S 277

S 277 IS

To amend the National and Community Service Act of 1990 to expand and improve opportunities for service, and for other purposes.

January 16, 2009

Mr. REID (for Mr. KENNEDY (for himself, Mr. HATCH, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mr. MCCAIN, Mr. DODD, Mr. COCHRAN, Mr. REID, Mr. GREGG, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. WICKER, Mrs. MURRAY, Ms. SNOWE, Mr. KERRY, Mrs. LINCOLN, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. ROCKEFELLER, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. BAYH, and Ms. LANDRIEU)) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

To amend the National and Community Service Act of 1990 to expand and improve opportunities for service, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

(a) Short Title- This Act may be cited as the ‘Serve America Act’.

(b) Table of Contents- The table of contents of this Act is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

TITLE I--NATIONAL SERVICE

Subtitle A--Service-Learning

Sec. 111. Youth engagement zones to strengthen communities.

Sec. 112. Campus of Service.

Sec. 113. Service-learning impact study.

Subtitle B--Supporting Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Sec. 121. Innovation and entrepreneurship.

Subtitle C--ServeAmerica Corps

Sec. 131. Corps.

Subtitle D--Civic Health Index

Sec. 141. Index.

Subtitle E--ServeAmerica and Encore Fellowships

Sec. 151. ServeAmerica and Encore Fellowships.

Subtitle F--Volunteer Generation Fund; National Service Reserve Corps; Call To Service Campaign

Sec. 161. Statement of purposes.

Sec. 162. Establishment of Volunteer Generation Fund.

Sec. 163. National Service Reserve Corps.

Sec. 164. Call To Service campaign.

Subtitle G--Conforming Amendments

Sec. 171. Conforming amendments.

TITLE II--VOLUNTEERS FOR PROSPERITY PROGRAM

Sec. 201. Findings.

Sec. 202. Definitions.

Sec. 203. Office of Volunteers for Prosperity.

Sec. 204. Authorization of appropriations.

TITLE I--NATIONAL SERVICE

Subtitle A--Service-Learning

SEC. 111. YOUTH ENGAGEMENT ZONES TO STRENGTHEN COMMUNITIES.

(a) Findings- Congress finds the following:

(1) Engaging in service-learning and community service activities at a young age makes individuals more likely to continue to volunteer and engage in service throughout their lives.

(2) High-quality service-learning programs keep students engaged in school and increase the likelihood that they will graduate.

(3) Since its creation, the Learn and Serve America program has allowed more than 15,000,000 students to take part in service-learning activities to improve their communities and schools.

(4) Most schools do not offer service-learning activities, but many students, particularly students at risk of dropping out, express an interest in service-learning.

(b) Purposes- The purposes of this section are--

(1) to provide increased high-quality service-learning opportunities for in-school and out-of-school youth in high-need, low-income communities as a strategy to retain and re-engage youth likely to drop out and youth who have dropped out;

(2) to encourage more individuals to engage in lifetimes of service by teaching young people the value of service early in their lives; and

(3) to establish youth engagement zones with the goal of involving all secondary school students served by a local educational agency in service-learning to solve a specific community challenge, through a program that can serve as a model for other communities.

(c) General Authority- Part I of subtitle B of title I of the National and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12521 et seq.) is amended--

(1) by redesignating subparts B and C as subparts C and D, respectively;

(2) by redesignating sections 115, 115A, 116, 116A, and 116B as sections 114A through 114E, respectively; and

(3) by inserting after subpart A the following:

‘Subpart B--Youth Engagement Zones To Strengthen Communities

‘SEC. 115. GRANT PROGRAM.

‘(a) Definitions- In this section:

‘(1) COLLEGE-GOING RATE- The term ‘college-going rate’ means the percentage of high school graduates who enroll in an institution of higher education in the school year immediately following graduation from high school.

‘(2) GRADUATION RATE- The term ‘graduation rate’ means the graduation rate for public secondary school students, as defined in section 1111(b)(2)(C)(vi) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311(b)(2)(C)(vi)).

‘(3) LOW-INCOME STUDENT- The term ‘low-income student’ means a student who is eligible to be counted under one of the measures of poverty described in section 1113(a)(5) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6313(a)(5)).

‘(4) OUT-OF-SCHOOL YOUTH- The term ‘out-of-school youth’ means youth of an appropriate age to attend secondary school who are not currently enrolled in secondary schools.

‘(5) YOUTH ENGAGEMENT ZONE- The term ‘youth engagement zone’ means the area in which a youth engagement zone program is carried out.

‘(6) YOUTH ENGAGEMENT ZONE PROGRAM- The term ‘youth engagement zone program’ means a service-learning program in which members of a partnership described in subsection (c) collaborate to provide coordinated school-based or community-based service-learning opportunities, to address a specific community challenge, for secondary school students served by the local educational agency involved as described in subsection (d)(2)(B), and for an increasing percentage of out-of-school youth, over 5 years.

‘(b) General Authority and Availability of Funds-

‘(1) GENERAL AUTHORITY- Subject to paragraph (3), the Corporation may make grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible partnerships to enable the partnerships to establish and carry out, in youth engagement zones, youth engagement zone programs with secondary school students and with out-of-school youth, in order to carry out projects to improve communities involving--

‘(A) improving student engagement, including student attendance and student behavior, and student academic achievement, graduation rates, and college-going rates, at secondary schools with high concentrations of low-income students;

‘(B) maintaining and improving local parks, trails, and rivers, assisting in the development of local recycling programs, or implementing initiatives to improve local energy effectively;

‘(C) improving civic engagement and participation among individuals of all ages; or

‘(D) carrying out another activity that focuses on solving a community challenge faced by the community that the eligible partnership involved will serve.

