I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 913 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to 

strengthen mentoring programs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 9, 2009 

Mrs. DAVIS of California (for herself, Mr. ROGERS of Michigan, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. HONDA, and Ms. CORRINE

BROWN of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

of 1965 to strengthen mentoring programs, 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 ‘‘Mentoring America’s 

5 Children Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO MENTORING PROGRAMS. 

7 (a) PURPOSE; DEFINITIONS.—Section 4130(a) of the 

8 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

9 U.S.C. 7140(a)) is amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

2 (A) in subparagraph (B) by striking 

3 ‘‘achievement of such children’’ and inserting 

4 ‘‘outcomes of such children by improving their 

5 school connectedness, decreasing absenteeism, 

6 and increasing academic performance’’; 

7 (B) in subparagraph (D) by striking ‘‘and’’ 

8 at the end; 

9 (C) in subparagraph (E) by striking the 

10 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

11 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(F) to foster character education.’’; 

13 (2) in paragraph (2)(B)(iii) by striking ‘‘a part14 nership between a local educational agency and a 

15 nonprofit, community-based organization’’ and in16 serting ‘‘a consortium between one or more local 

17 educational agencies; nonprofit community-based or18 ganizations; and other partners, such as corpora19 tions or universities, or both’’; and 

20 (3) in paragraph (2)(C)(iii) by inserting after 

21 ‘‘responsible’’ the following: ‘‘and successful’’. 

22 (b) GRANT PROGRAM.—Section 4130(b) of such Act 

23 (20 U.S.C. 7140(b)) is amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (1), in the matter preceding 

2 subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘under section 

3 4003(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘under subsection (d)’’; 

4 (2) in paragraph (1)(A) by striking ‘‘(particu5 larly’’ and all that follows through ‘‘failure)’’ and in6 serting ‘‘, particularly children living in rural, subur7 ban, or urban areas facing high rates of crime, gang 

8 involvement, drug use, and dropouts,’’; 

9 (3) in paragraph (4)— 

10 (A) by amending subparagraph (D) to read 

11 as follows: 

12 ‘‘(D) an assurance that each mentor will 

13 be assigned to no more than three children, and 

14 that when assigned more than one child (which 

15 is preferable where practicable), the assignment 

16 must not undermine the mentor’s ability to be 

17 an effective mentor or to establish a close rela18 tionship with each mentored child;’’; 

19 (B) in subparagraph (I) by striking ‘‘and’’ 

20 at the end; 

21 (C) in subparagraph (J) by striking the 

22 period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 

23 and 

24 (D) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(K) information regarding the staffing 

2 plan and levels the eligible entity will use to 

3 monitor the mentor/mentee match over the du4 ration of the match; and 

5 ‘‘(L) information regarding the eligible en6 tity’s sustainability plan, specifically how the el7 igible entity will meet the required match, 

8 which is— 

9 ‘‘(i) in year 1 of the grant, at least 10 

10 percent of the amount awarded for that 

11 year; 

12 ‘‘(ii) in year 2 of the grant, at least 

13 25 percent of the amount awarded for that 

14 year; 

15 ‘‘(iii) in year 3 of the grant, at least 

16 50 percent of the amount awarded for that 

17 year; and 

18 ‘‘(iv) for an entity receiving subse19 quent funding under subparagraph (E) of 

20 paragraph (5), in all three years of the 

21 grant the match shall be at least 50 per22 cent of the amount awarded for that 

23 year.’’; 

24 (4) in paragraph (5)(C)— 


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1 (A) in clause (i) by striking ‘‘urban and 

2 rural’’ and inserting ‘‘urban, suburban, and 

3 rural’’; 

4 (B) in clause (ii)(II), by inserting after 

5 ‘‘organizations,’’ the following: ‘‘children,’’; and 

6 (C) in clause (iii), by inserting after ‘‘men7 toring program’’ the following: ‘‘and sustain it 

8 for the duration of the grant and beyond’’; and 

9 (5) in paragraph (5), by adding at the end fol10 lowing: 

11 ‘‘(E) SUBSEQUENT GRANTS.—In awarding 

12 grants under subparagraph (A), the Secretary 

13 shall consider entities who have received fund14 ing in a prior grant cycle for a new grant only 

15 if each of the following criteria are met: 

16 ‘‘(i) Performance during the initial 

17 grant was satisfactory in terms of program 

18 design and numbers of children served. 

19 ‘‘(ii) The subsequent grant will exclu20 sively support expanded service to a new 

21 geographic area or target population. 

22 ‘‘(iii) The eligible entity demonstrates 

23 that it is able to provide a 50 percent 

24 match to Federal funds for all three years 

25 of the new grant. 


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1 ‘‘(F) POLICY ON ONE ENTITY HAVING TWO

2 GRANTS AT SAME TIME.—In awarding grants 

3 under subparagraph (A), the Secretary may 

4 have in effect a policy under which an entity is 

5 prohibited from having two grants at the same 

6 time. However, such a policy shall not prohibit 

7 an entity from having two grants at the same 

8 time when the periods of the two grants overlap 

9 by three months or less.’’. 

