Neighborhood Economic Development and Opportunity Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4405 To establish a pilot program to provide grants to nongovernmental entities, including nonprofit organizations and faith-based organizations, to pro- vide economic support in urban areas of the United States, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES AUGUST 3, 2020 Mr. VAN HOLLEN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To establish a pilot program to provide grants to nongovern- mental entities, including nonprofit organizations and faith-based organizations, to provide economic support in urban areas of the United States, and for other pur- poses. 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 ‘‘Neighborhood Eco- 4 nomic Development and Opportunity Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:58 Aug 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4405.IS S4405 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4405 IS SEC. 2. NEIGHBORHOOD ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND 1 OPPORTUNITY PILOT PROGRAM. 2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 3 (1) residents of certain urban communities in 4 the United States have experienced decades-long, 5 complex, and systemic racial, economic, social, and 6 other impediments that prevent the best solutions 7 and equal opportunities for certain urban residents 8 compared to those in outlying communities; 9 (2) the efforts and work of nonprofit and faith- 10 based community organizations are essential to revi- 11 talizing the urban communities referred to in para- 12 graph (1) and delivering meaningful, positive change 13 in people and improvement of physical infrastructure 14 of neighborhoods, resulting in better communities; 15 and 16 (3) cities are in need of immediate and emer- 17 gency action and streamlined delivery of Federal as- 18 sistance through local nonprofit and faith-based or- 19 ganizations within or directly contributing to se- 20 verely distressed urban neighborhoods, especially in 21 areas designated as opportunity zones. 22 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 23 (1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti- 24 ty’’ means a nongovernmental, nonprofit, faith- 25 based, or charitable organization, including a Com- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:58 Aug 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4405.IS S4405 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4405 IS munity Development Corporation, or a combination 1 of such organizations, that— 2 (A) is described in section 501(c)(3) of the 3 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and is exempt 4 from taxation under section 501(a) of that 5 Code; and 6 (B) delivers— 7 (i) services that improve employment 8 skills, promote self-sufficiency and self-em- 9 powerment, and help individuals achieve 10 their full potential through the develop- 11 ment and provision of skills and capacities 12 that promote productive individuals; or 13 (ii) development projects that revi- 14 talize physical infrastructure needed in se- 15 verely distressed urban neighborhoods, es- 16 pecially opportunity zones. 17 (2) FAITH-BASED ORGANIZATION.—The term 18 ‘‘faith-based organization’’ means a nonprofit orga- 19 nization or group of organizations that is affiliated 20 with or composed of congregations or networks of 21 worship organizations that deliver social, human, or 22 community redevelopment services or activities for 23 the purpose of improving the human condition or 24 lives of people. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:58 Aug 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4405.IS S4405 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4405 IS (3) OPPORTUNITY ZONE.—The term ‘‘oppor- 1 tunity zone’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘quali- 2 fied opportunity zone’’ in section 1400Z–1(a) of the 3 Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 4 (4) REVIEW BOARD.—The term ‘‘review board’’ 5 means the review board established under subsection 6 (d)(1). 7 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 8 the Secretary of Commerce. 9 (6) SEVERELY DISTRESSED URBAN NEIGHBOR- 10 HOOD.—The term ‘‘severely distressed urban neigh- 11 borhood’’ means— 12 (A) an opportunity zone; or 13 (B) an area that has experienced severe 14 long-term poverty, as determined by the Sec- 15 retary. 16 (c) NEIGHBORHOOD ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND 17 OPPORTUNITY PILOT PROGRAM FOR NONPROFIT AND 18 FAITH-BASED PARTNERSHIPS TO SUPPORT SEVERELY 19 DISTRESSED URBAN NEIGHBORHOODS.— 20 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall es- 21 tablish a grant program to provide grants to eligible 22 entities to carry out activities to achieve urban com- 23 munity revitalization in severely distressed urban 24 neighborhoods. