Aging Together Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1671 To amend the Older Americans Act of 1965 to direct resources that promote multigenerational collaboration, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 23 (legislative day, MAY 22), 2019 Mr. JONES (for himself and Mr. CASEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To amend the Older Americans Act of 1965 to direct re- sources that promote multigenerational collaboration, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Aging Together Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM FOR MULTIGENERATIONAL COL- 5 LABORATION. 6 Section 417 of the Older Americans Act of 1965 (42 7 U.S.C. 3032f) is amended— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jun 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1671.IS S1671 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1671 IS (1) by amending subsection (a) to read as fol- 1 lows: 2 ‘‘(a) GRANTS AND CONTRACTS.—The Assistant Sec- 3 retary shall award grants and enter into contracts with 4 eligible organizations to carry out projects to— 5 ‘‘(1) provide opportunities for older individuals 6 to participate in multigenerational activities and 7 civic engagement activities that contribute to the 8 health and wellness of older individuals and individ- 9 uals in younger generations by developing— 10 ‘‘(A) meaningful roles for participants; 11 ‘‘(B) reciprocity in relationship building; 12 ‘‘(C) reduced social isolation and improved 13 participant social connectedness; 14 ‘‘(D) improved economic well-being for 15 older individuals; 16 ‘‘(E) increased lifelong learning; or 17 ‘‘(F) support for family caregivers by— 18 ‘‘(i) providing support for older rel- 19 ative caregivers (as defined in section 372) 20 raising children (such as kinship navigator 21 programs); or 22 ‘‘(ii) involving volunteers who are 23 older individuals who provide support and 24 information to families who have a child 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jun 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1671.IS S1671 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1671 IS with a disability or chronic illness, or other 1 families in need of such family support; 2 and 3 ‘‘(2) coordinate multigenerational activities and 4 civic engagement activities, promote volunteerism, 5 and facilitate development of and participation in 6 multigenerational activities and civic engagement ac- 7 tivities.’’; 8 (2) by striking subsection (g); 9 (3) by redesignating subsections (b) through (f) 10 as subsections (c) through (g), respectively; 11 (4) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol- 12 lowing: 13 ‘‘(b) GRANT PERIODS.—Each grant awarded under 14 subsection (a) shall be for a period of not less than 36 15 months.’’; 16 (5) by amending subsection (c), as so redesig- 17 nated, to read as follows: 18 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.— 19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible organization 20 shall use funds made available under a grant award- 21 ed, or a contract entered into, under this section to 22 carry out a project described in subsection (a). 23 ‘‘(2) PROVISION OF PROJECTS THROUGH 24 GRANTEES.—In making grants under this section, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jun 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1671.IS S1671 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1671 IS the Assistant Secretary shall ensure that awards are 1 made for the activities and projects described in 2 each of paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a).’’; 3 (6) in subsection (d), as so redesignated— 4 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 5 by inserting ‘‘that serves individuals in younger 6 generations and older individuals’’ after ‘‘to 7 carry out a project’’; 8 (B) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘, in- 9 tent to carry out, or intent to partner with local 10 organizations or multiservice organizations to 11 carry out,’’ after ‘‘record of carrying out’’; 12 (C) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 13 and inserting a semicolon; 14 (D) in paragraph (4), by striking the pe- 15 riod and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 16 (E) by adding at the end the following: 17 ‘‘(5) eligible organizations proposing multigen- 18 erational activity projects that utilize shared site 19 programs, such as collocated child care and long- 20 term care facilities.’’; 21 (7) by amending subsections (f) and (g), as so 22 redesignated, to read as follows: 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jun 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1671.IS S1671 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 1671 IS ‘‘(f) ELIGIBLE ORGANIZATIONS.—Organizations eli- 1 gible to receive a grant or enter into a contract under sub- 2 section (a) shall— 3 ‘‘(1) be a State, an area agency on aging, or an 4 organization that provides opportunities for older in- 5 dividuals to participate in activities described in such 6 subsection; and 7 ‘‘(2) have the capacity to conduct the coordina- 8 tion, promotion, and facilitation described in such 9 subsection through the use of multigenerational co- 10 ordinators. 11 ‘‘(g) EVALUATION.— 12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years 13 after the date of enactment of the Aging Together 14 Act, the Assistant Secretary shall, through data sub- 15 mitted by organizations receiving grants or contracts 16 under this section, evaluate the activities supported 17 through such grants and contracts to determine— 18 ‘‘(A) the effectiveness of such activities; 19 ‘‘(B) the impact of such activities on the 20 community being served and the organization 21 providing the activities; and 22 ‘‘(C) the impact of such activities on older 23 individuals participating in such project. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jun 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1671.IS S1671 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 1671 IS ‘‘(2) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 6 1 months after the Assistant Secretary completes the 2 evaluation under paragraph (1), the Assistant Sec- 3 retary shall prepare and submit to the Speaker of 4 the House of Representatives and the President pro 5 tempore of the Senate a report that assesses such 6 evaluation and contains, at a minimum— 7 ‘‘(A) the names or descriptive titles of the 8 projects funded under subsection (a); 9 ‘‘(B) a description of the nature and oper- 10 ation of such projects; 11 ‘‘(C) the names and addresses of organiza- 12 tions that conducted such projects; 13 ‘‘(D) a description of the methods and suc- 14 cess of such projects in recruiting older individ- 15 uals as employees and as volunteers to partici- 16 pate in the projects; 17 ‘‘(E) a description of the success of the 18 projects in retaining older individuals partici- 19 pating in such projects as employees and as vol- 20 unteers; 21 ‘‘(F) the rate of turnover of older indi- 22 vidual employees and volunteers in such 23 projects; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jun 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1671.IS S1671 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 1671 IS ‘‘(G) a strategy for disseminating the find- 1 ings resulting from such projects; and 2 ‘‘(H) any policy change recommendations 3 relating to such projects.’’; and 4 (8) in subsection (h)(2)(B)(i), by striking ‘‘indi- 5 viduals from the generations with older individuals’’ 6 and inserting ‘‘older individuals’’. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jun 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1671.IS S1671 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS