1.This Act may be cited as
the Global Service Fellowship Program
Act of 2007
.
2.Congress makes the following
findings:
(1)Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice has said that a critical component to the war on terror
includes changing opinions and minds.
(2)Polling data from
Terror Free Tomorrow indicates that nearly 60 percent of the people of
Indonesia and 75 percent of the people of Pakistan held more favorable views of
the United States following humanitarian assistance after their tsunami and
earthquake tragedies, and this change in perception toward the United States
was sustained beyond the initial period of aid and service.
(3)International
volunteering opportunities are effective means of addressing critical human
needs, building bridges across cultures, and promoting mutual
understanding.
(4)Current volunteer
programs, such as the Peace Corps, remain an important part of Federal efforts
to promote volunteer service and provide related programming.
(5)Financial
limitations are a common obstacle to volunteering overseas, and providing grant
funding would reduce barriers to many individuals otherwise unable to afford
travel overseas.
(6)Allowing
flexibility in the duration of volunteering opportunities would reduce another
barrier to volunteering.
(7)A global service
fellowship program would provide funding and programmatic flexibility for
volunteers of all backgrounds and ages.
(8)Eligible
organizations willing to participate in the fellowship program as sponsoring
organizations would be in a better position to recruit volunteers for their
programs overseas.
3.Global Service
Fellowship Program
(a)The
Secretary of State, in consultation with representatives of the Volunteers for
Prosperity program administered by the United States Agency for International
Development, shall establish and administer a grant program to be known as the
Global Service Fellowship Program (in this section referred to as the
Program
).
(b)The
purpose of the Program is to fund fellowships to promote international
volunteering opportunities as a means of building bridges across cultures,
addressing critical human needs, and promoting mutual understanding.
(c)Grants
awarded under the Program shall be used to fund fellowships as follows:
(1)Fellowships
lasting 90 days or less in duration may be funded at levels of up to
$2,500.
(2)Fellowships
lasting between 91 days and 180 days may be funded at levels up to
$5,000.
(3)Fellowships
lasting between 181 days and one year may be funded at levels up to
$7,500.
(d)Coordination
with sponsoring organizations
(1)Fellowships funded under the Program shall be coordinated
and supervised by participating volunteer sponsoring organizations. The
sponsoring organizations shall be registered with the Secretary of State and
shall collaborate with host country organizations in developing programs that
appropriately address local needs for the transfer of volunteer skills,
capacity building, and cross-cultural service organizations.
(2)Prioritization
of projectsSponsoring organizations shall recommend and
prioritize fellowship projects based on one or more of the following
objectives:
(A)Eradication of
extreme poverty in conjunction with the goals of the United Nations Millennium
Development Goals.
(B)Achievement of
universal primary education.
(C)Promotion of
gender equality and the empowerment of women and families.
(D)Reducing child
mortality and improving maternal health.
(E)Providing medical
and dental health care and prevention.
(F)Providing
assistance for the elderly, orphans, people with disabilities, and
refugees.
(G)Promoting
environmental sustainability.
(H)Providing
economic and social opportunities for youth in countries with growing cohorts
of young people.
(I)Promoting youth
service by building related volunteer-sector capacity in host countries.
(J)Combating
HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other infectious diseases.
(K)Helping to build
or provide decent housing.
(L)Providing
disaster and humanitarian response, preparedness, and reconstruction.
(M)Promoting
cross-cultural exchange, conflict resolution, and peace.
(N)Developing global
partnerships for development in the areas of economic growth, microenterprise,
asset development, and agricultural and rural development.
(O)Advancing access
to information technology and strengthening civil society.
(P)Carrying out
additional activities in impact areas designated by the Secretary of State in
accordance with the purposes of this Act.
(e)
(1)Submission and
review of applicationsApplicants shall submit applications for
fellowships under the Program to their congressional offices. Congressional
offices shall review such applications and nominate qualified candidates for
consideration by the Secretary of State.
(2)The
Secretary of State shall determine the eligibility of nominated candidates and,
in consultation with sponsoring organizations, award and administer fellowships
under the Program.
