I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2708

To provide for character development.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

DECEMBER 5, 1995

Mr. RIGGS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Economic and Educational Opportunities

A BILL

To provide for character development.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND PURPOSES.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

5 ‘‘Character Development Act’’.

6 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—

7 (1) to reduce the school dropout rate for at-risk

8 youth;

9 (2) to improve the academic performance of at10 risk youth; and

11 (3) to reduce juvenile delinquency and gang

12 participation.
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1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

2 For the purposes of this Act—

3 (1) the term ‘‘at-risk youth’’ means a youth at

4 risk of—

5 (A) educational failure;

6 (B) dropping out of school; or

7 (C) involvement in delinquent activities;

8 (2) the term ‘‘eligible local educational agency’’

9 means a local educational agency that has entered

10 into a partnership, with a community-based organi11 zation that provides one-to-one mentoring services,

12 to carry out the authorized activities described in

13 section 5 in accordance with this Act;

14 (3) the terms ‘‘elementary school’’, ‘‘local edu15 cational agency’’, and ‘‘secondary school’’, have the

16 meanings given such terms in section 14101 of the

17 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

18 (20 U.S.C. 8801);

19 (4) the term ‘‘mentor’’ means a person who

20 works with an at-risk youth on a one-to-one basis,

21 to establish a supportive relationship with the youth

22 and to provide the youth with academic assistance

23 and exposure to new experiences that enhance the

24 youth’s ability to become a better student and a re25 sponsible citizen; and
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1 (5) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

2 of Education.

3 SEC. 3. MENTORING PROGRAMS.

4 (a) GRANT AUTHORITY.—The Secretary is author5 ized to award grants to eligible local educational agencies

6 to enable such agencies to establish mentoring programs

7 that—

8 (1) are designed to link—

9 (A) individual at-risk youth; with

10 (B) responsible, individual adults who

11 serve as mentors; and

12 (2) are intended to—

13 (A) increase at-risk youth participation in,

14 and enhance the ability of such youth to benefit

15 from, elementary and secondary education;

16 (B) discourage at-risk youth from—

17 (i) using illegal drugs;

18 (ii) violence;

19 (iii) using dangerous weapons;

20 (iv) criminal activity not described in

21 clauses (i), (ii), and (iii); and

22 (v) involvement in gangs;

23 (C) promote personal and social respon24 sibility among at-risk youth;
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1 (D) encourage at-risk youth participation

2 in community service and community activities;

3 or

4 (E) provide general guidance to at-risk

5 youth.

6 (b) AMOUNT AND DURATION.—Each grant under

7 this section shall be awarded in an amount not to exceed

8 a total of $200,000 over a period of not more than three

9 years.

10 (c) PRIORITY.—The Secretary shall give priority to

11 awarding a grant under this section to an application sub12 mitted under section 7 that—

13 (1) describes a mentoring program in which 60

14 percent or more of the at-risk youth to be served are

15 eligible for assistance under part A of title I of the

16 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

17 (20 U.S.C. 6311 et seq.);

18 (2) describes a mentoring program that serves

19 at-risk youth who are—

20 (A) at risk of dropping out of school; or

21 (B) involved in delinquent activities; and

22 (3) demonstrates the ability of the eligible local

23 educational agency to continue the mentoring pro24 gram after the termination of the Federal funds pro25 vided under this section.
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1 (d) OTHER CONSIDERATIONS.—In awarding grants

2 under this section, the Secretary shall give consideration

3 to—

4 (1) providing an equitable geographic distribu5 tion of such grants, including awarding such grants

6 for mentoring programs in both rural and urban

7 areas;

8 (2) the quality of the mentoring program de9 scribed in the application submitted under section 7,

10 including—

11 (A) the resources, if any, that will be dedi12 cated to providing participating at-risk youth

13 with opportunities for job training or post14 secondary education; and

15 (B) the degree to which parents, teachers,

16 community-based organizations, and the local

17 community participate in the design and imple18 mentation of the mentoring program; and

19 (3) the capability of the eligible local edu20 cational agency to effectively implement the

21 mentoring program.

22 SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION GRANTS.

23 The Secretary is authorized to award grants to na24 tional organizations or agencies serving youth to enable

25 such organizations or agencies—
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1 (1) to conduct a multisite demonstration

2 project, involving 5 to 10 project sites, that—

3 (A) provides an opportunity to compare

4 various one-to-one mentoring models for the

5 purpose of evaluating the effectiveness and effi6 ciency of such models;

7 (B) allows for innovative programs de8 signed under the oversight of a national organi9 zation or agency serving youth, which programs

10 may include—

11 (i) technical assistance;

12 (ii) training; and

13 (iii) research and evaluation; and

14 (C) disseminates the results of such dem15 onstration project to allow for the determina16 tion of the best practices for various mentoring

17 programs;

18 (2) to develop and evaluate screening standards

19 for school-linked mentoring programs; and

20 (3) to develop and evaluate volunteer recruit21 ment activities for school-linked mentoring pro22 grams.
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1 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.

