Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB477 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 118THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 477
55 To amend title V of the Social Security Act to establish a grant program
66 for community-based maternal mentoring programs.
77 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
88 JANUARY24, 2023
99 Mrs. M
1010 ILLERof West Virginia introduced the following bill; which was
1111 referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
1212 A BILL
1313 To amend title V of the Social Security Act to establish
1414 a grant program for community-based maternal men-
1515 toring programs.
1616 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
1717 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
1818 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
1919 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Community Mentors 4
2020 for Moms Act’’. 5
2121 SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR COMMUNITY-BASED MATERNAL MEN-6
2222 TORING PROGRAMS. 7
2323 Title V of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 701 8
2424 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 9
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2828 ‘‘SEC. 514. GRANTS FOR COMMUNITY-BASED MATERNAL 1
2929 MENTORING PROGRAMS. 2
3030 ‘‘(a) I
3131 NGENERAL.—In addition to any other pay-3
3232 ments made under this title to a State, the Secretary shall 4
3333 make grants to eligible entities to conduct demonstration 5
3434 projects for, and enable such entities to deliver services 6
3535 under, community-based mentoring programs that satisfy 7
3636 the requirements of subsection (c) to eligible mothers in 8
3737 order to promote improvements in maternal and child well- 9
3838 being, financial stewardship, child development, parenting, 10
3939 and access to social services and other community re-11
4040 sources. 12
4141 ‘‘(b) A
4242 PPLICATION.—The Secretary may not award 13
4343 funds made available under this subsection on a non-14
4444 competitive basis, and may not provide any such funds to 15
4545 an entity for the purpose of carrying out a community- 16
4646 based mentoring program unless the entity has submitted 17
4747 an application to the Secretary that includes— 18
4848 ‘‘(1) a description of how the programs or ac-19
4949 tivities proposed in the application will improve ma-20
5050 ternal mental and physical health outcomes in a 21
5151 service area identified by the entity, substantially in-22
5252 crease the number of eligible mothers in a service 23
5353 area with access to a community-based mentoring 24
5454 relationship, utilize community volunteer mentors, 25
5555 and supplement, including by avoiding duplication 26
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5959 with, existing social services and community re-1
6060 sources; 2
6161 ‘‘(2) a description of how the program will part-3
6262 ner with other community institutions, including pri-4
6363 vate institutions, in identifying eligible mothers in 5
6464 need of a mentor and, as applicable, creating sup-6
6565 port communities among eligible mothers; 7
6666 ‘‘(3) a description of the populations to be 8
6767 served by the entity, including specific information 9
6868 on how the entity will serve eligible mothers who be-10
6969 long to high-risk populations as identified in sub-11
7070 section (d); 12
7171 ‘‘(4) a description of the maternal and child 13
7272 health indicators, financial well-being, and other 14
7373 needs of populations to be served by the entity as 15
7474 described in paragraph (3), including, to the extent 16
7575 practicable, the prevalence of mentoring opportuni-17
7676 ties for such populations; 18
7777 ‘‘(5) the quantifiable benchmarks that will be 19
7878 used to measure program success; 20
7979 ‘‘(6) a commitment by the entity to consult 21
8080 with experts with a demonstrated history of men-22
8181 toring and case management success in achieving 23
8282 the outcomes described in subsection (c)(2)(A) in de-24
8383 veloping the programs and activities; and 25
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8787 ‘‘(7) such other application information as the 1
