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106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2061

To establish a crime prevention and computer education initiative.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

FEBRUARY 10, 2000

Mr. BIDEN (for himself and Mr. SPECTER) introduced the following bill; which

was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To establish a crime prevention and computer education

initiative.

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 ‘‘Kids 2000 Act’’.

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

6 Congress makes the following findings:

7 (1) There is an increasing epidemic of juvenile

8 crime throughout the United States.

9 (2) It is well documented that the majority of

10 juvenile crimes take place during after-school hours.
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1 (3) Knowledge of technology is becoming in2 creasingly necessary for children in school and out

3 of school.

4 (4) The Boys and Girls Clubs of America have

5 2,300 clubs throughout all 50 States, serving over

6 3,000,000 boys and girls primarily from at-risk com7 munities.

8 (5) The Boys and Girls Clubs of America have

9 the physical structures in place for immediate imple10 mentation of an after-school technology program.

11 (6) Building technology centers and providing

12 integrated content and full-time staffing at those

13 centers in the Boys and Girls Clubs of America na14 tionwide will help foster education, job training, and

15 an alternative to crime for at-risk youth.

16 (7) Partnerships between the public sector and

17 the private sector are an effective way of providing

18 after-school technology programs in the Boys and

19 Girls Clubs of America.

20 (8) PowerUp: Bridging the Digital Divide is an

21 entity comprised of more than a dozen nonprofit or22 ganizations, major corporations, and Federal agen23 cies that have joined together to launch a major new

24 initiative to help ensure that America’s underserved
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1 young people acquire the skills, experiences, and re2 sources they need to succeed in the digital age.

3 (9) Bringing PowerUp into the Boys and Girls

4 Clubs of America will be an effective way to ensure

5 that our youth have a safe, crime-free environment

6 in which to learn the technological skills they need

7 to close the divide between young people who have

8 access to computer-based information and tech9 nology-related skills and those who do not.

10 SEC. 3. AFTER-SCHOOL TECHNOLOGY GRANTS TO THE

11 BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF AMERICA.

12 (a) PURPOSES.—The Attorney General shall make

13 grants to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America for the

14 purpose of funding effective after-school technology pro15 grams, such as PowerUp, in order to provide—

16 (1) constructive technology-focussed activities

17 that are part of a comprehensive program to provide

18 access to technology and technology training to

19 youth during after-school hours, weekends, and

20 school vacations;

21 (2) supervised activities in safe environments

22 for youth; and

23 (3) full-time staffing with teachers, tutors, and

24 other qualified personnel.
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1 (b) SUBAWARDS.—The Boys and Girls Clubs of

2 America shall make subawards to local boys and girls

3 clubs authorizing expenditures associated with providing

4 technology programs such as PowerUp, including the hir5 ing of teachers and other personnel, procurement of goods

6 and services, including computer equipment, or such other

7 purposes as are approved by the Attorney General.

8 SEC. 4. APPLICATIONS.

9 (a) ELIGIBILITY.—In order to be eligible to receive

10 a grant under this Act, an applicant for a subaward (speci11 fied in section 3(b)) shall submit an application to the

12 Boys and Girls Clubs of America, in such form and con13 taining such information as the Attorney General may rea14 sonably require.

15 (b) APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS.—Each applica16 tion submitted in accordance with subsection (a) shall

17 include—

18 (1) a request for a subgrant to be used for the

19 purposes of this Act;

20 (2) a description of the communities to be

21 served by the grant, including the nature of juvenile

22 crime, violence, and drug use in the communities;

23 (3) written assurances that Federal funds re24 ceived under this Act will be used to supplement and
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1 not supplant, non-Federal funds that would other2 wise be available for activities funded under this Act;

3 (4) written assurances that all activities funded

4 under this Act will be supervised by qualified adults;

5 (5) a plan for assuring that program activities

6 will take place in a secure environment that is free

7 of crime and drugs;

8 (6) a plan outlining the utilization of content9 based programs such as PowerUp, and the provision

10 of trained adult personnel to supervise the after11 school technology training; and

12 (7) any additional statistical or financial infor13 mation that the Boys and Girls Clubs of America

14 may reasonably require.

15 SEC. 5. GRANT AWARDS.

16 In awarding subgrants under this Act, the Boys and

17 Girls Clubs of America shall consider—

18 (1) the ability of the applicant to provide the

19 intended services;

20 (2) the history and establishment of the appli21 cant in providing youth activities; and

22 (3) the extent to which services will be provided

23 in crime-prone areas and technologically underserved

24 populations, and efforts to achieve an equitable geo25 graphic distribution of the grant awards.
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1 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro3 priated $20,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2001

4 through 2006 to carry out this Act.

5 (b) SOURCE OF FUNDS.—Funds to carry out this Act

6 may be derived from the Violent Crime Reduction Trust

7 Fund.

8 (c) CONTINUED AVAILABILITY.—Amounts made

9 available under this section shall remain available until ex10 pended.

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