I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3425

To provide grants for public information campaigns to educate racial and 

ethnic minority communities and immigrant communities about domestic 

violence. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 30, 2003

Ms. SOLIS (for herself, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mrs. CAPITO, Ms. LEE, Ms. CARSON

of Indiana, Mr. MEEKS of New York, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, 

Mr. FILNER, and Mr. GREEN of Texas) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL

To provide grants for public information campaigns to educate racial and ethnic minority communities and immigrant communities about domestic violence.

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. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Domestic Violence Pre5 vention, Education, and Awareness Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 
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1 (1) Nearly one-third of American women report 

2 being physically or sexually abused by a husband or 

3 boyfriend at some point in their lives. 

4 (2) Family violence costs the nation between 

5 $5,000,000,000 and $10,000,000,000 each year in 

6 medical expenses, police and court costs, shelters 

7 and foster care, sick leave, absenteeism, and non8 productivity. 

9 (3) The United States is becoming increasingly 

10 multicultural, and racial and ethnic minorities are 

11 expected to constitute approximately 50 percent of 

12 the United States population by 2050. 

13 (4) Two-thirds of female immigrants to the 

14 United States originate from Asia, Latin America, 

15 the Caribbean, and the Middle East, and they mi16 grate here to seek economic security, reunify their 

17 families, or escape prosecution. 

18 (5) Racial and ethnic minority women and im19 migrant women face unique challenges to reporting 

20 and getting help for domestic violence. 

21 (6) Structural inequalities experienced by racial 

22 and ethnic minority communities and immigrant 

23 communities, including poverty and discrimination, 

24 may contribute to higher rates of violence. 
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1 (7) Problems of domestic violence are exacer2 bated for immigrants when spouses control the im3 migration status of their family members, and abus4 ers use threats of refusal to file immigration papers 

5 and threats to deport spouses and children as power6 ful tools to prevent battered immigrant women from 

7 seeking help, trapping battered immigrant women in 

8 violent homes because of fear of deportation. 

9 (8) Many racial and ethnic minority women and 

10 immigrant women face cultural barriers to reporting 

11 abuse or seeking help for domestic violence, includ12 ing but not limited to strong religious beliefs that 

13 stress the importance of keeping family intact, fear 

14 of dishonor, or a belief that negative events occur re15 gardless of attempts to prevent them. 

16 (9) Many racial and ethnic minority women and 

17 immigrant women also face institutional barriers to 

18 reporting abuse or seeking help for domestic vio19 lence, including but not limited to restrictions on 

20 public assistance, limited access to immigration re21 lief, lack of translators or bilingual professionals, lit22 tle educational material in the woman’s native lan23 guage, treatment programs that do not take into ac24 count ethnic and cultural differences, prohibitive fee 
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1 structures, and inflexible or inconvenient hours of 

2 operation. 

3 SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR PUBLIC INFORMATION CAMPAIGNS TO 

4 EDUCATE RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITY 

5 COMMUNITIES AND IMMIGRANT COMMU6 NITIES ABOUT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—From amounts made available to 

8 carry out this section, the Attorney General, acting 

9 through the Violence Against Women Office, shall make 

10 grants to public or private nonprofit entities, States, and 

11 Indian tribes and tribal organizations to carry out public 

12 information campaigns for the purpose of educating racial 

13 and ethnic minority communities and immigrant commu14 nities about domestic violence, including the effects of do15 mestic violence, methods of preventing or reducing domes16 tic violence, and services available to victims of domestic 

17 violence. 

18 (b) USE OF GRANT AMOUNTS.—Grant amounts 

19 under this section may be used only to carry out public 

20 information campaigns for the purpose specified in sub21 section (a) and to provide staffing appropriate to carrying 

22 out the campaigns. 

23 (c) ELEMENTS OF CAMPAIGNS.—Each public infor24 mation campaign carried out under this section shall con25 sist of one or more of the following elements: 
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1 (1) Public service announcements. 

2 (2) Paid educational messages for print media. 

3 (3) Public transit advertising. 

4 (4) Electronic broadcast media. 

5 (5) Any other mode of conveying information 

6 that the Attorney General determines to be appro7 priate. 

8 (d) REQUIREMENTS FOR GRANT.—The Attorney 

9 General may award a grant under this section to an appli10 cant only if the Attorney General determines that—

11 (1) the campaign will be carried out in con12 sultation with local domestic violence advocates or 

13 State domestic violence coalitions; 

14 (2) the campaign is designed to be conducted in 

15 a culturally sensitive manner using one or more cul16 turally appropriate languages; 

17 (3) the applicant has an adequate plan to test18 market the campaign with a relevant community or 

19 group in the relevant geographic area, and will carry 

20 out that plan; and 

21 (4) the applicant will use effectiveness criteria 

22 in carrying out the campaign and an evaluation com23 ponent to measure the effectiveness of the campaign. 
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1 (e) AWARD CRITERIA.—In awarding grants under 

2 this section, the Attorney General shall consider the fol3 lowing criteria: 

4 (1) Whether the applicant has, or will be 

5 partnering with an entity that has, a record of high 

6 quality campaigns of a comparable type. 

7 (2) Whether the applicant has, or will be 

8 partnering with an entity that has, a record of high 

9 quality campaigns that educate the communities and 

10 groups at greatest risk of domestic violence. 

11 (f) APPLICATION.—

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a 

13 grant under this section, a State or entity must sub14 mit to the Attorney General an application that 

15 meets the requirements of paragraph (2). 

16 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—An application submitted 

17 under this subsection shall be in such form, and sub18 mitted in such manner, as the Attorney General may 

19 prescribe, and shall include the following matters: 

20 (A) A complete description of applicant’s 

21 plan for the proposed public information cam22 paign. 

23 (B) An identification of the specific com24 munities and groups to be educated by the cam25 paign, and a description of how the campaign 
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1 will educate the communities and groups at 

2 greatest risk of domestic violence. 

3 (C) The plans of the applicant with respect 

4 to working with organizations that have exper5 tise in developing culturally appropriate infor6 mational messages. 

7 (D) A description of the geographic dis8 tribution of the campaign. 

9 (E) An identification of the media organi10 zations and other groups through which the 

11 campaign will be carried out and any memo12 randum of understanding or other agreement 

13 under which the campaign will be carried out. 

14 (F) A description of the nature, amount, 

15 distribution, and timing of informational mes16 sages to be used in the campaign. 

17 (G) Such information and assurances as 

18 the Attorney General may require to determine 

19 whether the requirements specified in sub20 section (d) will be satisfied, and whether the 

21 criteria specified in subsection (e) apply. 

22 (H) Such other information and assur23 ances as the Attorney General may require. 

24 (g) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the 

25 term ‘‘State’’ includes the District of Columbia, the Com-
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1 monwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American 

2 Samoa, Guam, and any other territory or possession of 

3 the United States. 

4 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

5 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 

6 necessary to carry out this Act.

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