8888 Secretary may deem necessary, with the goal of 2
8989 minimizing the application burden on small non-3
9090 governmental organizations that would otherwise 4
9191 qualify for the grant. 5
9292 ‘‘(c) R
9393 EQUIREMENTS.— 6
9494 ‘‘(1) C
9595 ORE COMPONENTS .—A community ma-7
9696 ternal mentoring program conducted with a grant 8
9797 made under this section shall include the following 9
9898 core components: 10
9999 ‘‘(A) Provision of community-based men-11
100100 toring relationships for eligible mothers, which 12
101101 may include dedicated individual mentors and 13
102102 networks of peer and community support 14
103103 groups. 15
104104 ‘‘(B) An individualized needs assessment 16
105105 for each eligible mother participating in the 17
106106 program, to be administered at the outset of 18
107107 the program. 19
108108 ‘‘(C) Recruitment and utilization of com-20
109109 munity-based, volunteer mentors. 21
110110 ‘‘(D) Provision of training to participating 22
111111 mentors to equip them with mentoring best 23
112112 practices and knowledge of public and private 24
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116116 resources available to eligible mothers (includ-1
117117 ing public social services). 2
118118 ‘‘(2) M
119119 EASURABLE IMPROVEMENTS IN BENCH -3
120120 MARK AREAS.— 4
121121 ‘‘(A) I
122122 N GENERAL.—The eligible entity 5
123123 shall establish, subject to the approval of the 6
124124 Secretary, quantifiable, measurable 3- and 5- 7
125125 year benchmarks demonstrating the program 8
126126 results in improvements for eligible mothers 9
127127 participating in the program in the following 10
128128 areas: 11
129129 ‘‘(i) The number of eligible mothers in 12
130130 the eligible entity’s service area with access 13
131131 to a community-based mentoring relation-14
132132 ship. 15
133133 ‘‘(ii) Improved maternal and child 16
134134 health, including mental and behavioral 17
135135 health. 18
136136 ‘‘(iii) Improved financial literacy. 19
137137 ‘‘(iv) Improved family economic self- 20
138138 sufficiency. 21
139139 ‘‘(v) Improved coordination and refer-22
140140 rals for other community resources and 23
141141 supports, including public and private re-24
142142 sources. 25
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146146 ‘‘(B) DEMONSTRATION OF IMPROVE -1
147147 MENT.— 2
148148 ‘‘(i) R
149149 EPORT TO THE SECRETARY .— 3
150150 Not later than 30 days after the end of the 4
151151 third year in which the eligible entity con-5
152152 ducts the program, the entity shall submit 6
153153 to the Secretary a report describing the 7
154154 program’s results in the areas specified in 8
155155 subparagraph (A). 9
156156 ‘‘(ii) I
157157 MPROVEMENT PLAN .—If the re-10
158158 port submitted to the Secretary fails to 11
159159 demonstrate improvements in at least 3 of 12
160160 the areas outlined in subparagraph (A), 13
161161 the eligible entity shall develop and imple-14
162162 ment a plan to improve outcomes in each 15
163163 of the areas specified in subparagraph (A), 16
164164 subject to approval by the Secretary. 17
165165 ‘‘(iii) N
166166 O IMPROVEMENT OR FAILURE 18
167167 TO SUBMIT REPORT .—If, 1 year after an 19
168168 eligible entity submits an improvement 20
169169 plan under clause (ii), the Secretary deter-21
170170 mines that the entity has failed to dem-22
171171 onstrate any improvement in the areas 23
172172 specified in subparagraph (A), or if the 24
173173 Secretary determines that an eligible entity 25
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177177 has failed to submit the report required 1
178178 under clause (i), and has not agreed to a 2
179179 reasonable timeline to submit such report 3
180180 under such conditions as may be deter-4
181181 mined by the Secretary, the Secretary shall 5
182182 terminate the entity’s grant and may re-6
183183 allocate any unpaid grant funds toward fu-7
184184 ture grants provided under this section. 8
185185 ‘‘(3) I
186186 MPROVEMENTS IN PARTICIPANT OUT -9
187187 COMES.— 10
188188 ‘‘(A) I
189189 N GENERAL.—The program is de-11
190190 signed, with respect to an eligible mother par-12