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:58 Aug 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4405.IS S4405 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4405 IS (2) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—An eligible entity 1 may use a grant under this section to carry out— 2 (A) a social or economic program that im- 3 proves employment skills, promotes self-suffi- 4 ciency and self-empowerment, or helps individ- 5 uals achieve their full potential through develop- 6 ment and provision of skills and capacities that 7 promote productive individuals; or 8 (B) a development project that revitalizes 9 physical infrastructure in a severely distressed 10 urban neighborhood, in combination with activi- 11 ties described in subparagraph (A). 12 (3) APPLICATIONS.— 13 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days 14 after the date of enactment of this Act, to be 15 eligible to receive a grant under this section, an 16 eligible entity shall submit to the Secretary an 17 application that describes funding needs of the 18 eligible entity, including a description of any 19 funding needed to complete ongoing projects, 20 development plans, and sustainable services for 21 residents in severely distressed urban neighbor- 22 hoods and how that funding will achieve urban 23 community revitalization results with such peo- 24 ple and in neighborhoods. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:58 Aug 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4405.IS S4405 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4405 IS (B) REQUIREMENT.—An application under 1 subparagraph (A) shall— 2 (i) describe the total cost of the activi- 3 ties (including non-Federal contributions) 4 to be carried out with a grant under this 5 section; 6 (ii) describe the amount of non-Fed- 7 eral funds that will be contributed to carry 8 out the activities described in clause (i); 9 (iii) describe the measurable results 10 expected as a result of the activities de- 11 scribed in clause (i); and 12 (iv) include a clear, itemized state- 13 ment that demonstrates how the activities 14 described in clause (i) will achieve the 15 goals of— 16 (I) restoring communities— 17 (aa) by bettering people 18 through building core personal 19 attributes needed for successful, 20 functioning communities and in- 21 dividuals, including by improving 22 skills, character, and economic 23 productive capacity of individ- 24 uals; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:58 Aug 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4405.IS S4405 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4405 IS (bb) by building economi- 1 cally translatable skills; and 2 (II) improving severely distressed 3 urban neighborhoods through com- 4 prehensive development projects that 5 revitalize physical infrastructure in 6 such neighborhoods. 7 (4) GRANT REQUIREMENTS.— 8 (A) TOTAL COST OF ACTIVITIES.—The 9 total cost of activities carried out with a grant 10 under this section (including non-Federal con- 11 tributions) shall be— 12 (i) not less than $2,500,000; and 13 (ii) not more than $50,000,000. 14 (B) NON-FEDERAL SHARE.—The non-Fed- 15 eral share of the cost of activities carried out 16 with a grant under this section shall be not less 17 than 5 percent. 18 (d) REVIEW BOARD.— 19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 20 a review board to review and evaluate applications 21 for grants under this section. 22 (2) COMPOSITION.— 23 (A) IN GENERAL.—The review board shall 24 be composed of 9 members, of which— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:58 Aug 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4405.IS S4405 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4405 IS (i) one shall be the Secretary (or a 1 designee); 2 (ii) two shall be appointed by the 3 President; 4 (iii) two shall be appointed by the 5 Speaker of the House of Representatives; 6 (iv) one shall be appointed by the mi- 7 nority leader of the House of Representa- 8 tives; 9 (v) two shall be appointed by the ma- 10 jority leader of the Senate; and 11 (vi) one shall be appointed by the mi- 12 nority leader of the Senate. 13 (B) DEADLINE FOR APPOINTMENT.—Mem- 14 bers of the review board shall be appointed not 15 later than the date that is 30 days after the 16 date of enactment of this Act. 17 (3) DUTIES.— 18 (A) IN GENERAL.—The review board 19 shall— 20 (i) review, evaluate, and rank applica- 21 tions for grants under this section; and 22 (ii) not later than 120 days after the 23 date of enactment of this Act, submit to 24 the Secretary the priority list under sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:58 Aug 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4405.IS S4405 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4405 IS paragraph (C)(ii) for consideration in the 1 final selection of grant recipients by the 2 Secretary. 3 (B) EVALUATION.— 4 (i) IN GENERAL.—The review board 5 shall evaluate each application received 6 under this section based on the following 7 criteria: 8 (I) The extent of existing poverty 9 and crime issues in the severely dis- 10 tressed urban neighborhood. 