2 (a) PERMITTED USES.—Grant funds awarded under

3 this Act (other than grant funds awarded under section

4 4) shall be used for—

5 (1) hiring of mentoring coordinators and sup6 port staff;

7 (2) recruitment, screening and training of adult

8 mentors;

9 (3) reimbursement of mentors for reasonable

10 incidental expenditures, such as transportation, that

11 are directly associated with mentoring, except that

12 such expenditures shall not exceed $500 per mentor

13 per calendar year; or

14 (4) such other purposes as the Secretary deter15 mines may be reasonable.

16 (b) PROHIBITED USES.—Grant funds awarded under

17 this Act shall not be used—

18 (1) to directly compensate a mentor, except as

19 provided under subsection (a)(3);

20 (2) to obtain educational or other materials or

21 equipment that would otherwise be used in the ordi22 nary course of the grant recipient’s operations;

23 (3) to support litigation; or

24 (4) for any other purposes that the Secretary

25 determines are prohibited.
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1 SEC. 6. REGULATIONS AND GUIDELINES.

2 (a) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary, after consulta3 tion with the Secretary of Health and Human Services,

4 the Attorney General, and the Secretary of Labor, shall

5 provide for the promulgation of regulations to implement

6 this Act.

7 (b) GUIDELINES.—The Secretary shall develop and

8 distribute to eligible local educational agencies receiving

9 a grant under section 3 specific model guidelines for the

10 screening of mentors.

11 SEC. 7. APPLICATIONS.

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each entity desiring a grant

13 under this Act shall submit an application to the Secretary

14 at such time, in such manner, and accompanied by such

15 information as the Secretary may reasonably require.

16 (b) MENTORING PROGRAMS.—Each application sub17 mitted under subsection (a) for a grant under section 3

18 shall contain—

19 (1) information on the at-risk youth expected to

20 be served;

21 (2) a provision describing the mechanism for

22 matching at-risk youth with mentors based on the

23 needs of the at-risk youth;

24 (3) an assurance that no mentor will be as25 signed to more than one at-risk youth, so as to en26 sure a one-to-one mentoring relationship;
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1 (4) an assurance that a mentoring program op2 erated in a secondary school will provide at-risk

3 youth with a variety of experiences and support, in4 cluding—

5 (A) an opportunity to spend time in a work

6 environment and, when possible, participate in

7 the work environment;

8 (B) an opportunity to witness the job skills

9 that will be required for the at-risk youth to ob10 tain employment upon graduation;

11 (C) assistance with homework assignments;

12 and

13 (D) exposure to experiences that the at14 risk youth might not otherwise encounter;

15 (5) an assurance that the mentoring program

16 operated in elementary schools will provide at-risk

17 youth with—

18 (A) academic assistance;

19 (B) exposure to new experiences and ac20 tivities that at-risk youth might not encounter

21 on their own; and

22 (C) emotional support;

23 (6) an assurance that the mentoring program

24 will be monitored to ensure that each at-risk youth

25 participating in the mentoring program benefits
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1 from a mentor relationship, including providing a

2 new mentor assignment if the original mentoring re3 lationship is not beneficial to the at-risk youth;

4 (7) the methods by which mentors and at-risk

5 youth will be recruited to the mentoring program;

6 (8) the method by which prospective mentors

7 will be screened; and

8 (9) the training that will be provided to men9 tors.

10 SEC. 8. EVALUATION.

11 (a) EVALUATION.—The Comptroller General of the

12 United States shall enter into a contract, with an evaluat13 ing organization that has demonstrated experience in con14 ducting evaluations, for the conduct of an ongoing rigor15 ous evaluation of the programs and activities assisted

16 under this Act.

17 (b) EVALUATION CRITERIA.—The Comptroller Gen18 eral of the United States, in consultation with the Sec19 retary, shall establish minimum criteria for evaluating the

20 programs and activities assisted under this Act. Such cri21 teria shall provide for a description of the implementation

22 of each program or activity assisted under this Act and

23 such program or activity’s effect on all participants,

24 schools, communities, and youth served by such program

25 or activity.
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1 SEC. 9. REPORTS.

2 (a) REPORT BY GRANT RECIPIENTS.—Each entity

3 receiving a grant under this Act shall submit to the evalu4 ating organization entering into the contract under section

5 8(a)(1) an annual report regarding any program or activ6 ity assisted under this Act. Each such report shall be sub7 mitted at such a time, in such a manner, and accompanied

8 by such information, as such evaluating organization may

9 require.

10 (b) REPORTS BY COMPTROLLER GENERAL.—The

11 Comptroller General shall submit to Congress not later

12 than September 30, 1999, a report regarding the success

13 and effectiveness of grants awarded under this Act in re14 ducing the school dropout rate, improving academic per15 formance of at-risk youth, and reducing juvenile delin16 quency and gang participation.

17 SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

18 (a) MENTORING PROGRAMS.—There is authorized to

19 be appropriated $35,000,000 for each of the fiscal years

20 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000 to carry out section

21 3.

22 (b) IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION GRANTS.—

23 There is authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 for

24 each of the fiscal years 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000

25 to carry out section 4.

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