community they serve. The skill set required to enter the workforce does vary from area to area, and if we want to add a requirement that eligible organizations prioritize these I wouldn't be opposed to that (though I do think it shouldn't be a dealbreaker if they don't prepare our youth for specifically mandated parts of the workforce).
My concern r.e. equity was more related to accessibility - I'm concerned that these privately-run programs might not be available to all Atlasians. I'm not sure how many spots these organizations can offer to prospective program participants, and how said spots can be distributed in a fair manner, and honestly think this might be better pursued as a curriculum offering administered by public education (potentially in out-of-school time as well).