191191 ticipating in the program, to result in the par-13
192192 ticipant outcomes described in subparagraph 14
193193 (B) that are relevant to the mother (as deter-15
194194 mined pursuant to an individualized needs as-16
195195 sessment administered to the mother). 17
196196 ‘‘(B) P
197197 ARTICIPANT OUTCOMES .—The par-18
198198 ticipant outcomes described in this subpara-19
199199 graph are the following: 20
200200 ‘‘(i) Improvements in prenatal and 21
201201 maternal health, including mental and be-22
202202 havioral health and improved pregnancy 23
203203 outcomes. 24
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207207 ‘‘(ii) Improvements in child health 1
208208 and development, including the prevention 2
209209 of child injuries and maltreatment. 3
210210 ‘‘(iii) Higher levels of engagement be-4
211211 tween mothers, children, and their health 5
212212 providers. 6
213213 ‘‘(iv) Reductions in mother’s stress 7
214214 and anxiety. 8
215215 ‘‘(v) Improvements in parenting skills. 9
216216 ‘‘(vi) Improvement in financial literacy 10
217217 skills. 11
218218 ‘‘(vii) Improvements in child’s school 12
219219 readiness and academic achievement. 13
220220 ‘‘(viii) Improvements in family eco-14
221221 nomic self-sufficiency. 15
222222 ‘‘(ix) Improvements in the coordina-16
223223 tion of referrals for, and the provision of, 17
224224 other community resources, including pri-18
225225 vate and public resources, and supports for 19
226226 eligible families. 20
227227 ‘‘(d) P
228228 RIORITIZATION.—An eligible entity receiving a 21
229229 grant under this section shall identify and prioritize high- 22
230230 risk populations in provision of services, including— 23
231231 ‘‘(1) low-income eligible mothers; 24
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235235 ‘‘(2) eligible mothers who are pregnant women 1
236236 who have not attained the age of 21; 2
237237 ‘‘(3) eligible mothers from populations with a 3
238238 high risk of maternal morbidity; 4
239239 ‘‘(4) eligible mothers with a history of sub-5
240240 stance abuse or victims of domestic abuse; 6
241241 ‘‘(5) eligible mothers with children with develop-7
242242 mental disabilities; and 8
243243 ‘‘(6) eligible mothers residing in a qualified op-9
244244 portunity zone, as designated under section 1400Z– 10
245245 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 11
246246 ‘‘(e) M
247247 AINTENANCE OFEFFORT.—Funds provided to 12
248248 an eligible entity under a grant awarded under subsection 13
249249 (a) shall supplement, and not supplant, funds from other 14
250250 sources for maternal mentorship or case management 15
251251 services. 16
252252 ‘‘(f)(1) E
253253 VALUATION.—The Secretary shall engage in 17
254254 ongoing research and evaluation activities in order to in-18
255255 crease knowledge about the implementation and effective-19
256256 ness of community maternal mentoring programs. The 20
257257 Secretary may carry out such activities directly, or 21
258258 through grants, cooperative agreements, or contracts, and 22
259259 shall submit a report to Congress not less than annually 23
260260 on the research and evaluation steps being taken to meas-24
261261 ure the impact and effectiveness of programs funded 25
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265265 under this subchapter, as well as any interim outcomes 1
266266 that may be available. 2
267267 ‘‘(2) R
268268 EPORTREQUIREMENT.—Not later than 3 3
269269 years after the date of enactment of this section, the Sec-4
270270 retary shall submit a report to Congress on the effective-5
271271 ness of programs funded with grants under subsection (a) 6
272272 in producing the outcomes described in subsection 7
273273 (c)(3)(B), which shall include recommendations for im-8
274274 proving program design and implementation. 9
275275 ‘‘(g) T
276276 ECHNICALASSISTANCE.—The Secretary shall 10
277277 provide an eligible entity required to develop and imple-11
278278 ment an improvement plan under clause (c)(2)(B) with 12
279279 technical assistance to develop and implement the plan. 13
280280 The Secretary may provide the technical assistance di-14
281281 rectly or through grants, contracts, or cooperative agree-15
