I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6754 

To authorize the establishment of a comprehensive school-based violence prevention program to assist youth at highest risk for involvement in gun 

violence in local communities and schools, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 13, 2023 

Mrs. HAYES (for herself, Ms. NORTON, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. 

CROW, Mr. GRIJALVA, and Ms. BROWN) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To authorize the establishment of a comprehensive schoolbased violence prevention program to assist youth at 

highest risk for involvement in gun violence in local 

communities and schools, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘School Violence Pre5 vention Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL-BASED VIOLENCE PRE2 VENTION PROGRAM. 

3 (a) TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.—The second part G 

4 (relating to services provided through religious organiza5 tions) of title V of the Public Health Service Act (42 

6 U.S.C. 290kk et seq.) is amended— 

7 (1) by redesignating such part as part J; and 

8 (2) by redesignating sections 581 through 584 

9 as sections 596 through 596C, respectively. 

10 (b) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—Section 581 of the Pub11 lic Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290hh) (relating to chil12 dren and violence) is amended to read as follows: 

13 ‘‘SEC. 581. COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL-BASED VIOLENCE 

14 PREVENTION PROGRAM. 

15 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consultation 

16 with the Secretary of Education, shall award grants to eli17 gible entities to establish or expand a comprehensive 

18 school-based violence prevention program to assist youth 

19 at highest risk for involvement in gun violence in local 

20 communities and schools (including schools funded by the 

21 Bureau of Indian Education). 

22 ‘‘(b) ACTIVITIES.—Grants awarded under subsection 

23 (a), shall, as appropriate, be used for— 

24 ‘‘(1) the implementation of school-based vio25 lence prevention programs that— 


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1 ‘‘(A) are primarily focused on providing 

2 services to students enrolled in kindergarten 

3 through 12th grade or youth younger than 19; 

4 and 

5 ‘‘(B) use strategies that are evidence6 based, culturally competent, trauma-informed, 

7 and linguistically and developmentally inclusive, 

8 and have demonstrated effectiveness at pre9 venting or reducing violence among youth at 

10 highest risk for involvement in gun violence, in11 cluding strategies that— 

12 ‘‘(i) promote community engagement 

13 that supports healthy development, includ14 ing emphasizing self-esteem and cultural or 

15 ethnic pride; 

16 ‘‘(ii) promote healing from trauma 

17 and other adverse childhood experiences 

18 that increase a young person’s risk for in19 volvement in gun violence; 

20 ‘‘(iii) strengthen the interpersonal and 

21 emotional skills of youth, such as commu22 nication, problem-solving, empathy, and 

23 conflict management; 

24 ‘‘(iv) connect youth to mental health 

25 professionals, counselors, mentors, commuVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:09 Jan 02, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6754.IH H6754

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1 nity leaders, crisis intervention profes2 sionals, community violence interrupters, 

3 or educators trained in trauma-informed 

4 care and activities; 

5 ‘‘(v) foster community engagement 

6 and safe community environments; or 

7 ‘‘(vi) lessen harms of escalating vio8 lence and prevent future risk of violence, 

9 including gun violence; 

10 ‘‘(2) technical assistance to local educational 

11 agencies and community-based nonprofit organiza12 tions with respect to the development of programs 

13 described in paragraph (1); 

14 ‘‘(3) facilitating community partnerships among 

15 youth, families, schools, local businesses, and agen16 cies with respect to such programs; 

17 ‘‘(4) increasing teacher, school leader, and other 

18 school personnel access to evidence-based trauma 

19 support services, social and emotional learning, and 

20 mental health services through professional develop21 ment; and 

22 ‘‘(5) collecting data in accordance with sub23 section (g). 


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1 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible for a grant under 

2 subsection (a), an entity shall be a partnership that in3 cludes— 

4 ‘‘(1) a State educational agency, in coordination 

5 with 1 or more local educational agencies located in 

6 a municipality or other local government— 

7 ‘‘(A) that, for not fewer than 2 of the 3 

8 years preceding the grant application— 

9 ‘‘(i) experienced 35 or more homicides 

10 per year; 

11 ‘‘(ii) experienced 20 or more homi12 cides per year and had a homicide rate 

13 that was not less than double the national 

14 average; 

15 ‘‘(iii) had high rates of violent injury 

16 or injury recidivism among youth as deter17 mined by the State; or 

18 ‘‘(iv) had a juvenile arrest rate for 

19 violent crime that was not less than double 

20 the national average; or 

21 ‘‘(B) that demonstrates a unique and com22 pelling need for additional resources to address 

23 youth gun violence; and 

24 ‘‘(2) at least 1 community-based nonprofit or25 ganization that serves the youth or families of the 


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1 youth of the 1 or more local educational agencies re2 ferred to in paragraph (1). 

3 ‘‘(d) GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION.—The Secretary 

4 shall ensure that grants under subsection (a) are distrib5 uted equitably among the regions of the United States. 