11 (II) The likelihood that activities 12 proposed to be carried out with a 13 grant under this section will achieve 14 the goals described in subsection 15 (c)(3)(B)(iv). 16 (III) The support for the applica- 17 tion, as demonstrated through mean- 18 ingful, substantive roles of one or 19 more Federal, State, or local govern- 20 ment and one or more private, non- 21 governmental entity in carrying out 22 the proposed activities. 23 (IV) The proportion of non-Fed- 24 eral funds contributed to carry out 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:58 Aug 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4405.IS S4405 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 4405 IS the activities described in the applica- 1 tion, including private, State, local, 2 and other sources of funds, with a 3 preference given to those applications 4 that commit a larger non-Federal 5 share. 6 (V) The demonstrated success of 7 the eligible entity in providing services 8 or projects in the severely distressed 9 urban neighborhood. 10 (VI) The management and ad- 11 ministrative capacity of the eligible 12 entity to carry out the activities. 13 (VII) The accountability meas- 14 ures proposed in the application, such 15 as metered release of Federal funds, 16 audits, transparency measures, public 17 disclosure, and third-party reviews to 18 ensure funding is spent as budgeted 19 and results are measured, reported, 20 and shared. 21 (ii) PRIORITY.—In evaluating applica- 22 tions under this section, the review board 23 shall give priority— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:58 Aug 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4405.IS S4405 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 4405 IS (I) to applications that reflect di- 1 rect community neighborhood input; 2 and 3 (II) to applications from eligible 4 entities that are based in the commu- 5 nity served by the eligible entity. 6 (C) RANKINGS.— 7 (i) IN GENERAL.—Based on the eval- 8 uations under subparagraph (B)— 9 (I) the review board shall deter- 10 mine which applications meet the re- 11 quirements of this section; 12 (II) each member of the review 13 board shall provide a score for each 14 application described in subclause (I) 15 on a scale of 0 to 100; 16 (III) for each application that is 17 scored, the scores of each member 18 shall be averaged to create an average 19 score for the application; and 20 (IV) the applications shall be list- 21 ed by average score in the applicable 22 category on the priority list under 23 clause (ii). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:58 Aug 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4405.IS S4405 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 4405 IS (ii) PRIORITY LIST.—The review 1 board shall develop a priority list that in- 2 cludes each application that receives a 3 score under clause (i), in the following cat- 4 egories: 5 (I) Applications with a total cost 6 (including non-Federal contributions) 7 of $10,000,000 or less, from the high- 8 est average score to the lowest aver- 9 age score of those applications. 10 (II) Applications with a total cost 11 (including non-Federal contributions) 12 of more than $10,000,000, from the 13 highest average score to the lowest av- 14 erage score of those applications. 15 (4) STAFF.— 16 (A) IN GENERAL.—The review board may 17 hire temporary staff to support the review 18 board in carrying out the duties of the review 19 board under paragraph (3). 20 (B) FUNDING.—The review board may use 21 not more than $1,000,000 of the amounts made 22 available to carry out this section for staff sala- 23 ries and expenses under subparagraph (A). 24 (5) TERMINATION.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:58 Aug 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4405.IS S4405 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •S 4405 IS (A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara- 1 graph (B), the review board shall terminate on 2 the date on which the Secretary has selected all 3 grant recipients under this section and section 4 3. 5 (B) EXTENSION.—The Secretary may 6 grant the review board not more than 1 exten- 7 sion of not more than 180 days, if the Sec- 8 retary determines an extension to be necessary. 9 (e) SELECTION AND DISTRIBUTION.— 10 (1) INITIAL GRANTS.— 11 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days 12 after the date on which the review board sub- 13 mits the priority list to the Secretary under 14 subsection (d)(3)(A)(ii), the Secretary shall se- 15 lect 12 applications to receive grants under this 16 section, after taking into consideration the pri- 17 ority list. 18 (B) REGIONAL SELECTION.—The applica- 19 tions selected under subparagraph (A) shall in- 20 clude 2 applications from each region served by 21 an Economic Development Administration re- 22 gional office. 23 (C) DISTRIBUTION.—Of the amounts made 24 available to carry out this section— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:58 Aug 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00 [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]