‘(2) GRANT PERIODS- The Corporation shall make the grants for periods of 5 years.

‘(3) GRANT AMOUNTS- The Corporation shall make such a grant to a partnership in an amount of not less than $250,000 and not more than $1,000,000, based on the number of students served by the local educational agency in the partnership.

‘(c) Eligible Partnerships- To be eligible to receive a grant under this section, a partnership--

‘(1) shall include--

‘(A) 1 or more community-based agencies that have demonstrated records of success in carrying out service-learning programs with low-income students, and that meet such criteria as the Chief Executive Officer may establish; and

‘(B)(i) a local educational agency for which--

‘(I) a high number or percentage of the students served by the agency, as determined by the Corporation, are low-income students; and

‘(II) the graduation rate for the secondary school students served by the agency is less than 70 percent; or

‘(ii)(I) a State Commission or State educational agency; and

‘(II) more than 1 local educational agency described in clause (i); and

‘(2) may include--

‘(A) a local government agency that is not described in paragraph (1);

‘(B) the office of the chief executive officer of a unit of general local government; or

‘(C) an institution of higher education.

‘(d) Application- To be eligible to receive a grant under this section, a partnership shall submit an application to the Corporation at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Corporation may require, which shall include--

‘(1) a description of the project to improve the community that the partnership is proposing to carry out, including--

‘(A) the community challenge the partnership seeks to address, and relevant data about the challenge in such community; or

‘(B) a description of the process the partnership will use, as part of the youth engagement zone program, to identify the community challenge the partnership will seek to address, including how the partnership will use relevant data to identify such challenge;

‘(2) a description of how the partnership will work with secondary schools served by the local educational agency that is included in such partnership in carrying out the project to assure that--

‘(A) by the end of the third year of the grant period, a majority of the students in the secondary schools served by the local educational agency will have participated in service-learning activities as part of the project; and

‘(B) by the end of the fifth year of the grant period--

‘(i) not less than 90 percent of the students in those schools will have participated in service-learning activities as part of the project; or

‘(ii) service-learning will be a mandatory part of the curriculum in all of the secondary schools served by the local educational agency;

‘(3) a description of the amount of time for which the partnership will seek to have participating individuals participate in service-learning activities as part of the project, and how that time will be structured;

‘(4) a description of the partnership’s plan to provide high-quality, ongoing service-learning professional development and assistance to educators conducting service-learning activities through the youth engagement zone program;

‘(5) a description of how the partnership will work to--

‘(A) ensure that out-of-school youth in the community are included as participants in service-learning activities carried out through the project; and

‘(B) re-engage out-of-school youth;

‘(6) a description of how the partnership will work, through the project, to improve student engagement, including student attendance and student behavior, and student achievement, graduation rates, and college-going rates, at schools served by the local educational agency that is included in the eligible partnership;

‘(7) a description of how the partnership will encourage participants to continue to engage in service after graduation from secondary school; and

‘(8) a description of how youth in the community were involved in the development of the proposal for the project.

‘(e) Priority and Geographic Diversity-

‘(1) PRIORITY- In making grants under this section, the Corporation shall give priority to eligible partnerships that serve high percentages or numbers of low-income students.

‘(2) CONSIDERATION- In making grants under this section, the Corporation shall take into consideration the relevant data about the challenges in communities that eligible partnerships include in their applications, if the relevant partnerships submit such relevant data under subsection (d)(1)(A).

‘(3) GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY- The Corporation shall make the grants to a geographically diverse set of eligible partnerships, including partnerships that serve urban, and partnerships that serve rural, communities.

‘(f) Use of Funds-

‘(1) MANDATORY ACTIVITIES- A partnership that receives a grant under this section shall use the funds made available through the grant to establish and carry out a high-quality youth engagement zone program designed to--

‘(A) solve specific community challenges;

‘(B) improve student engagement, including student attendance and student behavior, and student achievement, graduation rates, and college-going rates in secondary schools;

‘(C) involve an increasing percentage of secondary school students and out-of-school youth in the community in school-based or community-based service-learning activities each year, with the goal of involving all students in secondary schools served by the local educational agency and involving an increasing percentage of the out-of-school youth in service-learning activities over the course of 5 years; and

‘(D) encourage participants to continue to engage in service throughout their lives.

‘(2) PERMISSIBLE ACTIVITIES- A partnership that receives a grant under this section may use the funds made available through the grant for activities described in section 111.

‘(g) Rule of Construction- Any requirement of this subpart that applies to a local educational agency in a partnership shall be considered to apply to each local educational agency in the partnership.’.

(d) Authorization of Appropriations and Reservations- Section 501(a)(1) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 12681(a)(1)) is amended--

(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘title I’ and inserting ‘title I (other than subpart B of part I)’;

(2) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking ‘subpart B’ and inserting ‘subpart C’; and

(3) by adding at the end the following:

‘(C) SUBPART B OF PART I- There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out subpart B of part I of subtitle B of title I--

‘(i) $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2010;

‘(ii) $30,000,000 for fiscal year 2011;

‘(iii) $30,000,000 for fiscal year 2012;

‘(iv) $40,000,000 for fiscal year 2013; and

‘(v) $40,000,000 for fiscal year 2014.’.

SEC. 112. CAMPUS OF SERVICE.