[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6339 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6339

   To establish the Homeland Security Community Mobilization Program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            December 5, 2006

  Mr. Owens introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
   Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the 
    Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure and Energy and 
Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
   each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL



   To establish the Homeland Security Community Mobilization Program.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Homeland Security Community 
Mobilization Act of 2006''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) There has been a substantial increase in poverty within 
        the United States during the past five years. The greatest 
        concentration of poverty exists in large metropolitan areas.
            (2) The plight of the poor in New Orleans, Louisiana, as 
        revealed during the Katrina hurricane and the flood it caused 
        poses a considerable threat to health and life and creates 
        conditions that foster a total breakdown of civil society.
            (3) The rescue and survival effort during the Katrina 
        disaster was greatly impeded by the lack of engagement and 
        contact with institutions and procedures of the mainstream 
        world.
            (4) The lack of employment is at the center of problems 
        impacting on the poor and the primary antidote to alleviation 
        would be jobs.
            (5) Within the Community Service Agency (CSA) there is a 
        structure in place presently capable of rapidly implementing 
        programs geared to help the poor. Through this Act, in 
        alignment with the Community Services Block Grant's purpose to 
        provide members of the community with meaningful employment, 
        low-income residents of metropolitan areas can be engaged in a 
        beneficially meaningful way while providing a vital service to 
        their communities.
            (6) The structure established to implement the Faith Based 
        Initiative project is also immediately adoptable for the 
        implementation of programs to employ, train, counsel and place 
        low-income residents in permanent jobs.
            (7) The shamefully slow pace of disaster recovery in New 
        Orleans and the Gulf Coast area demonstrates a need for 
        emergency action by the Congress.
            (8) Circumstances require the launching of pilot projects 
        in Katrina-ravaged New Orleans and at least nine other at-risk 
        cities where recently released surveys and studies have shown 
        significant increases in poverty.

SEC. 3. HOMELAND SECURITY COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION PROGRAM.

    (a) Establishment of Program.--There is hereby established the 
Homeland Security Community Mobilization Program (hereafter in this Act 
referred to as the ``Program'', which shall be administered under the 
authority of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (hereafter in 
this Act referred to as the ``Secretary'').
    (b) Pilot Projects.--To implement the Program, the Secretary may 
make grants to local entities in 10 metropolitan areas (including the 
city of New Orleans, Louisiana) to carry out pilot projects that--
            (1) provide emergency response training to low-income 
        adults and youth to prepare them to provide emergency 
        assistance in metropolitan areas during disasters (These 
        individuals will provide neighborhood response to natural 
        disasters and terrorist attacks and shall be trained to work as 
        Neighborhood Emergency Response Operators.),
            (2) provide job training and financial assistance to 
        families with children in school. Families with incomes under 
        the poverty line with children in school shall receive priority 
        for support (Stipends shall be made available for travel costs 
        and other expenses incurred for attendance in school-related 
        meetings. Cash award incentives shall also be made available 
        for improved student performance. Participants shall be trained 
        to work as Informed Parent Program Specialists.),
            (3) provide community education and school support 
        (Programs shall be established that organize parents and 
        volunteers to assist schools in such areas as school safety, 
        student discipline, after-school and weekend extracurricular 
        activities, physical education and sports activities, and 
        assistance with truant and delinquent children. Entry level job 
        training shall be developed for School Community 
        Coordinators.),
            (4) provide juvenile delinquency prevention programs and 
        youth counseling (Programs shall be established which focus on 
        at-risk youth and are geared primarily to youth with identified 
        problems. Such programs shall work with family courts and 
        juvenile detention centers as well as work with school 
        counselors. Individuals shall be trained to work as Youth 
        Ombudsman and Child Advocates.),
            (5) provide entrepreneurial business development training 
        for youth (Programs shall be established which place low-income 
        youth in local business internship positions for the purpose of 
        teaching them the fundamentals of small business operations and 
        preparing them to establish and operate small concessions and 
        other entrepreneurial enterprises. Individuals shall be trained 
        to work as Young Community Leader Trainees.), and
            (6) provide family health care information and solutions 
        (Programs shall be established to train citizens to monitor 
        areas of potential terrorist attacks and low-level germ warfare 
        and to be first responders to such situations. Trainees shall 
        also make available to citizens of the community greater 
        amounts of detailed information diseases such as AIDS as well 
        as the sudden dangers of maladies such as West Nile Virus or 
        possible epidemics like Avian Flu. Individuals shall be trained 
        to work as Health Care Information Specialists.).

SEC. 4. APPLICATION AND EVALUATION.

    (a) Application.--To be eligible to receive a grant under the 
Program, a local entity in a metropolitan area shall submit an 
application to the Secretary at such time and containing such 
information as the Secretary shall require by rule.
    (b) Evaluation.--The Secretary shall issue such rules, and shall 
carry out such activities, as may be necessary to ensure that 
recipients of grants made under this Act--
            (1) keep records to account for the expenditure of funds 
        received under such grants,
            (2) evaluate the activities such recipients carry out with 
        such funds, and
            (3) submit to the Secretary such reports regarding such 
        activities as the Secretary may require to evaluate the 
        performance of such recipients and the efficacy of such 
        activities.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act 
$2,000,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 
2011.
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