(4) An interagency task force is a task force or-
ganized in collaboration with two or more Federal 
agencies, using government-wide resources, and ex-
pertise to— 
(A) examine a particular problem, issue, or 
event; 
(B) discuss strategies as a collective group 
to address such problem, issue, or event; 
(C) identify programs, policies, and fund-
ing; and 
(D) make recommendations for changes in 
public policy. 
(5) Black women and girls are individuals who 
identify as a woman, female, or femme. 
(6) Implicit bias on the basis of race is experi-
enced by all Black people, and demonstrated more 
clearly, in the troubling conditions for Black women 
and girls in our school discipline policies and the 
connections to the school-to-prison pipeline for chil-
dren of color with disabilities. 
(7) Black girls are suspended and expelled from 
school at rates that exceed other girls and all other 
boys except Black boys. 
(8) 40 percent of all suspected human traf-
ficking victims in the U.S. are Black, and Black 
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children account for nearly 51 percent of all juvenile 
prostitution arrests. 
(9) In studying the conditions of confinement 
for women in prison, Black women are admitted to 
prison at 3.9 times the rate of White women. 
SEC. 3. INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE ON BLACK WOMEN AND 
GIRLS. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General, 
in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services, shall establish an Interagency Task Force on 
Black women and girls (referred to in this Act as the 
‘‘Task Force’’) to carry out the purposes and duties de-
scribed in subsections (c) and (d), in compliance with re-
quirements and restrictions under law, as applicable, in-
cluding those prohibiting discrimination on the basis of 
race and sex. 
(b) MEMBERSHIP.—The Task Force shall consist of 
members appointed as follows: 
(1) The head of each of the following agencies 
shall appoint at least one officer or employee, but no 
more than two, from a relevant office of the fol-
lowing: 
(A) The Department of Health and 
Human Services. 
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(B) The Department of Education. 
(C) The Department of Labor. 
(D) The National Institutes of Health. 
(E) The Department of Justice. 
(F) The Department of Housing and 
Urban Development. 
(2) The Attorney General shall appoint the fol-
lowing: 
(A) One officer or employee of the Federal 
Public Defenders. 
(B) Two representatives of community- 
based organizations that have expertise working 
on culturally specific issues unique to the needs 
of Black women and girls. 
(3) The term of a member of the Task Force 
shall be 4 years, and they shall be eligible for con-
secutive reappointment by the head of their respec-
tive agency or the Attorney General. 
(c) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Task Force is to 
examine the conditions and experiences of Black women 
and girls, to identify and assess the efficacy of policies 
and programs of Federal, State, and local governments de-
signed to improve outcomes for Black women and girls, 
and to make recommendations to improve such policies 
and programs as necessary. 
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(d) DUTIES.—The duties of the Task Force are as 
follows: 
(1) EDUCATION.—The Task Force shall iden-
tify and recommend programs, policies, and incen-
tives for adoption by Federal, State, or local govern-
ments with respect to the following: 
(A) Community-led educational and sup-
port programs for Black school-age girls, which 
shall include the following: 
(i) Social and emotional learning pro-
grams offered in elementary and secondary 
schools to children in grades 7 through 12, 
including— 
(I) affinity spaces for particularly 
impacted students; and 
(II) facilitators trained in iden-
tity-based dialogue to attend to such 
an affinity space or social and emo-
tional learning program. 
(ii) Support for school-age girls who 
have a parent or guardian who is incarcer-
ated or has a substance use disorder. 
(iii) Support for a college scholarship 
fund and programs to increase access to 
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post-secondary education for children of in-
carcerated parents. 
(iv) Classroom and after school em-
powerment programs for Black girls. 
(v) Community-led civic engagement 
and community organizing education. 
(vi) Classroom and community-led art, 
theater, and STEM learning centers. 
(vii) School-based and community-led 
programs to eliminate the detention and 
incarceration of school-aged children. 
(viii) Household access to school-based 
communication technologies. 
(ix) School-based or community-based 
restorative justice programs to address ex-
pulsion of girls from school. 
(x) Curriculum, tutoring, and activi-
ties support for homeschooling and virtual 
learning families. 
(B) Community-led educational programs 
for Black women, including providing household 
access to information and communication tech-
nologies to narrow the digital divide and en-
hance access to higher education. 
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(C) School-based and neighborhood restor-
ative and transformative justice curriculums 
and spaces. 
(2) 
ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT.—The 
Task 
Force shall identify and recommend programs, poli-
cies, and incentives for adoption by Federal, State, 
or local governments with respect to the following: 
(A) Pre-apprenticeship and career explo-
ration programs for careers as skilled building 
tradeswomen. 
(B) Programs that award not less than 10 
percent of their yearly and multi-year contract 
dollars to Black women-owned businesses on an 
annual basis. 
(C) Entrepreneurship and cooperative busi-
ness training for Black women. 
(D) Incidental support for low income 
Black women workers. 
(E) Career mentorship for Black women. 
(F) Support for older Black women work-
ers to enter the workforce. 
(G) Support for Black women who leave 
the workforce to care for a dependent (such as 
an elderly relative or child) to re-enter the 
workforce after a significant absence. 
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(H) Increase in sustainable employment 
for women headed households. 
(I) Limitation of barriers to occupational 
licensure for Black women. 
(J) Establishment of vocational training 
and career technical education. 
(3) HEALTHCARE.—The Task Force shall iden-
tify and recommend programs, policies, and incen-
tives for adoption by Federal, State, or local govern-
ments with respect to the following: 
(A) Developing a study of the health, in-
cluding the mental health, of Black women and 
girls. 
(B) Programs to improve maternal health 
and infant mortality outcomes for Black moth-
ers. 
(C) Neighborhood-based, on demand men-
tal health and trauma services. 
