I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4973 
To provide definitions of terms and services related to community-based 
gang intervention to ensure that funding for such intervention is utilized 
in a cost-effective manner and that community-based agencies are held 
accountable for providing holistic, integrated intervention services, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 27, 2023 
Mr. CA´RDENAS (for himself, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE, Mr. TRONE, Ms. NORTON, 
Ms. ROSS, and Mr. ESPAILLAT) introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To provide definitions of terms and services related to com-
munity-based gang intervention to ensure that funding 
for such intervention is utilized in a cost-effective manner 
and that community-based agencies are held accountable 
for providing holistic, integrated intervention services, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Community-Based 
Gang Intervention Act’’. 
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TITLE I—COMMUNITY-BASED 
GANG INTERVENTION AGENCIES 
SEC. 101. COMMUNITY-BASED GANG INTERVENTION AGEN-
CIES. 
The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act 
of 1974 (34 U.S.C. 11101 et seq.) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating title VI (34 U.S.C. 11321 
et seq.) as title VII; 
(2) by redesignating sections 601 and 602 (34 
U.S.C. 11321, 11322) as sections 701 and 702, re-
spectively; and 
(3) by inserting after title V the following: 
‘‘TITLE VI—COMMUNITY-BASED 
GANG INTERVENTION GRANTS 
‘‘SEC. 601. PURPOSE. 
‘‘The purpose of this title is to offer holistic and com-
prehensive support for community-based gang intervention 
activities that focus on and engage active and former gang 
members, their close associates, and gang members in and 
returning from confinement. Gang-involved youth and 
their families require specialized intensive and comprehen-
sive services that address the unique issues encountered 
by youth when they become involved with gangs. Commu-
nity-based gang intervention involves proactive and reac-
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tive responses to gang activities on several levels, includ-
ing— 
‘‘(1) the regional level, to promote and coordi-
nate peace truces and cease-fires between groups; 
‘‘(2) the State and local level, including commu-
nity and the juvenile halls, camps, Division of Juve-
nile Justice facilities, county jails, and State prisons; 
and 
‘‘(3) the neighborhood level, including with ac-
tive gang members individually. 
‘‘SEC. 602. SUPPORT OF COMMUNITY-BASED GANG INTER-
VENTION AGENCIES. 
‘‘(a) SUPPORT OF COMMUNITY-BASED GANG INTER-
VENTION AGENCIES.—Subject to the availability of appro-
priations, the Administrator shall award grants to eligible 
entities to carry out the activities described in subsection 
(c). 
‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—For the purposes of this 
section, an ‘eligible entity’ means a community-based gang 
intervention agency that is a nonprofit organization with 
a history of and expertise in providing community-based 
gang intervention activities through a community-based 
gang intervention model. 
‘‘(c) GRANT ACTIVITIES.—Each entity awarded a 
grant under this section shall carry out activities that pro-
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mote public safety, with the specific objective of reducing 
and stopping gang-related and gang-motivated violence 
and crime, including the following activities: 
‘‘(1) Conduct street mediation by working with 
gang members and persons with influence over such 
member to defuse and de-escalate potential and ac-
tual violence between gang members and between 
rival gangs. 
‘‘(2) Develop local and regional truces by nego-
tiating cease-fires or nonaggression agreements be-
tween rival gangs and neighborhoods. 
‘‘(3) Serve as conduits who facilitate dialogue 
and relationship between gangs and neighborhoods. 
‘‘(4) Provide services that respond to the high 
levels of anxiety and stress experienced by gang 
members due to traumatic events. 
‘‘(5) Provide 24-hour, 7-day-a-week crisis inter-
vention services by responding to requests for vio-
lence prevention services made by gang members, 
the families of gang members, school officials, inter-
vention workers, social service agencies, or law en-
forcement. 
‘‘(6) Provide targeted training and technical as-
sistance to violence-plagued communities after a 
major gang-related incident. 
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‘‘(7) Facilitate the development of a community 
response plan to gang-related activities, including 
training protocols, situational scene scenarios, and 
emergency response. 
‘‘(8) Establish relationships with community 
stakeholders to inform and engage them in quality- 
of-life activities that enhance intervention activities. 
‘‘(9) Serve as intervention representatives in 
communities by attending local meetings involving 
nonprofit organizations, schools, faith-based organi-
zations, and other entities. 
‘‘(10) Develop conflict resolution skills and 
techniques to address and resolve community con-
cerns related to gang activity in order to improve the 
quality of life within neighborhoods. 
