[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 854 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 854

To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants 
   to eligible entities to prevent or alleviate the effects of youth 
violence in eligible urban communities by providing violence-prevention 
    education, mentoring, counseling, and mental health services to 
             children and adolescents in such communities.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 6, 2007

   Mr. Larson of Connecticut (for himself, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Ms. 
    DeLauro, Ms. Matsui, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. 
Kennedy, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Berman, Mr. Rothman, Mr. Moore of 
 Kansas, Mr. Capuano, Mr. Kucinich, Ms. Woolsey, Ms. Lee, Mr. Wexler, 
Mr. Serrano, Ms. Castor, Ms. Zoe Lofgren of California, Ms. Watson, Mr. 
 Brady of Pennsylvania, Mr. Spratt, Mr. Al Green of Texas, Mr. Fattah, 
Mr. Cummings, Mr. Engel, Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas, Ms. Shea-Porter, Ms. 
    Slaughter, Mr. Stark, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Baca, and Mr. 
   Ellison) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on 
Education and Labor, 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 authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants 
   to eligible entities to prevent or alleviate the effects of youth 
violence in eligible urban communities by providing violence-prevention 
    education, mentoring, counseling, and mental health services to 
             children and adolescents in such communities.

    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 ``City Youth Violence Recovery Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) The mental health of young people is essential to their 
        overall well-being. Mental health affects how young people 
        think, feel, and act; their ability to learn and engage in 
        relationships; their self-esteem; their ability to evaluate 
        situations and make choices; and their ability to handle 
        stress, relate to other people, and acquire the skills and 
        training needed for adulthood.
            (2) Each year many children and adolescents sustain 
        injuries from violence, lose friends or family members because 
        of violence, or are adversely affected by witnessing violence.
            (3) Youth violence, perpetrated both by and against young 
        people, results in enormous physical, emotional, social, and 
        economic consequences.
            (4) The National Institutes of Health has found that inner-
        city children experience the greatest exposure to violence, and 
        youngsters who have been exposed to community violence are more 
        likely to exhibit aggressive behavior or depression within the 
        following year.
            (5) Any event that can cause a person to feel fear, 
        helplessness, horror, and a sense that life or safety is in 
        danger puts a person, especially children, at risk for 
        posttraumatic stress.
            (6) Many cities lack the resources to provide the 
        appropriate youth counseling and therapy services to minimize 
        the long-term emotional harm of community violence.

SEC. 3. GRANTS TO PREVENT OR ALLEVIATE THE EFFECTS OF YOUTH VIOLENCE.

    (a) Grants.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services, in 
consultation with the Attorney General of the United States, may award 
grants to eligible entities to prevent or alleviate the effects of 
youth violence in eligible urban communities by providing violence-
prevention education, mentoring, counseling, and mental health services 
to children and adolescents in such communities.
    (b) Priority.--In awarding grants under this section, the Secretary 
shall give priority to applicants that agree to use the grant in one or 
more eligible urban communities that lack the monetary or other 
resources to address youth violence.
    (c) Limitation.--The Secretary may not make a grant to an eligible 
entity under this section unless the entity agrees to use not more than 
15 percent of the funds provided through the grant for violence-
prevention education.
    (d) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) The term ``eligible entity'' means a partnership 
        between a State mental health authority and one or more local 
        public or private providers, such as a city agency, State 
        agency, educational institution, or nonprofit or for-profit 
        organization.
            (2) The term ``eligible urban community'' means an urban 
        community with a high or increasing incidence of youth 
        violence.
            (3) The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of Health 
        and Human Services.
    (e) Authorization of Appropriations.--To carry out this section, 
there is authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2008 through 2013.
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