(3)The
Secretary of State shall develop and publish criteria for fellowships in
accordance with the following guidelines:
(A)Applicants for Global Service Fellowships must be
registered with qualified sponsoring organizations such as—
(i)nongovernmental
organizations based in the United States that sponsor international volunteer
service;
(ii)faith-based
organizations engaged in the delivery of nonsectarian services;
(iii)universities
and colleges operating international service learning and volunteer service
programs; and
(iv)nongovernmental
organizations based in the United States that collaborate with local or
national host government agencies or nongovernmental organizations in promoting
volunteer capacity and national and community service in impact areas
designated by the Secretary of State under subsection (d)(2)(P).
(B)Applicants
shall be nominated and selected for Global Service Fellowships as
follows:
(i)Applicants shall
have clearly defined and structured goals for their proposed fellowships,
including a plan for assessing and monitoring progress toward such goals with
sponsoring organizations and a basis for follow-up and review by the Secretary
of State.
(ii)Priority should
be given to—
(I)applicants from
households with an income that is less than 200 percent of the poverty level
established pursuant to current census figures;
(II)applicants who
have demonstrated prior community service experience;
(III)applicants with
skills and experience suited to the specific needs of host countries;
and
(IV)applicants who
demonstrate a clear plan to communicate their volunteer experiences to their
community upon their return.
(f)Individuals receiving Global Service Fellowships
shall submit such reports, including post-fellowship reports prepared for their
home communities, as the Secretary of State may require.
(g)
(1)Funds awarded under this section may be used to cover the
following costs associated with Global Service Fellowships:
(A)Airfare,
accommodations, and transportation within the host country.
(B)Fees assessed by
sponsoring organizations to defray international service program costs and
administrative costs.
(C)Subsistence
allowance in accordance with local market conditions.
(D)Program materials
and tools used for service-related purposes.
(E)Seed funding for
local service projects.
(F)Language and
cultural training and other costs associated with pre-service project
orientation.
(2)Funds awarded under this section may not be used for
tuition costs.
(h)Nondiscrimination
requirements
(1)Nomination and
selection of applicantsThe nomination and selection of
applicants under subsection (e) shall be without regard to race, religion,
color, national origin, sex, age, political affiliation, or disability.
(2)
(A)A sponsoring organization shall not discriminate against
a Global Service Fellowship Program participant or applicant, a beneficiary of
any project in which a Global Service Fellow participates, or, except as
provided in subparagraph (B), an employee of the organization who is paid with
Program funds on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, age,
political affiliation, or disability.
(B)Limited
exception for employees of sponsoring organizations employed at time of
awarding of fundsThe prohibition under subparagraph (A) on
discrimination on the basis of religion shall not apply to the employment, with
assistance provided under this Program, of any employee who was employed with
the sponsoring organization on the date that the funds were awarded.
4.
(a)Evaluation of
Global Service Fellowship ProgramThe Secretary of State shall
establish and implement an evaluation process for determining the effectiveness
of the Global Service Fellowship Program.
(b)Not
later than March 31, 2010, the Secretary of State shall submit to Congress a
report on the Global Service Fellowships Program established under section 3.
The report shall describe—
(1)the identity and
location of sponsoring organizations;
(2)for each impact
issue areas identified by sponsoring organizations, the number of volunteer
opportunities and the number of related Global Service Fellowships that have
been funded;
(3)the number of
local volunteers recruited or engaged with Global Service Fellows and their
sponsoring organizations or local host organizations;
(4)the locations of
volunteer services;
(5)the effectiveness
of such services based upon findings of the evaluation process; and
(6)the total numbers
of nominations for Global Service Fellowships that have been received and
accepted by the Secretary of State.
5.The Secretary of State shall prescribe
regulations to carry out the provisions of this Act.
6.Authorization of
appropriations
(a)There
is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of State $50,000,000 for each
of fiscal years 2008 through 2010 for purposes of establishing and implementing
the Global Service Fellowship Program.
(b)In
order to provide an offset for amounts appropriated pursuant to subsection (a),
the Internal Revenue Service shall deposit in the Treasury as miscellaneous
receipts all of the fees it receives for services.