II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 48
To amend title V of the Social Security Act to establish a grant program
for community-based maternal mentoring programs.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY24 (legislative day, JANUARY3), 2023
Mr. R
UBIOintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on Finance
A BILL
To amend title V of the Social Security Act to establish
a grant program for community-based maternal men-
toring programs.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Community Mentors 4
for Moms Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR COMMUNITY-BASED MATERNAL MEN-6
TORING PROGRAMS. 7
Title V of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 701 8
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 9
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‘‘SEC. 514. GRANTS FOR COMMUNITY-BASED MATERNAL 1
MENTORING PROGRAMS. 2
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—In addition to any other pay-3
ments made under this title to a State, the Secretary shall 4
make grants to eligible entities to conduct demonstration 5
projects for, and enable such entities to deliver services 6
under, community-based mentoring programs that satisfy 7
the requirements of subsection (c) to eligible mothers in 8
order to promote improvements in maternal and child well- 9
being, financial stewardship, child development, parenting, 10
and access to social services and other community re-11
sources. 12
‘‘(b) A
PPLICATION.—The Secretary may not award 13
funds made available under this subsection on a non-14
competitive basis, and may not provide any such funds to 15
an entity for the purpose of carrying out a community- 16
based mentoring program unless the entity has submitted 17
an application to the Secretary that includes— 18
‘‘(1) a description of how the programs or ac-19
tivities proposed in the application will improve ma-20
ternal mental and physical health outcomes in a 21
service area identified by the entity, substantially in-22
crease the number of eligible mothers in a service 23
area with access to a community-based mentoring 24
relationship, utilize community volunteer mentors, 25
and supplement, including by avoiding duplication 26
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with, existing social services and community re-1
sources; 2
‘‘(2) a description of how the program will part-3
ner with other community institutions, including pri-4
vate institutions, in identifying eligible mothers in 5
need of a mentor and, as applicable, creating sup-6
port communities among eligible mothers; 7
‘‘(3) a description of the populations to be 8
served by the entity, including specific information 9
on how the entity will serve eligible mothers who be-10
long to high-risk populations as identified in sub-11
section (d); 12
‘‘(4) a description of the maternal and child 13
health indicators, financial well-being, and other 14
needs of populations to be served by the entity as 15
described in paragraph (3), including, to the extent 16
practicable, the prevalence of mentoring opportuni-17
ties for such populations; 18
‘‘(5) the quantifiable benchmarks that will be 19
used to measure program success; 20
‘‘(6) a commitment by the entity to consult 21
with experts with a demonstrated history of men-22
toring and case management success in achieving 23
the outcomes described in subsection (c)(2)(A) in de-24
veloping the programs and activities; 25
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‘‘(7) a commitment by the entity to ensure 1
mentors to not refer or counsel in favor of abortions; 2
and 3
‘‘(8) such other application information as the 4
Secretary may deem necessary, with the goal of 5
minimizing the application burden on small non-6
governmental organizations that would otherwise 7
qualify for the grant. 8
‘‘(c) R
EQUIREMENTS.— 9
‘‘(1) C
ORE COMPONENTS .—A community ma-10
ternal mentoring program conducted with a grant 11
made under this section shall include the following 12
core components: 13
‘‘(A) Provision of community-based men-14
toring relationships for eligible mothers, which 15
may include dedicated individual mentors and 16
networks of peer and community support 17
groups. 18
‘‘(B) An individualized needs assessment 19
for each eligible mother participating in the 20
program, to be administered at the outset of 21
the program. 22
‘‘(C) Recruitment and utilization of com-23
munity-based, volunteer mentors. 24
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‘‘(D) Provision of training to participating 1
mentors to equip them with mentoring best 2
practices and knowledge of public and private 3
resources available to eligible mothers (includ-4
ing public social services). 5
‘‘(2) M
EASURABLE IMPROVEMENTS IN BENCH -6
MARK AREAS.— 7
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The eligible entity 8
