I 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6843 

To amend the National and Community Service Act of 1990 to establish 

an Office of Civic Bridgebuilding within the Corporation for National 

and Community Service, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 25, 2022 

Mr. KILMER (for himself, Mr. BARR, Mrs. MCBATH, Mr. TIMMONS, Mr. 

JEFFRIES, Mr. REED, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. KATKO, Mr. JONES, Mr. 

FITZPATRICK, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. UPTON, Mr. DEUTCH, Miss 

GONZA ́LEZ-COLO ́N, Mrs. MURPHY of Florida, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. PHILLIPS, and Mr. BACON) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the National and Community Service Act of 1990 

to establish an Office of Civic Bridgebuilding within the 

Corporation for National and Community Service, 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 ‘‘Building Civic Bridges 

5 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CIVIC BRIDGEBUILDING. 

2 Subtitle H of title I of the National and Community 

3 Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12653 et seq.) is amended 

4 by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘PART VI—CIVIC BRIDGEBUILDING 

6 ‘‘SEC. 198T. OFFICE OF CIVIC BRIDGEBUILDING. 

7 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT AND DUTIES.—Subject to the 

8 requirements of section 195(b), the Chief Executive Offi9 cer of the Corporation may designate an Officer of Civic 

10 Bridgebuilding within the Corporation to administer an 

11 Office of Civic Bridgebuilding (in this section referred to 

12 as the ‘Office’) to carry out the following: 

13 ‘‘(1) Administer the grant program described in 

14 subsection (c) to support civic bridgebuilding across 

15 the Nation, including establishing standardized cri16 teria to track the effectiveness of projects and activi17 ties funded under such program, which shall be 

18 based on principles of scientific research. 

19 ‘‘(2) Support the Corporation in providing 

20 training in civic bridgebuilding skills and techniques 

21 (with the consideration and input of best practices 

22 collected by the Office)— 

23 ‘‘(A) for participants (including individuals 

24 who have been selected to be participants) of a 

25 program receiving assistance under a national 

26 service law; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) upon request, for an organization 

2 that receives assistance under a national service 

3 law or that is carrying out a program in which 

4 participants described in subparagraph (A) are 

5 participating. 

6 ‘‘(3) Select the members of the Advisory Com7 mittee under subsection (b). 

8 ‘‘(4) Support research and evaluations on civic 

9 bridgebuilding and the dissemination of that infor10 mation, including through— 

11 ‘‘(A) evaluation and oversight of the grant 

12 program described in subsection (c); 

13 ‘‘(B) collaboration (including through the 

14 evaluation of the activities of the Corporation 

15 relating to civic bridgebuilding and civic en16 gagement) between the Office and other offices 

17 (such as the Office of Research and Evalua18 tion), teams, or individuals within the Corpora19 tion as the Corporation determines necessary; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(C) the creation of a public research base 

22 that monitors national metrics for civic 

23 bridgebuilding and convenes research focused 

24 on evaluating the extent to which civic 

25 bridgebuilding and civic engagement activities 


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1 strengthen or weaken such bridgebuilding and 

2 engagement in the United States. 

3 ‘‘(5) Activate a public conversation about the 

4 importance of civic bridgebuilding by convening and 

5 coordinating civic bridgebuilding programs, pro6 viding resources, networking, and collaboration op7 portunities to the field, which may include— 

8 ‘‘(A) network cultivation to strengthen the 

9 community of those involved, interested, or en10 gaged in the civic bridgebuilding field, including 

11 through activities such as— 

12 ‘‘(i) in-person and virtual events for 

13 the public to showcase impactful practices, 

14 bring civic bridgebuilding leaders together, 

15 present relevant research, and explore 

16 emerging civic bridgebuilding needs; 

17 ‘‘(ii) organizing peer-learning opportu18 nities to facilitate conversations within the 

19 field of civic bridgebuilding; 

