108th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 2625
To establish a national demonstration project to improve intervention
programs for the most disadvantaged children and youth, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 8, 2004
Mr. SMITH (for himself and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which
was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To establish a national demonstration project to improve intervention
programs for the most disadvantaged children and youth, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Friends of the Children National Demonstration
Act'.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
(1) the single most important protective factor in a child's life is a long-term
relationship with a supportive, caring adult;
(2) while the most disadvantaged children can be accurately identified as
early as age 5, very few long-term intervention programs are initiated at
this age;
(3) no Federal competitive grant or contract program exists to fund innovative
programs matching the most disadvantaged children beginning at age 5 with
`professional mentors' for 10 years or more;
(4) privately-funded programs matching `professional mentors' with the most
disadvantaged children beginning at an early age for the child and lasting
for 10 years or more, show great promise in benefitting the most disadvantaged
children and youth; and
(5) violent juvenile crime is a national problem, and the most disadvantaged
children and youth need support specifically targeted to help them from
becoming involved in, or a victim of, violent juvenile crime.
SEC. 3. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are as follows:
(1) To establish a national demonstration project to promote learning about
successful early and sustained childhood interventions, with programs carried
out by Friends of the Children local chapters, by employing and measuring
an effective approach for improving the lives and future prospects of the
most disadvantaged children and youth.
(2) To demonstrate an effective early intervention program that serves the
most disadvantaged children and youth through private/public partnerships
to prevent the need for costly incarceration, rehabilitation, and treatment
at a later date.
(3) To document best practices for conducting a successful early intervention
for the most disadvantaged children and youth, based on the results of Friends
of the Children local chapters.
(4) To produce lessons and data from the operating experiences of those
Friends of the Children local chapters that will provide information to
improve policy in the public and private sectors.
SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF DEMONSTRATION PROJECT.
(a) IN GENERAL- From amounts made available to carry out this Act, the Attorney
General shall carry out a demonstration project under which the Attorney General
makes a grant to Friends of the Children, National Office, to be subgranted
by such office to Friends of the Children local chapters to pay for the Federal
share of the cost of carrying out early intervention programs under this Act.
(b) ELIGIBLE LOCAL CHAPTERS- Friends of the Children local chapters serving
the following cities are eligible to participate in the demonstration project:
(1) Chester, Pennsylvania.
(4) Klamath Falls, Oregon.
(8) San Francisco, California.
(10) Wilmington, Delaware.
(11) Boston, Massachusetts.
(1) IN GENERAL- The Federal share of the cost referred to in subsection
(a) may not exceed 75 percent.
(2) NON-FEDERAL SHARE- The non-Federal share of such cost may be provided
in cash or in-kind.
SEC. 5. ELIGIBILITY.
(a) IN GENERAL- To be eligible to receive a subgrant under this Act, a Friends
of the Children local chapter serving a city referred to in section 4(b) shall
submit an application to Friends of the Children, National Office, at such
time, in such manner, and containing such information as Friends of the Children,
National Office may require.
(b) SELECTION CRITERIA- In making subgrants under this Act, Friends of the
Children, National Office, shall consider the ability of the Friends of the
Children local chapter--
(1) to implement an early intervention program for the most disadvantaged
children and youth;
(2) to identify and target the most disadvantaged children and youth through
a three-tiered process of identifying the children including--
(A) several weeks of classroom (either kindergarten or first grade) observation;
(B) assessment forms completed by the classroom teachers and other relevant
school staff; and
(C) a closed session with elementary school teachers, family, counselors,
and administrators; and
(3) to participate in an evidence-based evaluation of the early intervention
program for the most disadvantaged children and youth.
SEC. 6. USES OF FUNDS.
(1) CORE FEATURES- A Friends of the Children local chapter that receives
a subgrant under this Act shall use some or all of the subgrant amounts
to carry out an early intervention program with the following core features:
(A) TARGET GROUP- The program shall target children between the ages of
5 and 7 years old for initial enrollment who--
(i) are at most risk of--
(III) juvenile delinquency and gang and drug involvement; and
(ii) are unlikely to develop any form of resiliency without intensive,
long-term intervention; and
(iii) as adults, are likely to have problems with mental illness, substance
abuse, and the criminal justice system.
(B) PROFESSIONAL MENTORS- The program shall make significant use of professional
adult role models to serve no more than eight children through one-on-one
relationships on a weekly basis for approximately 12 years.
(C) LONG-TERM INVOLVEMENT- Professional mentors will engage each child
one-on-one on a weekly basis for approximately 12 years
(2) PERMISSIBLE SERVICES- The Friends of the Children local chapter may
use some of the subgrant amounts to secure training and technical assistance
from the Friends of the Children National Office to build its infrastructure
to improve its capacity to service youth.
(b) EVALUATION AND RELATED ACTIVITIES- Friends of the Children National Office
shall use grant amounts under this Act to--
(1) prepare and implement an evaluation design for evaluating the Friends
of the Children local chapters that receive subgrants under this Act;
(2) conduct annual evaluations of the performance and progress of the early
intervention programs under this Act;
(3) provide training and technical assistance to the Friends of the Children
local chapters, based on such annual evaluations;
(4) prepare and submit to the Attorney General a report that describes the
activities of such programs and the results of such evaluations; and
(5) disseminate information and results generated from the operation of
the demonstration project and the resulting evaluation with policy makers
in the public and private sectors.
SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated to the Attorney General to carry out
this Act $7,500,000 for each of the fiscal years 2005 through 2009.
END