shall establish, subject to the approval of the 9
Secretary, quantifiable, measurable 3- and 5- 10
year benchmarks demonstrating the program 11
results in improvements for eligible mothers 12
participating in the program in the following 13
areas: 14
‘‘(i) The number of eligible mothers in 15
the eligible entity’s service area with access 16
to a community-based mentoring relation-17
ship. 18
‘‘(ii) Improved maternal and child 19
health, including mental and behavioral 20
health. 21
‘‘(iii) Improved financial literacy. 22
‘‘(iv) Improved family economic self- 23
sufficiency. 24
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‘‘(v) Improved coordination and refer-1
rals for other community resources and 2
supports, including public and private re-3
sources. 4
‘‘(B) D
EMONSTRATION OF IMPROVE -5
MENT.— 6
‘‘(i) R
EPORT TO THE SECRETARY .— 7
Not later than 30 days after the end of the 8
third year in which the eligible entity con-9
ducts the program, the entity shall submit 10
to the Secretary a report describing the 11
program’s results in the areas specified in 12
subparagraph (A). 13
‘‘(ii) I
MPROVEMENT PLAN .—If the re-14
port submitted to the Secretary fails to 15
demonstrate improvements in at least 3 of 16
the areas outlined in subparagraph (A), 17
the eligible entity shall develop and imple-18
ment a plan to improve outcomes in each 19
of the areas specified in subparagraph (A), 20
subject to approval by the Secretary. 21
‘‘(iii) N
O IMPROVEMENT OR FAILURE 22
TO SUBMIT REPORT .—If, 1 year after an 23
eligible entity submits an improvement 24
plan under clause (ii), the Secretary deter-25
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mines that the entity has failed to dem-1
onstrate any improvement in the areas 2
specified in subparagraph (A), or if the 3
Secretary determines that an eligible entity 4
has failed to submit the report required 5
under clause (i), and has not agreed to a 6
reasonable timeline to submit such report 7
under such conditions as may be deter-8
mined by the Secretary, the Secretary shall 9
terminate the entity’s grant and may re-10
allocate any unpaid grant funds toward fu-11
ture grants provided under this section. 12
‘‘(3) I
MPROVEMENTS IN PARTICIPANT OUT -13
COMES.— 14
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The program is de-15
signed, with respect to an eligible mother par-16
ticipating in the program, to result in the par-17
ticipant outcomes described in subparagraph 18
(B) that are relevant to the mother (as deter-19
mined pursuant to an individualized needs as-20
sessment administered to the mother). 21
‘‘(B) P
ARTICIPANT OUTCOMES .—The par-22
ticipant outcomes described in this subpara-23
graph are the following: 24
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‘‘(i) Improvements in prenatal and 1
maternal health, including mental and be-2
havioral health and improved pregnancy 3
outcomes. 4
‘‘(ii) Improvements in child health 5
and development, including the prevention 6
of child injuries and maltreatment. 7
‘‘(iii) Higher levels of engagement be-8
tween mothers, children, and their health 9
providers. 10
‘‘(iv) Reductions in mothers’ stress 11
and anxiety. 12
‘‘(v) Improvements in parenting skills. 13
‘‘(vi) Improvement in financial literacy 14
skills. 15
‘‘(vii) Improvements in child’s school 16
readiness and academic achievement. 17
‘‘(viii) Improvements in family eco-18
nomic self-sufficiency. 19
‘‘(ix) Improvements in the coordina-20
tion of referrals for, and the provision of, 21
other community resources, including pri-22
vate and public resources, and supports for 23
eligible families. 24
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‘‘(d) PRIORITIZATION.—An eligible entity receiving a 1
grant under this section shall identify and prioritize high- 2
risk populations in provision of services, including— 3
‘‘(1) low-income eligible mothers; 4
‘‘(2) eligible mothers who are pregnant women 5
who have not attained the age of 21; 6
‘‘(3) eligible mothers from populations with a 7
high risk of maternal morbidity; 8
‘‘(4) eligible mothers with a history of sub-9
stance abuse or victims of domestic abuse; 10
‘‘(5) eligible mothers with children with develop-11
mental disabilities; and 12
‘‘(6) eligible mothers residing in a qualified op-13
portunity zone, as designated under section 1400Z– 14
1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 15
‘‘(e) M
AINTENANCE OFEFFORT.—Funds provided to 16
an eligible entity under a grant awarded under subsection 17
(a) shall supplement, and not supplant, funds from other 18
sources for maternal mentorship or case management 19
services. 20
‘‘(f) E
VALUATION.— 21
‘‘(1) O
NGOING RESEARCH AND EVALUATION .— 22
The Secretary shall engage in ongoing research and 23
evaluation activities in order to increase knowledge 24
about the implementation and effectiveness of com-25