20 ‘‘(iii) organizing and distributing lists 

21 of civic bridgebuilding leaders, organiza22 tions, and groups in the civic 

23 bridgebuilding field; and 

24 ‘‘(iv) coordinating national commu25 nications among civic bridgebuilding leadVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Mar 03, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6843.IH H6843

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1 ers, including through the promotion of 

2 civic bridgebuilding programs and sharing 

3 stories of local impact; and 

4 ‘‘(B) developing or distributing resources 

5 to expand best practices in the civic 

6 bridgebuilding field, including through— 

7 ‘‘(i) the curation of a digital resource 

8 hub focused on sharing resources from en9 tities that receive grants under subsection 

10 (c), other civic bridgebuilding leaders and 

11 programs, or the research base; and 

12 ‘‘(ii) the production of new resources, 

13 trainings, or best practices based on 

14 learnings from the civic bridgebuilding 

15 field. 

16 ‘‘(b) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.— 

17 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established 

18 within the Office of Civic Bridgebuilding an Advi19 sory Committee (in this subsection referred to as the 

20 ‘Committee’). 

21 ‘‘(2) MEMBERS.— 

22 ‘‘(A) SELECTION.—The Officer of Civic 

23 Bridgebuilding shall select 9 members of an Ad24 visory Committee, including a Chairperson of 

25 the Committee, and ensure that such ComVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Mar 03, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6843.IH H6843

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1 mittee is comprised of civic bridgebuilding lead2 ers who represent diverse ideological, religious, 

3 racial, regional, or ethnic communities, and 

4 with relevant experience and expertise from the 

5 civic bridgebuilding field. 

6 ‘‘(B) TERMS OF SERVICE.—A member of 

7 the Committee shall serve for a term of 3 years. 

8 ‘‘(3) DUTIES.—The Advisory Committee shall 

9 carry out the following: 

10 ‘‘(A) Provide advice and consultation to 

11 the Officer of Civic Bridgebuilding on the prior12 ities and administration of such Office. 

13 ‘‘(B) Conduct an annual review of grants 

14 awarded under subsection (c), with a focus to 

15 diversity, equity, and inclusion, and identifying 

16 any gaps or needs that emerged from previous 

17 application cycles. 

18 ‘‘(C) Conduct an annual review of the 

19 process of awarding grants under subsection 

20 (c), including rubrics or metrics for grant selec21 tion used by the Officer of Civic Bridgebuilding. 

22 ‘‘(D) Review the analysis provided under 

23 the peer review process under subsection (c)(5). 

24 ‘‘(c) CIVIC BRIDGEBUILDING PILOT GRANT PRO25 GRAM.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—From the amounts appro2 priated to carry out this subsection, the Corporation 

3 (acting through the Officer of Civic Bridgebuilding 

4 and in consultation with the Advisory Committee es5 tablished under subsection (b)) shall carry out a 

6 pilot program for a 3-year period (with the possi7 bility of renewal for additional 3-year periods) to 

8 award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible enti9 ties to support civic bridgebuilding programs across 

10 the Nation. 

11 ‘‘(2) GRANT PERIOD.—A grant awarded under 

12 this subsection shall be for a 1-year period. There 

13 shall be 3 grant cycles under the 3-year pilot pro14 gram. 

15 ‘‘(3) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a 

16 grant under this subsection, an eligible entity shall 

17 submit an application to the Corporation at such 

18 time, in such manner, and containing such informa19 tion as the Corporation may require, including— 

20 ‘‘(A) a description of the project that will 

21 be funded with the grant; 

22 ‘‘(B) an assurance that such project will— 

23 ‘‘(i) provide evidence of engaging di24 verse communities; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) facilitate the creation or endur2 ance of civic bridgebuilding or address the 

3 root causes of polarization as articulated in 

4 the research base; 

5 ‘‘(iii) cite research supporting the effi6 cacy and impact of the proposed approach 

7 for the project; and 

8 ‘‘(iv) ensure physical, social, and psy9 chological safety for all participants in10 volved in the project and provide a descrip11 tion of evidence-based best practices for 

12 how this goal will be achieved; and 

13 ‘‘(C) an assurance that the eligible entity 

14 will report outcomes of such project to track ef15 fectiveness based on standardized criteria estab16 lished by the Office of Civic Bridgebuilding 

17 under subsection (a)(1) or will evaluate the im18 pact of such project based on principles of sci19 entific research. 