(D) Gender-responsive domestic violence 
(including violence against an intimate partner) 
and interpersonal violence responders. 
(E) Local neighborhood safe houses. 
(F) Long-term, on demand, substance use 
disorder treatment. 
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(G) Neighborhood-based emergency re-
sponse teams for women and girls. 
(H) Access to comprehensive well-women 
care for Black women and girls, including local 
testing for mammograms, papsmears, and other 
medical testing. 
(I) Local neighborhood COVID–19 testing. 
(4) JUSTICE
AND
CIVIL
RIGHTS.—The Task 
Force shall identify and recommend programs, poli-
cies, and incentives for adoption by Federal, State, 
or local governments with respect to the following: 
(A) Reentry assistance and reunification 
planning and community-based programming 
for women victims of the war on drugs, sexual, 
domestic, or intimate partner violence, mental 
illness, or substance abuse. 
(B) Programs for Black women and girls 
that promote the treatment of underlying prob-
lems instead of incarceration, including the ex-
pansion of the use of parole and diversion pro-
grams and preventing the incarceration of 
mothers who are primary caretakers of minor 
children. 
(C) Access to legal assistance provided by 
the Office on Violence Against Women of the 
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Department of Justice for child custody and pa-
rental termination proceedings. 
(D) Funding that enables communities to 
reimagine community-based programming. 
(E) Support for formerly incarcerated 
Black women, in collaboration with community- 
led organizations. 
(F) Permitting formerly incarcerated and 
convicted women (not including incarceration or 
convictions for violent offenses, human traf-
ficking, or sex offenses) to be eligible to serve 
as a foster parent. 
(G) Judicial discretion in sentencing and 
procedures for resentencing. 
(H) Examination of policies to reform and 
limit laws requiring mandatory minimum sen-
tences. 
(I) 
Examination 
of 
vacatur 
and 
expungement laws for criminal offenses com-
mitted by victims of human and sex trafficking. 
(5) HOUSING.—The Task Force shall identify 
and recommend programs, policies, and incentives 
for adoption by Federal, State, or local governments 
with respect to the following: 
(A) Increasing access to the following: 
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(i) Permanent and transitional hous-
ing for women with children, formerly in-
carcerated women, women with disabilities, 
and elderly women. 
(ii) Legal representation for women 
with children and the elderly facing evic-
tion. 
(iii) Homeownership assistance funds 
for Black women. 
(B) Increasing accessibility and availability 
of long-term neighborhood transitional and per-
manent supportive housing for Black women re-
entering the community following incarceration. 
(e) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 180 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually 
thereafter, the Task Force shall submit to Congress a re-
port on— 
(1) the activities conducted under this section; 
and 
(2) the activities conducted under this section 
that are ongoing or are in continuation of existing 
Federal programs, including information on addi-
tional work undertaken in response to duties of the 
Task Force under subsection (d). 
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(f) RECOMMENDATIONS.—Not later than two years 
after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually 
thereafter, the Task Force shall submit to Congress, the 
President, and to each chief executive of a State or local 
government recommendations on policies, practices, pro-
grams, and incentives that may be adopted to improve out-
comes for Black women and girls. 
SEC. 4. UNITED STATES COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS RE-
PORT ON ISSUES IMPACTING BLACK WOMEN 
AND GIRLS. 
(a) DUTIES.—Not later than one year after the date 
of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the 
United States Commission on Civil Rights shall conduct 
a comprehensive study and collect data with respect to the 
effects on Black women and girls of the following: 
(1) The lack of contract opportunities with the 
Federal Government, for Black women. 
(2) The wage gap and pay equity for Black 
women in comparison to other individuals. 
(3) The high maternal mortality rate and the 
steps needed to reduce such rate. 
(4) The high infant mortality rate of Black 
girls. 
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(5) The impact of screening for breast cancer 
at an earlier age than 40 years of age for Black 
women. 
(6) The school-to-prison pipeline and its impact 
on Black women and girls. 
(7) Housing stability, homelessness, and access 
to affordable rental housing and home loans for 
Black women. 
(8) The prevalence and rate of violence against 
Black women and girls, including Black transgender 
women and girls, and the effect of prevention strate-
gies, barriers to service, and increased lethality for 
these individuals. 
(9) Excessive use of force by law enforcement, 
including where death results, against Black women 
and girls, including Black transgender women and 
girls. 
(10) The over-incarceration of Black women 
and girls, including Black transgender women and 
girls, in the juvenile and adult justice system. 
(11) Restoring Federal parole. 
(12) Establishing a moratorium on building 
new women’s prisons or jails. 
(13) Ending contracts for private prisons and 
electronic monitoring. 
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(14) Repealing of the Adoption Safe Families 
Act of 1997 (Public Law 105–89; 111 Stat. 2115). 
(15) Repealing any policy or law that creates 
barriers to housing or precludes formerly incarcer-
ated people from living with family members in pub-
lic or private housing. 
(16) Neighborhood family reunification support. 
(17) The high rate of sex trafficking of Black 
women and girls, and the impact of State vacatur 
and expungement laws for victims of human and sex 
trafficking. 
(18) Any additional items described in section 
3(d) that the Commission determines appropriate. 
(b) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the 
United States Commission on Civil Rights shall submit to 
Congress, the President, and make publicly available on-
line, a report outlining the Commission’s activities and 
findings under subsection (a). 
(c) INFORMATION SHARING.—All relevant entities of 
the United States Government, including the Department 
of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Serv-
ices, the Department of Education, the Department of 
Labor, and the National Institutes of Health, shall provide 
information to the United States Commission on Civil 
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Rights in order for the Commission to carry out its duties 
under this section. 
SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
There is authorized to be appropriated such sums as 
may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act. 
Æ 
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