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munity maternal mentoring programs. The Sec-1
retary may carry out such activities directly, or 2
through grants, cooperative agreements, or con-3
tracts, and shall submit a report to Congress not 4
less than annually on the research and evaluation 5
steps being taken to measure the impact and effec-6
tiveness of programs funded under this section, as 7
well as any interim outcomes that may be available. 8
‘‘(2) R
EPORT REQUIREMENT .—Not later than 3 9
years after the date of enactment of this section, the 10
Secretary shall submit a report to Congress on the 11
effectiveness of programs funded with grants under 12
subsection (a) in producing the outcomes described 13
in subsection (c)(3)(B), and shall include in such re-14
port recommendations for improving program design 15
and implementation. 16
‘‘(g) T
ECHNICALASSISTANCE.—The Secretary shall 17
provide an eligible entity required to develop and imple-18
ment an improvement plan under subsection (c)(2)(B) 19
with technical assistance to develop and implement the 20
plan. The Secretary may provide the technical assistance 21
directly or through grants, contracts, or cooperative agree-22
ments. 23
‘‘(h) N
OFUNDS TOPROHIBITEDENTITIES.—No 24
prohibited entity shall be eligible to receive a grant under 25
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subsection (a), or any other funds made available by this 1
section. 2
‘‘(i) P
ROTECTIONS FOR PARTICIPATINGRELIGIOUS 3
O
RGANIZATIONS.—A religious organization shall be eligi-4
ble to apply for and receive funding for a program under 5
this section on the same basis as a non-religious organiza-6
tion, and a religious organization’s exemptions, in title VII 7
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (including exemption from 8
prohibitions in employment discrimination in section 9
702(a) of that Act (42 U.S.C. 2000e–1(a))), title VIII of 10
the Civil Rights Act of 1968, title IX of the Educational 11
Amendments of 1987, the Americans with Disabilities Act, 12
the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the Religious 13
Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, or any other 14
provision in law providing an exemption for a religious or-15
ganization, shall not be waived by its participation in, or 16
receipt of funds from, a grant provided by this section. 17
‘‘(j) A
UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.— 18
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—For purposes of carrying 19
out this section, there are authorized to be appro-20
priated $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 21
through 2026. 22
‘‘(2) R
ESERVATIONS.—Of the amounts appro-23
priated under this subsection for a fiscal year, the 24
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Secretary shall reserve 3 percent for purposes of car-1
rying out subsections (f) and (g). 2
‘‘(3) A
VAILABILITY.—Funds made available to 3
an eligible entity under this section shall remain 4
available for expenditure by the eligible entity 5
through the end of the third fiscal year following the 6
fiscal year in which the funds are awarded to the en-7
tity. 8
‘‘(k) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 9
‘‘(1) C
OMMUNITY-BASED MENTORING RELA -10
TIONSHIP.—The term ‘community-based mentoring 11
relationship’ means a relationship with a dedicated 12
mentor and, as applicable, group of mentors or peer 13
support group, who meet regularly with an eligible 14
mother and help that mother address barriers to 15
care, mental, behavioral, and physical well-being, 16
and economic mobility by providing support services 17
and linkages to community resources. A community- 18
based mentoring relationship should, to the extent 19
practicable, have an understanding of the barriers 20
and lived experience of that community, which may 21
include shared lived experience. 22
‘‘(2) E
LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en-23
tity’ means a local government, Indian Tribe (or a 24
consortium of Indian Tribes), Tribal Organization, 25
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Urban Indian Organization, or nonprofit organiza-1
tion, including religious organizations, with a dem-2
onstrated history of serving eligible mothers. 3
‘‘(3) E
LIGIBLE MOTHER.—The term ‘eligible 4
mother’ means— 5
‘‘(A) a woman who is pregnant; or 6
‘‘(B) a woman who has primary caregiving 7
responsibilities for a child under the age of 6. 8
‘‘(4) P
ROHIBITED ENTITY.—The term ‘prohib-9
ited entity’ means an entity, including its affiliates, 10
subsidiaries, successors, and clinics that, as of the 11
date of enactment of this section, performs, induces, 12
refers for, or counsels in favor of abortions, or pro-13
vides financial support to any other organization 14
that conducts such activities.’’. 15
Æ
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