I 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5810 

To amend title V of the Social Security Act to provide grants for schoolbased mentoring programs for at risk teenage girls to prevent and 

reduce teen pregnancy, and to provide student loan forgiveness for mentors participating in such programs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 15, 2008 

Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on 

Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend title V of the Social Security Act to provide 

grants for school-based mentoring programs for at risk 

teenage girls to prevent and reduce teen pregnancy, and 

to provide student loan forgiveness for mentors participating in such programs. 

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 ‘‘Mentor-Mentee Teen 

5 Pregnancy Reduction Act of 2008’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) The U.S. has the highest teenage pregnancy 

4 rate of any fully industrialized country. 

5 (2) One in three girls in the U.S. becomes preg6 nant at least once by the age of 20. 

7 (3) Girls who become pregnant are more likely 

8 to drop out of high school, less likely to complete 

9 college, more likely to give birth to low-birth weight 

10 babies, and more likely to live in poverty. 

11 (4) The children born to teenage mothers are 

12 more likely to have learning disabilities, less likely to 

13 complete high school, and more likely to live in pov14 erty. 

15 (5) Girls born to teenage mothers are more 

16 likely to become teenager mothers themselves; boys 

17 born to teenage mothers are more likely to end up 

18 in prison. 

19 (6) Innovative initiatives, such as increasing pa20 rental involvement and portraying the consequences 

21 of teenage pregnancy through the media, exist that 

22 can reduce the rates of teenage pregnancy and give 

23 every young person a better hope for the future. 

24 (7) Research shows that a wide variety of pro25 grams have been successful at delaying sexual activ26 ity and reducing teenage pregnancy, including efVerDate Aug 31 2005 00:52 Apr 19, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5810.IH H5810

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1 forts that engage students in community service, 

2 promote youth development, provide preventive 

3 health services, offer sex and HIV/AIDS education, 

4 and more. 

5 SEC. 3. MENTOR-MENTEE TEEN PREGNANCY REDUCTION 

6 GRANT PROGRAM. 

7 Title V of the Social Security Act is amended— 

8 (1) in section 510(d) (42 U.S.C. 710(d)), by in9 serting ‘‘and grants under section 511’’ after ‘‘under 

10 subsection (a)’’ ; and 

11 (2) by adding at the end the following new sec12 tion: 

13 ‘‘MENTOR-MENTEE TEEN PREGNANCY REDUCTION GRANT

14 PROGRAM

15 ‘‘SEC. 511. (a) From the amount appropriated in sec16 tion 510(d) for a fiscal year (beginning with fiscal year 

17 2009) which is not allotted to a State under section 510, 

18 the Secretary shall award competitive grants for the cre19 ation of school-based programs that provide mentoring to 

20 at-risk teenage girls to prevent and reduce teen pregnancy. 

21 In awarding such grants for a fiscal year, the Secretary 

22 shall give priority to programs in States that have elected 

23 not to receive an allotment under section 510 for the fiscal 

24 year. 

25 ‘‘(b)(1) No grant may be awarded under this section 

26 except to an entity that is a local educational agency (as 


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1 defined in section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary 

2 Education Act of 1965) or a community-based organiza3 tion. 

4 ‘‘(2) Funds provided under such a grant may only 

5 be used in a school-based setting for the following pur6 poses: 

7 ‘‘(A) To recruit, train, and support mentors. 

8 ‘‘(B) To hire mentoring coordinators and pro9 vide professional development. 

10 ‘‘(C) To pay for outreach materials. 

11 ‘‘(D) To provide activities that will help in the 

12 development of a mentee, such as— 

13 ‘‘(i) workshops, classes, and after-school 

14 activities, which may include family life and sex 

15 education and may provide— 

16 ‘‘(I) information that stresses the im17 portance of abstinence and postponing sex18 ual involvement; 

19 ‘‘(II) medically accurate information 

20 on the importance of contraception for 

21 those who are sexually active, on condom 

22 use, and on HIV and sexually transmitted 

23 diseases; and 

24 ‘‘(III) information that reflects mores 

25 and values of the community involved. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) preparation for standardized examina2 tions; 

3 ‘‘(iii) assistance with college entrance; 

4 ‘‘(iv) education in financial literacy; 

5 ‘‘(v) tutoring; 

6 ‘‘(vi) sports; 

7 ‘‘(vii) education in health and nutrition; 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(viii) education in the arts. 

10 ‘‘(3) No grant may be awarded under this section un11 less the grantee agrees that, in carrying out the purposes 

12 described in paragraph (2), the grantee will, whenever pos13 sible, use strategies relating to family life and sex edu14 cation that have been demonstrated to be effective, or that 

15 incorporate characteristics of effective programs. 

16 ‘‘(4) No grant may be awarded under this section un17 less the grantee agrees that only qualified individuals will 

18 serve as mentors under this section. For the purposes of 

19 this paragraph, a ‘qualified individual’ is an individual 

20 who— 

21 ‘‘(A) is a woman who has received at least a 

22 baccalaureate degree from an institution of higher 

23 education (as such term is defined in section 102(a) 

24 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

25 1002(a))); 


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1 ‘‘(B) is mentoring no more than two mentees 

2 under this section; and 

3 ‘‘(C) has been trained and screened by a local 

4 educational agency or community-based organization 

5 to do the following for individual mentees: 

6 ‘‘(i) To encourage setting goals and plan7 ning for the future. 

