II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1461

To establish a youth mentoring program.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 8, 1997

Mr. LAUTENBERG (for himself and Mr. COATS) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To establish a youth mentoring program.

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 ‘‘JUMP Ahead Act of

5 1997’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—

8 (1) millions of young people in America live in

9 areas in which drug use and violent and property

10 crimes are pervasive;

11 (2) unfortunately, many of these same young

12 people come from single parent homes, or from envi-
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1 ronments in which there is no responsible, caring

2 adult supervision;

3 (3) all children and adolescents need caring

4 adults in their lives, and mentoring is an effective

5 way to fill this special need for at-risk children. The

6 special bond of commitment fostered by the mutual

7 respect inherent in effective mentoring can be the tie

8 that binds a young person to a better future;

9 (4) through a mentoring relationship, adult vol10 unteers and participating youth make a significant

11 commitment of time and energy to develop relation12 ships devoted to personal, academic, or career devel13 opment and social, artistic, or athletic growth;

14 (5) rigorous independent studies have confirmed

15 that effective mentoring programs can significantly

16 reduce and prevent the use of alcohol and drugs by

17 young people, improve school attendance and per18 formance, improve peer and family and peer rela19 tionships, and reduce violent behavior;

20 (6) since the inception of the Federal JUMP

21 program, dozens of innovative, effective mentoring

22 programs have received funding grants;

23 (7) unfortunately, despite the recent growth in

24 public and private mentoring initiatives, it is re25 ported that between 5,000,000 and 15,000,000 addi-
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1 tional children in the United States could benefit

2 from being matched with a mentor; and

3 (8) although great strides have been made in

4 reaching at-risk youth since the inception of the

5 JUMP program, millions of vulnerable American

6 children are not being reached, and without an in7 creased commitment to connect these young people

8 to responsible adult role models, our country risks

9 losing an entire generation to drugs, crime, and un10 productive lives.

11 SEC. 3. JUVENILE MENTORING GRANTS.

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 288B of the Juvenile Jus13 tice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C.

14 5667e–2) is amended—

15 (1) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ before

16 ‘‘The Administrator shall’’;

17 (2) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the

18 following:

19 ‘‘(2) are intended to achieve 1 or more of the

20 following goals:

21 ‘‘(A) Discourage at-risk youth from—

22 ‘‘(i) using illegal drugs and alcohol;

23 ‘‘(ii) engaging in violence;

24 ‘‘(iii) using guns and other dangerous

25 weapons;
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1 ‘‘(iv) engaging in other criminal and

2 antisocial behavior; and

3 ‘‘(v) becoming involved in gangs.

4 ‘‘(B) Promote personal and social respon5 sibility among at-risk youth.

6 ‘‘(C) Increase at-risk youth’s participation

7 in, and enhance the ability of those youth to

8 benefit from, elementary and secondary edu9 cation.

10 ‘‘(D) Encourage at-risk youth participation

11 in community service and community activities.

12 ‘‘(E) Provide general guidance to at-risk

13 youth.’’; and

14 (3) by adding at the end the following:

15 ‘‘(b) AMOUNT AND DURATION.—Each grant under

16 this part shall be awarded in an amount not to exceed

17 a total of $200,000 over a period of not more than 3 years.

18 ‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

19 is authorized to be appropriated $50,000,000 for each of

20 fiscal years 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002 to carry out this

21 part.’’.

22 SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION GRANTS.

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the Office

24 of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of the De25 partment of Justice may make grants to national organi-
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1 zations or agencies serving youth, in order to enable those

2 organizations or agencies—

3 (1) to conduct a multisite demonstration

4 project, involving between 5 and 10 project sites,

5 that—

6 (A) provides an opportunity to compare

7 various mentoring models for the purpose of

8 evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of

9 those models;

10 (B) allows for innovative programs de11 signed under the oversight of a national organi12 zation or agency serving youth, which programs

13 may include—

14 (i) technical assistance;

15 (ii) training; and

16 (iii) research and evaluation; and

17 (C) disseminates the results of such dem18 onstration project to allow for the determina19 tion of the best practices for various mentoring

20 programs;

21 (2) to develop and evaluate screening standards

22 for mentoring programs; and

23 (3) to develop and evaluate volunteer recruit24 ment techniques and activities for mentoring pro25 grams.
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1 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is

2 authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 for each of the

3 fiscal years 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002 to carry out this

4 section.

5 SEC. 5. EVALUATIONS; REPORTS.

6 (a) EVALUATIONS.—

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall

8 enter into a contract with an evaluating organization

9 that has demonstrated experience in conducting eval10 uations, for the conduct of an ongoing rigorous eval11 uation of the programs and activities assisted under

12 this Act or under section 228B of the Juvenile Jus13 tice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 (42

14 U.S.C. 5667e–2) (as amended by this Act).

15 (2) CRITERIA.—The Attorney General shall es16 tablish a minimum criteria for evaluating the pro17 grams and activities assisted under this Act or

18 under section 228B of the Juvenile Justice and De19 linquency Prevention Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5667e–

20 2) (as amended by this Act), which shall provide for

21 a description of the implementation of the program

22 or activity, and the effect of the program or activity

23 on participants, schools, communities, and youth

24 served by the program or activity.
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1 (3) MENTORING PROGRAM OF THE YEAR.—The

2 Attorney General shall, on an annual basis, based on

3 the most recent evaluation under this subsection and

4 such other criteria as the Attorney General shall es5 tablish by regulation—

6 (A) designate 1 program or activity as7 sisted under this Act as the ‘‘Juvenile

8 Mentoring Program of the Year’’; and

9 (B) publish notice of such designation in

10 the Federal Register.

11 (b) REPORTS.—

12 (1) GRANT RECIPIENTS.—Each entity receiving

13 a grant under this Act or under section 228B of the

14 Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of

15 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5667e–2) (as amended by this Act)

16 shall submit to the evaluating organization entering

17 into the contract under subsection (a)(1), an annual

18 report regarding any program or activity assisted

19 under this Act or under section 228B of the Juve20 nile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974

21 (42 U.S.C. 5667e–2) (as amended by this Act).

22 Each report under this paragraph shall be submitted

23 at such time, in such a manner, and shall be accom24 panied by such information, as the evaluating orga25 nization may reasonably require.
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1 (2) COMPTROLLER GENERAL.—Not later than

2 4 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the

3 Attorney General shall submit to Congress a report

4 evaluating the effectiveness of grants awarded under

5 this Act and under section 228B of the Juvenile

6 Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 (42

7 U.S.C. 5667e–2) (as amended by this Act), in—

8 (A) reducing juvenile delinquency and gang

9 participation;

10 (B) reducing the school dropout rate; and

11 (C) improving academic performance of ju12 veniles.

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