20 ‘‘(4) USES OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity re21 ceiving a grant under this subsection shall use such 

22 grant to carry out a project to advance civic 

23 bridgebuilding in communities across the Nation or 

24 address the root causes of polarization as articulated 

25 in the research base. 


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1 ‘‘(5) PEER REVIEW PROCESS.—The Corporation 

2 shall establish a peer review process which shall in3 clude consultation with research communities in the 

4 civic bridgebuilding field to analyze the process of 

5 awarding grants (and the grants that are awarded) 

6 under this subsection. 

7 ‘‘(d) COMPTROLLER GENERAL.—The Comptroller 

8 General of the United States shall, on an annual basis, 

9 submit to Congress a report, which summarizes and as10 sesses the effectiveness and impact of the activities carried 

11 out under grants awarded under subsection (c). 

12 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

13 ‘‘(1) CIVIC BRIDGEBUILDING.—The term ‘civic 

14 bridgebuilding’— 

15 ‘‘(A) means activities that foster respect 

16 between diverse communities, strengthen rela17 tionships across lines of difference, and forge a 

18 sense of common civic purpose, and which seeks 

19 to solve community problems and diminish po20 larization; and 

21 ‘‘(B) includes— 

22 ‘‘(i) activities that take place in local 

23 communities, where individuals and insti24 tutions come together to build empathy, 


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1 strengthen belonging, and address local 

2 issues; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) activities at the field level, where 

4 civic bridgebuilding leaders work together 

5 to share research and best practices, learn 

6 from one another, and grow civic 

7 bridgebuilding efforts. 

8 ‘‘(2) CIVIC BRIDGEBUILDING LEADER.—The 

9 term ‘civic bridgebuilding leader’ means an indi10 vidual who leads civic bridgebuilding programs or ef11 forts. 

12 ‘‘(3) CIVIC BRIDGEBUILDING PROGRAM.—The 

13 term ‘civic bridgebuilding program’ means a pro14 gram, project, or activity which embodies or works 

15 to achieves the goals of civic bridgebuilding. 

16 ‘‘(4) CIVIC ENGAGEMENT.—The term ‘civic en17 gagement’ means an individual or collective action 

18 designed to address a public concern or an unmet 

19 human, educational, health care, environmental, or 

20 public safety need. 

21 ‘‘(5) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en22 tity’ means a nonprofit entity, public institution, ele23 mentary school, secondary school, institution of 

24 higher education, religious group, or consortium of 

25 any such entities. 


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1 ‘‘(6) PUBLIC INSTITUTION.—The term ‘public 

2 institution’ means a library, unit of local govern3 ment, or other entity expending public funds or per4 forming public functions. 

5 ‘‘(7) RESEARCH.—The term ‘research’ means 

6 research which embodies principles of scientific re7 search. 

8 ‘‘(8) RESEARCH BASE.—The term ‘research 

9 base’ means any publications that contain observa10 tions, analysis, and conclusions based on principles 

11 of scientific research with respect to the challenges 

12 of political and social polarization in the United 

13 States, and practical approaches to strengthen social 

14 cohesion, foster a sense of national connection, or 

15 improve intergroup relations in divided communities. 

16 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

17 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

18 $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2025.’’. 

19 SEC. 3. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

20 The table of contents in section 1(b) of the National 

21 and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12501 

22 note) is amended by inserting at the end of the item relat23 ing to subtitle H of title I, the following: 

‘‘PART VI—CIVIC BRIDGEBUILDING

‘‘Sec. 198T. Office of Civic Bridgebuilding.’’. 

Æ 


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