Section 690.4 - Program authorization(a) The department is hereby authorized to:(1) Organize, initiate, develop, and carry out, or assist in the development and administration of manpower programs for the employment of individuals;(2) Adopt and assist in the adoption of practical methods of vocational training and guidance, or related programs of training and guidance;(3) Establish or assist in the establishment of programs for the improvement of employment potentials of individuals;(4) Rehabilitate or assist in the rehabilitation of disadvantaged persons, unemployed persons or underemployed persons;(5) Employ such personnel as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this act; and(6) Exercise its powers to include, but not be limited to, the execution of the following programs: (i) Funding of special transportation arrangements to allow individuals to reach the location of meaningful job opportunities;(ii) Purchase of professionally directed educational training services;(iii) Direct payments to trainees in the form of training, subsistence, and transportation allowances;(iv) Contribute wage payments to public works projects;(v) Reimbursement, in whole or in part, of the costs of job orientation and on-the-job training in commerce and industry;(vi) Support of the staff costs for specialized recruitment, orientation and training of the hard-core unemployed by existing agencies;(vii) Subsidization of specialized services designed to meet the social needs of the hard-core unemployed and their families; and(viii) Aid employers in modifying their job specifications to allow more jobs to become available to the hard-core unemployed.(b) The secretary is hereby authorized to contract with, cooperate with, enter into agreements with, make capital grants to, receive contributions or grants from any agency of the Federal government or of the Commonwealth, and any county or municipality, authority, corporation, organization, association, or person in the furtherance of the execution of powers contained in subsection (a) of section 4 . 1968, July 31, P.L. 736, No. 232, § 4.