I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5960 

To direct the Attorney General to make grants to regional gang task forces 

to prevent violence committed by and against youths, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 24, 2018 

Mr. CONNOLLY (for himself and Mr. RUTHERFORD) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To direct the Attorney General to make grants to regional 

gang task forces to prevent violence committed by and 

against youths, 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 ‘‘Preventing Gang Vio5 lence Act of 2018’’. 

6 SEC. 2. COMMUNITY-BASED VIOLENCE PREVENTION 

7 GRANTS PROGRAM. 

8 (a) NAME OF PROGRAM.—The grant program estab9 lished under this section shall be known as the ‘‘Commu10 nity-Based Violence Prevention Grants Program’’. 


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1 (b) AUTHORIZATION.—The Attorney General is au2 thorized to award grants, on a competitive basis, to re3 gional gang task forces in order to reduce and prevent vio4 lence committed by and against youths. 

5 (c) APPLICATION.—A regional gang task force, or a 

6 State or unit of local government on behalf of a regional 

7 gang task force, seeking a grant under this section shall 

8 submit to the Attorney General an application at such 

9 time, in such manner, and containing such information as 

10 the Attorney General may reasonably require. At a min11 imum, each such application shall include each of the fol12 lowing: 

13 (1) Documentation of the applicant’s record of 

14 addressing youth violence by— 

15 (A) addressing multiple influences in a 

16 child’s life, including individual, family, school, 

17 community, and societal influences; 

18 (B) embracing positive youth development 

19 and well-being; 

20 (C) ensuring prevention, intervention, and 

21 treatment strategies are trauma-informed; 

22 (D) using a comprehensive spectrum of 

23 evidence-based (research and practice) strate24 gies; 


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1 (E) considering the differential impact on 

2 populations and how they should be factored 

3 into strategy development; 

4 (F) involving stakeholders from various 

5 sectors, including youth and families, Federal, 

6 State, and local governments, tribal law en7 forcement, and faith and community-based or8 ganizations; 

9 (G) training all professionals who interact 

10 with youth on their role in preventing and re11 ducing trauma and violence, promoting well12 being, and avoiding retraumatization through 

13 the use of gender-responsive and culturally 

14 competent programming for impacted commu15 nities; 

16 (H) making effective and appropriate use 

17 of data; 

18 (I) supporting long-term investment to sus19 tain initial changes, including public-private 

20 funding and development; and 

21 (J) allocating efforts and resources based 

22 on potential impact and outcome. 

23 (2) Evidence of collaboration between the State 

24 agency designated by the Governor under section 

25 223(a)(1) of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 


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1 Prevention Act of 1974 (34 U.S.C. 11133(a)(1)) 

2 and relevant stakeholders in developing the grant 

3 implementation plan described in paragraph (5). 

4 (3) Annual performance measures and targets 

5 for the activities intended to be carried out with the 

6 grant. 

7 (4) A description of the applicant’s plan to con8 duct a rigorous evaluation of the effectiveness of the 

9 activities carried out with the grant. 

10 (5) A grant implementation plan, including a 

11 proposed strategy to reduce the violence described in 

12 subsection (b) that is evidence-based. 

13 (6) In the case of an applicant that is a State 

14 or unit of local government, a designation of a re15 gional gang task force that will be the beneficiary of 

16 the funds. 

17 (d) EVALUATION OF APPLICATIONS.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—In evaluating an application 

19 submitted under subsection (c), the Attorney Gen20 eral shall evaluate— 

21 (A) the applicant’s record of addressing 

22 youth violence described in subsection (c)(1); 

23 (B) the applicant’s evaluation plan de24 scribed in subsection (c)(4); and 


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1 (C) the quality and likelihood of success of 

2 the applicant’s grant implementation plan de3 scribed in subsection (c)(5), including the appli4 cant’s capacity to implement the plan, and evi5 dence of the collaboration described in sub6 section (c)(2). 

7 (2) PUBLICATION.—The Attorney General shall 

8 publish an explanation of how applications for 

9 grants submitted under subsection (c) will be evalu10 ated in order to ensure an objective and fair review 

11 process. 

12 (e) MATCHING FUNDS.—The Federal share of a 

13 grant received under this part may not exceed 75 percent 

14 of the total program costs. 

15 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

16 authorized to be appropriated to carry out the grant pro17 gram under this section $18,000,000 for each of fiscal 

18 years 2019 through 2023. 

Æ 


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