6 ‘‘(e) DURATION OF AWARDS.—A grant under sub7 section (a) shall be for a period of 5 years, and may be 

8 renewed by the Secretary. 

9 ‘‘(f) EVALUATION AND MEASURES OF OUTCOMES.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 

11 ‘‘(A) DEVELOPMENT OF EVALUATION

12 PROCESS.—The Secretary, in coordination with 

13 the Secretary of Education, shall develop a 

14 process for evaluating activities carried out 

15 through a grant under this section. Such proc16 ess shall include— 

17 ‘‘(i) the development of guidelines for 

18 the submission of program data by grant19 ees; 

20 ‘‘(ii) the development of measures of 

21 outcomes (in accordance with subpara22 graph (B)) to be applied by grantees in 

23 evaluating programs carried out through a 

24 grant under this section; and 


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1 ‘‘(iii) the submission of regular re2 ports by grantees concerning the impacts 

3 of programs carried out through a grant 

4 under this section. 

5 ‘‘(B) MEASURES OF OUTCOMES.—The Sec6 retary shall develop measures of outcomes to be 

7 applied by grantees under this section— 

8 ‘‘(i) to evaluate the impacts of pro9 grams carried out through a grant under 

10 this section, including outcomes related to 

11 the students, families, and local edu12 cational systems supported under this sec13 tion; and 

14 ‘‘(ii) to disaggregate data on such out15 comes by the subgroups of students listed 

16 in section 1111(c)(2) of the Elementary 

17 and Secondary Education Act of 1965. 

18 ‘‘(C) SUBMISSION OF DATA.—Not later 

19 than the end of each of the second and last aca20 demic years covered by the period of a grant 

21 under this section, the grantee shall submit to 

22 the Secretary and the Director of the Institute 

23 of Education Sciences a report that— 

24 ‘‘(i) includes data to evaluate the suc25 cess of the program carried out by the 


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1 grantee based on whether such program is 

2 achieving the purposes of the program; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) utilizes the measures of outcomes 

4 developed under subparagraph (B), includ5 ing high school graduation rates, employ6 ment rates, and rates of enrollment in 

7 postsecondary education and trade schools, 

8 in a reasonable manner to demonstrate the 

9 progress of the program in achieving such 

10 purposes. 

11 ‘‘(D) EVALUATION BY SECRETARY AND

12 THE DIRECTOR OF THE INSTITUTE OF EDU13 CATION SCIENCES.—Based on the data sub14 mitted under subparagraph (C), the Secretary 

15 and the Director of the Institute of Education 

16 Sciences shall submit to Congress a report at 

17 least once every three years concerning the re18 sults and impacts of the programs carried out 

19 with assistance received under this section, in20 cluding recommendations on how to conduct 

21 gun violence prevention activities with limited 

22 resources following a co-occurring emergency 

23 (such as a national public health emergency or 

24 a natural disaster). 


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1 ‘‘(2) INDEPENDENT RESEARCHER.—The Sec2 retary shall contract with independent researchers, 

3 including researchers with expertise in violence pre4 vention programs, to evaluate the performance and 

5 impacts of selected programs funded through grants 

6 under this section. Such evaluations shall be made 

7 publicly available on the internet website of the Cen8 ters for Disease Control and Prevention. 

9 ‘‘(g) INFORMATION AND EDUCATION.—The Sec10 retary shall disseminate best practices to the public based 

11 on the findings resulting from programs funded through 

12 grants under this section. 

13 ‘‘(h) ESEA TERMS DEFINED.—In this section, the 

14 terms ‘local educational agency’ and ‘State educational 

15 agency’ have the meanings given such terms, respectively, 

16 in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu17 cation Act of 1965. 

18 ‘‘(i) FUNDING.— 

19 ‘‘(1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

20 To carry out this section, there is authorized to be 

21 appropriated $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

22 2024 through 2031. 

23 ‘‘(2) EVALUATION ACTIVITIES.— 

24 ‘‘(A) BY GRANTEES.—To carry out evalua25 tion activities under subsection (f)(1), an eligiVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:09 Jan 02, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6754.IH H6754

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1 ble entity receiving a grant under this section 

2 shall use not more than 20 percent of the total 

3 amount received through the grant. 

4 ‘‘(B) INDEPENDENT RESEARCHER.—To 

5 carry out subsection (f)(2) for a fiscal year, the 

6 Secretary may reserve not more than 5 percent 

7 of the funds made available to carry out this 

8 section for such fiscal year.’’. 

9 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Part G of title V of 

10 the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290hh et seq.), 

11 as amended by subsection (b), is further amended by strik12 ing the part designation and heading and inserting the 

13 following: 

14 ‘‘PART G—COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL-BASED 

15 VIOLENCE PREVENTION PROGRAM’’. 

Æ 


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