8 ‘‘(ii) To promote responsible behavior and 

9 help delay sexual activity. 

10 ‘‘(iii) To provide general guidance. 

11 ‘‘(iv) To increase participation in school. 

12 ‘‘(5) No grant shall be made under this section unless 

13 the grantee agrees to submit to the Secretary, in accord14 ance with the criteria of the Secretary, a report that pro15 vides information on the program conducted under this 

16 section, including outcomes and increased education and 

17 awareness about the prevention of teen pregnancy under 

18 the grant. The Secretary shall make such reports available 

19 to the public. 

20 ‘‘(6) Grantees under this section shall expend funds 

21 received under the grant not later than 18 months after 

22 the date such funds are provided under the grant. 

23 ‘‘(c)(1) Paragraph (3) of section 502(a) shall apply 

24 to grants under this section in the same manner as it ap25 plies to funding made available under section 502(b). 


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1 ‘‘(2) Sections 507 and 508 shall apply to grants 

2 under this section to the same extent and in the same 

3 manner as such sections apply to allotments under section 

4 502(c). 

5 ‘‘(3) Section 506 shall apply to grants under this sec6 tion to the extent determined by the Secretary to be appro7 priate. 

8 ‘‘(d) The Secretary shall, directly or through con9 tract, provide for evaluations of programs receiving funds 

10 under grants under this section. Such an evaluation shall 

11 cover at least 6 programs and programs representing at 

12 least 10 percent of the funding provided under this sec13 tion. Each such evaluation for a program shall describe— 

14 ‘‘(1) the activities carried out under the grant; and 

15 ‘‘(2) the extent to which such activities were effective 

16 in changing attitudes and behavior to achieve the project 

17 strategies consistent with this section.’’. 

18 SEC. 4. LOAN FORGIVENESS FOR MENTORS WHO PARTICI19 PATE IN TEEN PREGNANCY REDUCTION PRO20 GRAM. 

21 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary of 

22 Health and Human Services is authorized, from the funds 

23 appropriated under subsection (g), to carry out a program 

24 to assume the obligation to repay a qualified loan amount 

25 (as determined under subsection (b)) for a Federal stuVerDate Aug 31 2005 00:52 Apr 19, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5810.IH H5810

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1 dent loan, in accordance with this section, for an indi2 vidual who— 

3 (1) is a qualified individual to serve as a men4 tor under subsection (b)(4) of section 511 of the So5 cial Security Act; 

6 (2) has served as a mentor for the teen preg7 nancy reduction grant program authorized under 

8 section 511 of the Social Security Act for not less 

9 than 200 hours in an academic year or its equivalent 

10 (as determined by the Secretary); and 

11 (3) is not in default on a loan for which the in12 dividual seeks forgiveness. 

13 (b) QUALIFIED LOAN AMOUNT.—The amount of loan 

14 forgiveness the Secretary provides under this section— 

15 (1) shall be equal to $2,000 for every 200 hours 

16 of service an individual serves as a mentor under 

17 section 511 of the Social Security Act in an aca18 demic year or its equivalent (as determined by the 

19 Secretary), after the date of the enactment of this 

20 section; and 

21 (2) may not exceed a total of $20,000 for an 

22 individual. 

23 (c) PRIORITY.—In providing loan forgiveness under 

24 this section, the Secretary shall give priority to individuals 

25 who serve as mentors for programs under section 511 of 


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1 the Social Security Act that are carried out by local edu2 cational agencies or community-based organizations that 

3 are located in areas with the highest rates of teen preg4 nancy, as determined by the Secretary. 

5 (d) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this section shall be 

6 construed to authorize the refunding of any repayment of 

7 a loan. 

8 (e) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary is authorized to 

9 issue such regulations as may be necessary to carry out 

10 the provisions of this section. 

11 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

12 (1) FEDERAL STUDENT LOAN.— 

13 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

14 subparagraph (B), the term ‘‘Federal student 

15 loan’’ means any loan made, insured, or guar16 anteed under part B, D, or E of title IV of the 

17 Higher Education Act of 1965. 

18 (B) TREATMENT OF CONSOLIDATION

19 LOANS.—A loan amount for a loan made under 

20 section 428C or section 455(g) shall be consid21 ered a Federal student loan under this para22 graph only to the extent that such loan amount 

23 was used to repay a loan made under section 

24 428 or 428H, a Federal Direct Stafford Loan, 

25 or a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford 


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1 Loan for an individual who meets the require2 ments of subsection (a), as determined in ac3 cordance with regulations prescribed by the 

4 Secretary. 

5 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

6 the Secretary of Health and Human Services. 

7 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

8 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

9 such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 2009 and 

10 each of the 3 succeeding fiscal years. 

Æ 


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