[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2924 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2924

 To reauthorize the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, in the wake of its 
              Centennial, and its programs and activities.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 22, 2009

    Mr. Leahy (for himself, Mr. Hatch, Mr. Kohl, and Mr. Sessions) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To reauthorize the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, in the wake of its 
              Centennial, and its programs and activities.

    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 ``Boys & Girls Clubs Centennial 
Reauthorization Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF AMERICA.

    Section 401 of the Economic Espionage Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 13751 
note) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by striking paragraph (1) and 
        inserting the following:
            ``(1) Findings.--Congress finds that--
                    ``(A) for over 100 years, the Boys & Girls Clubs of 
                America, a national organization chartered by an Act of 
                Congress, has proven itself as a positive force in the 
                communities it serves;
                    ``(B) Boys & Girls Clubs and the programs and 
                services implemented therein by over 50,000 
                professional staff, and 194,000 volunteers promote and 
                enhance the development of boys and girls by instilling 
                a sense of competence, usefulness, belonging and 
                influence thereby making Boys & Girls Clubs a safe 
                place to learn and grow;
                    ``(C) the purpose of the program established by 
                this section has been to provide adequate resources in 
                the form of seed money for the Boys & Girls Clubs of 
                America to assist local communities to form 
                partnerships in a collaborative manor so education, 
                youth development and prevention programs could be 
                available for the youth in those communities;
                    ``(D) in 1990 there were 1,810 Boys and Girls Clubs 
                facilities throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, 
                and the United States Virgin Islands, serving 2,400,000 
                youths nationwide;
                    ``(E) due to the public investment via the program 
                established pursuant to this section, resulting 
                congressional appropriations, and private partnership 
                support, there are now 4,387 Boys & Girls Clubs 
                facilities throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, 
                and the United States Virgin Islands, serving 4,500,000 
                youths nationwide;
                    ``(F) with the assistance of the Federal 
                Government, local communities have collaborated to 
                establish and operate the Clubs in schools, parks, 
                parks and recreation facilities, libraries, and 
                community centers;
                    ``(G) these new partnerships have resulted in 33 
                percent of the Boys & Girls Clubs located in or on 
                school campuses where Club programs enhance and enrich 
                the learning opportunities for youth;
                    ``(H) the growth of Boys & Girls Clubs also 
                includes an increase in Clubs located in public housing 
                sites across the Nation, having grown from 289 in 1990 
                to 440 in 2009;
                    ``(I) the growth of Boys and Girls Clubs also 
                includes the growth of Boys & Girls Clubs on Native 
                American land, having grown from 0 in 1990 to 225 in 
                2009 serving 140,000 Native American youth;
                    ``(J) investment in our school partnerships has 
                positively impacted graduation rates as demonstrated in 
                recent survey of Clubs conducted by BGCA's CareerLaunch 
                career preparation program, in which 96.68 percent of 
                participants progressed successfully to the next grade 
                level at the end of the 2008-2009 school year;
                    ``(K) public housing projects and Native American 
                land in which there is an active Boys and Girls Club 
                have experienced a reduction in the presence of crack 
                cocaine, and a reduction in juvenile crime and gang 
                violence;
                    ``(L) Boys & Girls Clubs are locally run and have 
                been exceptionally successful in balancing public funds 
                with private sector donations and maximizing community 
                involvement as evidenced by collaborations and 
                partnerships with schools, cities, counties, Sea 
                Research, other youth providers such as Big Brothers 
                Big Sisters, Police Athletic League (PAL), Cal Ripken 
                Sr. Foundation, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, 4-H, and 
                public libraries; and
                    ``(M) further investment in Boys & Girls Clubs, 
                which celebrated 100 years of service in 2006 will--
                            ``(i) inure to our collective national 
                        benefit;
                            ``(ii) continue to assist in the effort to 
                        reduce crime and drug use among our Nation's 
                        youth by teaching young people how to avoid 
                        gangs, resist alcohol, tobacco, and other drug 
                        use;
                            ``(iii) continue to assist in improving 
                        educational opportunities and create centers of 
                        learning in and with schools thereby reducing 
                        the drop out rate and helping to improve the 
                        economy (if the national male graduation rate 
                        were increased by only 5 percent, the Nation 
                        would see an annual savings of $4,900,000,00 in 
                        crime related costs);
                            ``(iv) continue in the efforts of reducing 
                        childhood obesity by teaching young people 
                        about the benefits of healthy habits such as 
                        eating right and being physically active;
                            ``(v) continue to serve youth in rural 
                        communities including Native American land, by 
                        engaging and creating partnerships in those 
                        communities;
                            ``(vi) continue to serve youth in urban and 
                        suburban communities including Public Housing 
                        by engaging and creating partnerships in those 
                        communities;
                            ``(vii) continue to provide outdoor and 
                        environmental education programs for kids that 
                        would otherwise not have those educational and 
                        enriching opportunities;
                            ``(viii) continue to develop job training 
                        programs for teens; and
                            ``(ix) better equip communities to continue 
                        to sustain and improve the quality of these 
                        programs through effective use of existing 
                        resources, merging operations, and working 
                        collaboratively within communities to provide 
                        the highest quality programs for the youth in 
                        the Boys & Girls Clubs.'';
            (2) in subsection (c)(1)--
                    (A) by striking ``2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 
                2010'' and inserting ``2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 
                2015''; and
                    (B) by striking ``establishing and extending Boys & 
                Girls Clubs facilities where needed, with particular 
                emphasis placed on establishing clubs in and extending 
                services to public housing projects and distressed 
                areas'' and inserting ``improving the quality of youth 
                development and educational programs, health, physical 
                fitness, and prevention services for youth at existing 
                and new Boys & Girls Clubs facilities with special 
                emphasis on reducing high school drop out rates'';
            (3) in subsection(c)(2)--
                    (A) by striking subparagraphs (A) and (B); and
                    (B) by redesignating subparagraphs (C) and (D) as 
                subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively; and
            (4) by amending subsection (e) to read as follows:
    ``(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            ``(1) In general.--There are authorized to be appropriated 
        to carry out this section--
                    ``(A) $85,000,000 for fiscal year 2011;
                    ``(B) $85,000,000 for fiscal year 2012;
                    ``(C) $85,000,000 for fiscal year 2013;
                    ``(D) $85,000,000 for fiscal year 2014; and
                    ``(E) 85,000,000 for fiscal year 2015.''.
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