(a) Grants.—The Secretary shall award grants to eligible nonprofit organizations to provide training and mentoring for eligible veterans who seek employment. The Secretary shall award the grants to not more than three organizations, for periods of two years.

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(b) Collaboration and Facilitation.—The Secretary shall ensure that the recipients of the grants—

(1) collaborate with—

(A) the appropriate disabled veterans’ outreach specialists (in carrying out the functions described in section 4103A(a)) and the appropriate local veterans’ employment representatives (in carrying out the functions described in section 4104); and

(B) the appropriate State boards and local boards (as such terms are defined in section 3 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act) for the areas to be served by recipients of the grants; and

(2) based on the collaboration, facilitate the placement of the veterans that complete the training in meaningful employment that leads to economic self-sufficiency.

(c) Application.—To be eligible to receive a grant under this section, a nonprofit organization shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may require. At a minimum, the information shall include—

(1) information describing how the organization will—

(A) collaborate with disabled veterans’ outreach specialists and local veterans’ employment representatives and the appropriate State boards and local boards (as such terms are defined in section 3 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act);

(B) based on the collaboration, provide training that facilitates the placement described in subsection (b)(2); and

(C) make available, for each veteran receiving the training, a mentor to provide career advice to the veteran and assist the veteran in preparing a resume and developing job interviewing skills; and

(2) an assurance that the organization will provide the information necessary for the Secretary to prepare the reports described in subsection (d).

(d) Reports.—(1) Not later than six months after the date of the enactment of the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011, the Secretary shall prepare and submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report that describes the process for awarding grants under this section, the recipients of the grants, and the collaboration described in subsections (b) and (c).

(2) Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011, the Secretary shall—

(A) conduct an assessment of the performance of the grant recipients, disabled veterans’ outreach specialists, and local veterans’ employment representatives in carrying out activities under this section, which assessment shall include collecting information on the number of—

(i) veterans who applied for training under this section;

(ii) veterans who entered the training;

(iii) veterans who completed the training;

(iv) veterans who were placed in meaningful employment under this section; and

(v) veterans who remained in such employment as of the date of the assessment; and

(B) submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report that includes—

(i) a description of how the grant recipients used the funds made available under this section;

(ii) the results of the assessment conducted under subparagraph (A); and

(iii) the recommendations of the Secretary as to whether amounts should be appropriated to carry out this section for fiscal years after 2013.

(e) Authorization of Appropriations.—There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $4,500,000 for the period consisting of fiscal years 2012 and 2013.

(f) Definitions.—In this section—

(1) the term “appropriate committees of Congress” means—

(A) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pension of the Senate; and

(B) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the Committee on Education and Workforce ¹ of the House of Representatives; and

(2) the term “nonprofit organization” means an organization that is described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and that is exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of such Code.