10 (c) ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS.—Section 4130 of such 

11 Act (20 U.S.C. 7140) is amended by adding at the end 

12 the following: 

13 ‘‘(c) ENSURING QUALITY GRANTS.— 

14 ‘‘(1) SUPPORT FOR GRANTEES.—In order to en15 sure the strongest possible outcomes for children 

16 mentored through this section, the Secretary shall— 

17 ‘‘(A) provide training and technical assist18 ance to grant recipients, beginning in year 1 

19 and continuing throughout the span of the 

20 grant; 

21 ‘‘(B) track the mentoring practices and 

22 outcomes of all grant recipients throughout the 

23 3-year span of the grant utilizing a robust on24 line tracking and evaluation system; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) submit an annual report to Congress 

2 detailing the number of children served by 

3 grant recipients and the outcomes achieved for 

4 those children. 

5 ‘‘(2) RESEARCH ON SCHOOL-BASED MEN6 TORING.—In order to ensure that grant recipients 

7 have access to the most current research-based 

8 knowledge about building and carrying out strong 

9 and effective mentoring programs, the Secretary 

10 shall do the following: 

11 ‘‘(A) Consult with leading mentoring orga12 nizations and researchers, including the Federal 

13 Mentoring Council and the National Mentoring 

14 Working Group, to determine priorities for re15 search on school-based mentoring and appro16 priate research design, with consideration for— 

17 ‘‘(i) determining the ideal school envi18 ronments in which school-based mentoring 

19 succeeds; 

20 ‘‘(ii) identifying techniques for match21 ing children with specific characteristics 

22 (such as age, academic situation, risk fac23 tors) with the most appropriate mentoring 

24 models; 


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1 ‘‘(iii) determining the ideal infrastruc2 ture needed to foster the expansion of 

3 school-based mentoring in a sustainable 

4 way; and 

5 ‘‘(iv) refining best practices, match 

6 activities, and a range of mentoring models 

7 to lead to the best possible outcomes for 

8 children. 

9 ‘‘(B) Issue grants or contracts to high10 quality research entities to perform research on 

11 the priorities identified in subparagraph (A), 

12 with the following criteria: 

13 ‘‘(i) The proposed research design 

14 must meet accepted standards within the 

15 academic community. 

16 ‘‘(ii) All research results and findings 

17 must be widely disseminated to existing 

18 grantees and to the larger mentoring com19 munity. 

20 ‘‘(C) Issue grants or contracts only if 

21 amount appropriated for each fiscal year under 

22 paragraph (1) of subsection (d) exceeds 

23 $50,000,000. 

24 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS; RES25 ERVATION OF CERTAIN AMOUNTS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) AUTHORIZATION.—There are authorized to 

2 be appropriated to carry out this section 

3 $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2010 and such sums as 

4 may be necessary for each succeeding fiscal year. 

5 ‘‘(2) RESERVATIONS.—Each fiscal year, the 

6 Secretary shall reserve— 

7 ‘‘(A) not more than 5 percent of the 

8 amount appropriated for that fiscal year under 

9 paragraph (1) for expenditure on support for 

10 grantees as authorized by paragraph (1) of sub11 section (c); and 

12 ‘‘(B) not more than 10 percent of the 

13 amount appropriated for that fiscal year under 

14 paragraph (1) for expenditure on research as 

15 authorized by paragraph (2) of subsection (c).’’. 

16 (d) REVISIONS TO OTHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS.— 

17 (1) INCLUSION OF MENTORING FOR MINORITY

18 PROGRAMS.— 

19 (A) Section 7121(c)(1) of the Elementary 

20 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

21 U.S.C. 7441(c)(1)) is amended— 

22 (i) in subparagraph (E) by inserting 

23 after ‘‘programs and projects’’ the fol24 lowing: ‘‘, including mentoring,’’; and 


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1 (ii) in subparagraph (J) by inserting 

2 after ‘‘programs’’ the following: ‘‘, includ3 ing mentoring,’’. 

4 (B) Section 7205(a)(3) of that Act (20 

5 U.S.C. 7515(a)(3)) is amended— 

6 (i) in subparagraph (H)(ii) by insert7 ing after ‘‘programs’’ the following: ‘‘, in8 cluding mentoring’’; 

9 (ii) in subparagraph (I)(iii) by insert10 ing after ‘‘counseling’’ the following: ‘‘, 

11 mentoring,’’. 

12 (C) Section 7304(a)(2)(P) of that Act (20 

13 U.S.C. 7544(a)(2)(P)) is amended by inserting 

14 after ‘‘program’’ the following: ‘‘or mentoring 

15 programs’’. 

16 (2) TRANSITION SERVICES.—Section 

17 1418(a)(2)(C) of that Act (20 U.S.C. 

18 6438(a)(2)(C)) is amended— 

19 (A) in clause (iv) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

20 end; 

21 (B) in clause (v) by striking the period at 

22 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

23 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

24 ‘‘(vi) youth mentoring programs.’’. 


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1 (3) NATIONAL SAFE AND DRUG-FREE SCHOOLS

2 PROGRAMS.—Section 4121(a)(2) of that Act (20 

3 U.S.C. 7131(a)(2)) is amended— 

4 (A) in subparagraph (C) by striking ‘‘and’’ 

5 at the end; 

6 (B) in subparagraph (D) by adding ‘‘and’’ 

7 at the end; and 

8 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(E) school and community-based men10 toring programs;’’. 

Æ 


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