‘‘(11) Work with schools to respond to gang-re-
lated issues and crises both in and outside of school. 
‘‘(12) Provide support services for youth and 
families affected by gang violence and other victims 
of gang violence (including any individual who is 
physically, emotionally, financially, or otherwise 
harmed by criminal activity, and those affected by 
harm done to or by a family member), which may 
include— 
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‘‘(A) advocating for public sector and pri-
vate sector assistance and services; 
‘‘(B) grief counseling; and 
‘‘(C) referrals to treatment and rehabilita-
tion for cognitive, mental, emotional, physical, 
or financial injury, loss, or suffering. 
‘‘(13) Provide comprehensive mental health 
services to youth and families affected by gang vio-
lence or involvement, including— 
‘‘(A) integrated services comprised of indi-
vidual, family, and group therapy modalities, 
and psychological education provided through 
youth and parent training programs; or 
‘‘(B) gang-responsive services including 
skills training, assessing and servicing youth 
with developmental disabilities, behavioral modi-
fication, and services to address substance use 
and abuse, anger management, emotional regu-
lation, traumatic stress, family violence, depres-
sion, suicide, anxiety, and educational problems. 
‘‘(14) Provide public and private sector career 
job training, development, and placement, includ-
ing— 
‘‘(A) job-finding and job-maintaining skills, 
including skills related to resume writing, inter-
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viewing, workplace decorum, interpersonal com-
munication, and problem-solving; 
‘‘(B) information about legal rights in the 
workplace; or 
‘‘(C) financial literacy. 
‘‘(15) Assist with substance use and abuse 
treatment, domestic violence victims, and voluntary 
tattoo removal of markings on the body related to 
gang involvement. 
‘‘(d) AVAILABILITY OF VICTIMS ASSISTANCE.—An 
entity awarded a grant under this section that provides 
victim assistance under paragraph (13) of subsection (c) 
shall not discriminate in the provision of such assistance 
to an individual based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual 
orientation, socioeconomic level, or criminal history. 
‘‘SEC. 603. DEFINITIONS. 
‘‘In this title: 
‘‘(1) COMMUNITY.—Notwithstanding the defini-
tion of ‘community based’ in section 103, the term 
‘community’ means a unit of local government or an 
Indian Tribe. 
‘‘(2) COMMUNITY-BASED GANG INTERVENTION 
AGENCY.—The term ‘community-based gang inter-
vention agency’ means a community-based organiza-
tion, association, or other entity that— 
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‘‘(A) promotes public safety, with the spe-
cific objective of reducing and stopping gang-re-
lated and gang-motivated violence and crime; 
and 
‘‘(B) has a history of, or training in, effec-
tively working with gang-involved youth and 
their families. 
‘‘(3) COMMUNITY-BASED GANG INTERVENTION 
MODEL.—The term ‘community-based gang inter-
vention model’ means a holistic and comprehensive 
approach to reducing gang violence that uses the 2- 
prong approach of community-based intervention as 
defined in section 103 and an integrated approach 
of providing rehabilitative service delivery to gang- 
involved youth through trained specialists in commu-
nity-gang intervention. 
‘‘(4) GANG.—The term ‘gang’ means a group of 
individuals— 
‘‘(A) organized by geography, culture, or 
activity; 
‘‘(B) that have a group name, and may 
have other identifying characteristics of the 
group such as colors and nicknames; and 
‘‘(C) who engage in the use of violence to 
defend the members or territory of the group. 
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‘‘(5) YOUTH.—The term ‘youth’ means— 
‘‘(A) an individual who is 18 years of age 
or younger; or 
‘‘(B) in any State in which the maximum 
age at which the juvenile justice system of such 
State has jurisdiction over individuals exceeds 
18 years of age, an individual who is such max-
imum age or younger.’’. 
TITLE II—AMENDMENTS TO THE 
OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUS-
TICE 
AND 
DELINQUENCY 
PREVENTION 
SEC. 201. DEFINITION OF COMMUNITY-BASED GANG INTER-
VENTION. 
Section 103 of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 
Prevention Act of 1974 (34 U.S.C. 11103) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘except as 
provided in title VI,’’ before ‘‘the term’’; 
(2) in paragraph (44)(C), by striking ‘‘and’’ 
after the semicolon; 
(3) in paragraph (45), by striking the period at 
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(4) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(46) except when used as part of the term 
‘community-based gang intervention agency’ or 
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