I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3114 

To provide grants for Civic Justice Corps programs for court-involved, 

previously incarcerated, and otherwise disadvantaged youth and young adults. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 6, 2011 

Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To provide grants for Civic Justice Corps programs for 

court-involved, previously incarcerated, and otherwise disadvantaged youth and young adults. 

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 ‘‘Civic Justice Corps 

5 Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

7 The purpose of this Act is to develop, implement, and 

8 expand educational and work experience opportunities for 

9 court-involved, previously incarcerated, and otherwise dis10 advantaged youth and young adults through service and 


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1 conservation corps and other community-based service or2 ganizations. 

3 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 

4 The Congress finds as follows: 

5 (1) On any given day, more than 500,000 juve6 nile court cases in the United States end in incarcer7 ation or probation. 

8 (2) The per diem cost of locking up one young 

9 person in a juvenile facility ranges from $24 in Wyo10 ming to $726 in Connecticut, but the American Cor11 rectional Association estimates that, on average, it 

12 costs States $240.99 per day, or around $88,000 a 

13 year, for every young person in a juvenile facility. 

14 (3) States spend nearly $6,000,000,000 a year 

15 incarcerating youth. 

16 (4) Youth who are imprisoned are up to 50 per17 cent more likely to recidivate than their counterparts 

18 who remain in their communities. 

19 (5) Nearly 70 percent of youth in residential fa20 cilities have been adjudicated for nonviolent offenses 

21 and could be safely managed within their commu22 nities. 

23 (6) The most effective programs at reducing re24 cidivism rates and promoting positive life outcomes 


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1 for youth are administered within communities, out2 side of the criminal juvenile justice system. 

3 (7) In the United States there are more than 

4 150 service and conservation corps, the direct de5 scendants of the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 

6 1930s, that operate in all 50 States, provide edu7 cational and economic opportunities to more than 

8 30,000 young people each year, and make important 

9 contributions in the communities in which they are 

10 located. 

11 (8) The Civic Justice Corps Model, developed 

12 by The Corps Network in conjunction with the Gates 

13 and Open Society Foundations, utilizes community 

14 service projects to deliver life skills, education, work15 force readiness, and supportive and transitional serv16 ices to formerly incarcerated and court-involved 

17 youth and young adults between the ages of 16 and 

18 25. 

19 (9) Data from 14 original Civic Justice Corps 

20 sites demonstrate 80 percent post-program partici21 pant placement rates and 11 percent recidivism 

22 rates among program participants (as opposed to 

23 the prevailing recidivism rate of 50 to 70 percent). 

24 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

25 In this Act: 


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1 (1) CIVIC JUSTICE CORPS MODEL.—The term 

2 ‘‘Civic Justice Corps Model’’ refers to programs 

3 that— 

4 (A) intentionally recruit and primarily en5 roll as participants in the program court-in6 volved, previously incarcerated, and otherwise 

7 disadvantaged youth and young adults between 

8 the ages of 16 and 25; 

9 (B) provide such participants with edu10 cational programming and support designed to 

11 lead to a high school diploma or its recognized 

12 equivalent; 

13 (C) provide such participants with assess14 ment, career planning, workforce readiness, and 

15 service or work experience designed to lead to 

16 unsubsidized employment, enrollment in post17 secondary education or an apprenticeship pro18 gram, the obtainment of an industry-recognized 

19 credential, or some other type of career path20 way program, including military service; 

21 (D) demonstrate relationships with local 

22 criminal, juvenile justice, and other social serv23 ice agencies and provide a range of supportive 

24 and transitional services to participants; 


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1 (E) engage participants in relevant, nec2 essary, and team-based community service 

3 projects designed to instill life and jobs skills 

4 and long-term civic engagement; 

5 (F) demonstrate relationships with local 

6 boards (as such term is defined in section 101 

7 of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (29 

8 U.S.C. 2801)) and local employers and can pro9 vide participants with appropriate post-program 

10 placements; 

11 (G) require participants to be enrolled in 

12 the program for not less than 6 months, and 

13 provide participants with at least 12 months of 

14 post-program support and services; 

15 (H) collect post-program data for at least 

16 the 12 months after such participants complete 

17 the program; and 

18 (I) have in place a plan for sustaining the 

19 program after the expiration of the grant. 

20 (2) LOCAL SUBGRANTEE.—The term ‘‘local 

21 subgrantee’’ refers to a service and conservation 

22 corps or other community-based service organization 

23 that— 

24 (A) has been competitively selected by a 

25 national intermediary to carry out a Civic JusVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:21 Oct 07, 2011 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3114.IH H3114

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1 tice Corps program that implements the Civic 

2 Justice Corps Model; and 

3 (B) demonstrates— 

4 (i) a local need for a Civic Justice 

5 Corps program; 

6 (ii) the ability to recruit and enroll 

7 court-involved, previously incarcerated, and 

8 otherwise disadvantaged youth and young 

9 adults between the ages of 16 and 25; 

10 (iii) the ability to provide the edu11 cation, workforce development, service and 

12 work experience, and supportive and fol13 low-up services described in paragraph (1); 

14 (iv) relationships with local criminal, 

15 juvenile justice, and social service agencies; 

16 (v) relationships with local boards (as 

17 such term is defined in section 101 of the 

18 Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (29 

19 U.S.C. 2801)) and employers and the abil20 ity to place participants upon program 

21 completion; 

22 (vi) the ability to collect data and re23 port on the performance measures de24 scribed in section 6(b); and 


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1 (vii) a plan to sustain the Civic Jus2 tice Corps program after the expiration of 

3 the subgrant. 