282282 ments. 16
283283 ‘‘(h) N
284284 OFUNDS TOPROHIBITEDENTITIES.—No 17
285285 prohibited entity shall be eligible to receive a grant under 18
286286 subsection (a), or any other funds made available by this 19
287287 section. 20
288288 ‘‘(i) P
289289 ROTECTIONS FOR PARTICIPATINGRELIGIOUS 21
290290 O
291291 RGANIZATIONS.—A religious organization shall be eligi-22
292292 ble to apply for and receive funding for a program under 23
293293 this section on the same basis as a nonreligious organiza-24
294294 tion, and a religious organization’s exemptions, in title VII 25
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298298 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (including exemption from 1
299299 prohibitions in employment discrimination in section 2
300300 702(a) of that Act (42 U.S.C. 2000e–1(a))), title VIII of 3
301301 the Civil Rights Act of 1968, title IX of the Educational 4
302302 Amendments of 1987, the Americans with Disabilities Act, 5
303303 the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the Religious 6
304304 Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, or any other 7
305305 provision in law providing an exemption for a religious or-8
306306 ganization, shall not be waived by its participation in, or 9
307307 receipt of funds from, a grant provided by this section. 10
308308 ‘‘(j) A
309309 UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For 11
310310 purposes of carrying out this section, there are authorized 12
311311 to be appropriated $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 13
312312 2024 through 2026. 14
313313 ‘‘(1) R
314314 ESERVATIONS.—Of the amounts appro-15
315315 priated under this subsection for a fiscal year (or 16
316316 portion of a fiscal year), the Secretary shall reserve 17
317317 3 percent for purposes of carrying out subsections 18
318318 (f) and (g). 19
319319 ‘‘(2) A
320320 VAILABILITY.—Funds made available to 20
321321 an eligible entity under this section for a fiscal year 21
322322 (or portion of a fiscal year) shall remain available 22
323323 for expenditure by the eligible entity through the end 23
324324 of the third succeeding fiscal year after award. 24
325325 ‘‘(k) D
326326 EFINITIONS.—In this section: 25
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330330 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en-1
331331 tity’ means a local government, Indian Tribe (or a 2
332332 consortium of Indian Tribes), Tribal Organization, 3
333333 Urban Indian Organization, or nonprofit organiza-4
334334 tion, including religious organizations, with a dem-5
335335 onstrated history of serving eligible mothers. 6
336336 ‘‘(2) E
337337 LIGIBLE MOTHER.—The term ‘eligible 7
338338 mother’ means— 8
339339 ‘‘(A) a woman who is pregnant; or 9
340340 ‘‘(B) a woman who has primary caregiving 10
341341 responsibilities for a child under the age of 6. 11
342342 ‘‘(3) P
343343 ROHIBITED ENTITY.—The term ‘prohib-12
344344 ited entity’ means an entity, including its affiliates, 13
345345 subsidiaries, successors, and clinics that, as of the 14
346346 date of enactment of this section, performs, induces, 15
347347 refers for, or counsels in favor of abortions, or pro-16
348348 vides financial support to any other organization 17
349349 that conducts such activities. 18
350350 ‘‘(4) C
351351 OMMUNITY-BASED MENTORING RELA -19
352352 TIONSHIP.—The term ‘community-based mentoring 20
353353 relationship’ means a dedicated mentor and, as ap-21
354354 plicable, group of mentors or a peer support group, 22
355355 that meet regularly with an eligible mother and help 23
356356 that mother address barriers to care, mental, behav-24
357357 ioral, and physical well-being, and economic mobility 25
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361361 by providing support services and linkages to com-1
362362 munity resources. A community-based mentoring re-2
363363 lationship should, to the extent practicable, have an 3
364364 understanding of the barriers and lived experience of 4
365365 that community, which may include shared lived ex-5
366366 perience.’’. 6
367367 Æ
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