A bill to establish a national demonstration project to improve intervention programs for the most disadvantaged children and youth, and for other purposes.

Summary: Friends of the Children National Demonstration Act - Directs the Attorney General to establish a national demonstration project regarding early and sustained intervention programs for disadvantaged children and youth, through a project grant to Friends of the Children, National Office, which shall make subgrants to its local chapters in specified cities.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Friends of the Children National 
Demonstration Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (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.
            (2) Cincinnati, Ohio.
            (3) Eugene, Oregon.
            (4) Klamath Falls, Oregon.
            (5) New York, New York.
            (6) Portland, Oregon.
            (7) Salem, Oregon.
            (8) San Francisco, California.
            (9) Seattle, Washington.
            (10) Wilmington, Delaware.
            (11) Boston, Massachusetts.
    (c) Federal Share.--
            (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.

    (a) Programs.--
            (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--
                                    (I) abuse and neglect;
                                    (II) school failure;
                                    (III) juvenile delinquency and gang 
                                and drug involvement; and
                                    (IV) teen pregnancy; 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.