4 (3) NATIONAL INTERMEDIARY.—The term ‘‘na5 tional intermediary’’ means a national nonprofit or6 ganization that— 

7 (A) has experience in developing and ad8 ministering programs that utilize community 

9 service to deliver education and work experience 

10 to court-involved, formerly incarcerated, and 

11 otherwise disadvantaged youth; 

12 (B) demonstrates an ability to administer 

13 a competitive subgrant process that will result 

14 in the selection of no less than nine geographi15 cally diverse local subgrantees to carry out Civil 

16 Justice Corps programs that implement the 

17 Civic Justice Corps Model; 

18 (C) demonstrates an ability to provide 

19 training and technical assistance to sub20 grantees; and 

21 (D) has the ability to collect information 

22 from the subgrantees on the performance meas23 ures described in section 6(b) and report such 

24 information to the Attorney General on an an25 nual basis. 


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1 (4) SERVICE AND CONSERVATION CORPS.—The 

2 term ‘‘service and conservation corps’’ means any 

3 State or local service or conservation corps, includ4 ing a service or conservation corps carried out under 

5 the national service laws. 

6 SEC. 5. CIVIC JUSTICE CORPS GRANTS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall award 

8 grants to one or more national intermediaries to develop, 

9 implement, and collect data from Civic Justice Corps pro10 grams administered by no fewer than nine local sub11 grantees in diverse geographic locations. 

12 (b) GRANT AND SUBGRANT PERIODS.—Each grant 

13 awarded to a national intermediary, and each subgrant 

14 awarded to a local subgrantee, under this section shall be 

15 for a period of 3 years. 

16 (c) USE OF GRANT FUNDS.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each national intermediary 

18 receiving a grant under this section shall make at 

19 least nine subgrants to local subgrantees to carry 

20 out Civil Justice Corps programs that implement the 

21 Civil Justice Corps Model described in section 4(1) 

22 with the funds provided under such subgrant. 

23 (2) RESERVATION.—Each national intermediary 

24 receiving a grant under this section shall reserve— 


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1 (A) not less than 90 percent for subgrants 

2 to local subgrantees; and 

3 (B) not more than 10 percent for training 

4 and technical assistance to, and data collection 

5 from, such local subgrantees. 

6 (d) USE OF SUBGRANTS.—An entity receiving a 

7 subgrant under this section shall use the funds made 

8 available through such subgrant to carry out a Civic Jus9 tice Corps program that implements the Civic Justice 

10 Corps Model. Such program shall include the provision of 

11 educational programming and support to participants, 

12 which may include— 

13 (1) basic instruction and remedial education; 

14 (2) language instruction for individuals with 

15 limited English proficiency; 

16 (3) secondary education services and activities, 

17 including drop-out prevention, tutoring, and other 

18 activities; 

19 (4) preparation for and access to postsecondary 

20 education opportunities, including counseling and as21 sistance with applying for student financial aid; 

22 (5) work readiness training, which may in23 clude— 

24 (A) development of basic skills, such as— 

25 (i) arriving on time to work; 


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1 (ii) being prepared to work; 

2 (iii) working independently; 

3 (iv) working with others; 

4 (v) working safely; and 

5 (vi) demonstrating a commitment to 

6 produce high quality work; 

7 (B) development of job-specific occupa8 tional skills and on-the-job training; and 

9 (C) assessment of skills, career counseling, 

10 and job search assistance; and 

11 (6) development and monitoring of individual 

12 education and career plans. 

13 SEC. 6. REPORTS. 

14 (a) ANNUAL REPORTS TO THE ATTORNEY GEN15 ERAL.—Each national intermediary receiving a grant 

16 under this Act shall submit a report annually to the Attor17 ney General at such time, in such manner, and providing 

18 such information as the Attorney General may require, in19 cluding information on the performance measures re20 ported by subgrantees in accordance with subsection (b). 

21 (b) SUBGRANTEE REPORTS ON PERFORMANCE

22 MEASURES.—Each entity receiving a subgrant under this 

23 section shall annually report to the national intermediary 

24 that awarded such subgrant on the following performance 

25 measures of participant progress: 


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1 (1) The obtainment of a high school diploma, a 

2 recognized equivalent, or some other industry-recog3 nized credential. 

4 (2) Post-program placement for each partici5 pant in one of the following, and total post-program 

6 placement rates for each of the following: 

7 (A) Unsubsidized employment. 

8 (B) Postsecondary education. 

9 (C) A registered apprenticeship or further 

10 job training. 

11 (D) A career pathway program, including 

12 military service. 

13 (3) Post-program recidivism rates. 

14 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

15 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

16 this section $20,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2012 

17 through 2018. 

Æ 


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