{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://hayes.house.gov/press-releases?ID=8C6A2C28-04FC-4A2F-995E-560FE9237E5B", "Hayes Introduces Legislation to Expand Community Service Opportunities for Federal Work-Study Students", "2024-09-26", "2024", "2024-09", "Democrat", "House", "CT", "Jahana Hayes", "H001081", "hayes.house.gov", "hayes", "https://hayes.house.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON D.C. \u2013 Today, Congresswoman Jahana Hayes (CT-05) introduced the Students Working for Communities Act, which would allocate a greater percentage of existing Federal Work-Study (FWS) program funding to support student employment in community service roles, including with local non-profits and community-based organizations. As written, the legislation would increase the existing FWS community service set-aside dollar amount as FWS funding increases in the future.\n\n\u201cEach year, the Federal Work-Study program helps hundreds of thousands of college students earn an income and gain valuable career experience while in school. Many students are placed in public service jobs with non-profits and other organizations, providing a great benefit to their communities and their education,\u201d said Congresswoman Hayes. \u201cThe Students Working for Communities Act would increase the number of students placed in public service jobs, exposing more young people to careers in service while providing additional support for organizations working to improve the community.\u201d\n\nThe Federal Work-Study program was created in 1964 as one of the earliest forms of federal financial aid for college students. Today, one in ten full-time undergraduates is employed by FWS in critical career-related positions designed for students who cannot afford to participate in unpaid internships while attending school.\n\nFWS includes a community service element, which sets aside a percentage of job placements and allows students to work in positions that support the communities around their school. Currently, 7 percent of FWS funding is directed towards placing students in community service roles, a number that has not increased since 1998.\n\nThe Students Working for Communities Act would increase the existing community service set aside as Congress increases FWS funding, with the percentage directed to community service placements increasing as funding increases.\n\nSpecifically, the set-aside would increase to:", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:43:57Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://hayes.house.gov/press-releases?ID=8C6A2C28-04FC-4A2F-995E-560FE9237E5B"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7072451300919056, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}