119-hr4744

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4744 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 4744

 To amend the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of 
Health and Human Services to promote mental wellness and resilience and 
 prevent and heal mental health, behavioral health, and psychosocial 
conditions through developmentally and culturally appropriate community 
programs, and award grants for the purpose of establishing, operating, 
 or expanding community-based mental wellness and resilience programs, 
 and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 July 23, 2025

 Mr. Tonko (for himself, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Bacon, and Ms. Castor of 
 Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To amend the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of 
Health and Human Services to promote mental wellness and resilience and 
 prevent and heal mental health, behavioral health, and psychosocial 
conditions through developmentally and culturally appropriate community 
programs, and award grants for the purpose of establishing, operating, 
 or expanding community-based mental wellness and resilience programs, 
 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.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Community Mental Wellness and 
Resilience Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM FOR COMMUNITY MENTAL WELLNESS AND RESILIENCE 
 PROGRAMS.

 Title III of the Public Health Service Act is amended by inserting 
after 

section 317V (42 U.S.C. 247b-24) the following:

``

SEC. 317W. GRANT PROGRAM FOR COMMUNITY MENTAL WELLNESS AND RESILIENCE 
 PROGRAMS.

 ``

    (a) Grants.--
 ``

    (1) Planning grants.--
 ``
        (A) Awards.--The Secretary shall award grants to 
 eligible organizations--
 ``
            (i) to organize a mental wellness and 
 resilience coordinating network;
 ``
            (ii) to perform assessments of need with 
 respect to community mental wellness and 
 resilience; and
 ``
            (iii) to prepare an application for a 
 grant under paragraph

    (2) .
 ``
        (B) Amount.--The amount of a grant under 
 subparagraph
        (A) , with respect to any eligible 
 organization seeking such a grant shall not exceed 
 $250,000.
 ``
            (C) Eligible organization defined.--In this 
 paragraph, the term `eligible organization' means an 
 organization that--
 ``
            (i) is a nonprofit or community-based 
 entity eligible to be a part of the resilience 
 coordinating network (as defined in subsection
            (c) ); and
 ``
            (ii) has documented support from at least 
 3 other such entities.
 ``

    (2) Program grants.--
 ``
        (A) Awards.--The Secretary shall carry out a 
 program of awarding grants to mental wellness and 
 resilience coordinating networks, on a competitive 
 basis, for the purpose of establishing, operating, or 
 expanding community mental wellness and resilience 
 programs.
 ``
        (B) Amount.--The amount of a grant under 
 subparagraph
        (A) shall not exceed $500,000 each year 
 over a period not to exceed four years.
 ``
            (C) Rural set aside.--
 ``
            (i) In general.--Of the funds 
 appropriated to carry out this section for a 
 fiscal year, 20 percent of such funds shall be 
 reserved to award grants to community mental 
 wellness and resilience programs in rural 
 areas.
 ``
            (ii) Rural area described.--For purposes 
 of clause
            (i) , a rural area is a region outside 
 of an urban or suburban area.
 ``
            (iii) Inclusion.--For purposes of clause
            (ii) , a rural area may include individuals and 
 organizations from multiple towns in the county 
 or region involved.
 ``

    (b) Program Requirements.--A program carried out using funds 
awarded under subsection

    (a)

    (2) shall take a public health approach to 
mental health prevention and promotion, using the best available 
evidence, to strengthen the entire community's psychological and 
emotional wellness and resilience, including by--
 ``

    (1) collecting and analyzing information from residents 
 of the community as well as quantitative data to identify--
 ``
        (A) protective factors that enhance and sustain 
 the community's capacity for mental wellness and 
 resilience; and
 ``
        (B) risk factors that undermine such capacity;
 ``

    (2) strengthening such protective factors and addressing 
 such risk factors;
 ``

    (3) building awareness, skills, tools, and leadership in 
 the community to--
 ``
        (A) facilitate using a public health approach to 
 mental health; and
 ``
        (B) detect, prevent, and heal mental health, 
 behavioral health, and psychosocial conditions among 
 all adults and youth; and
 ``

    (4) developing, implementing, and continually evaluating 
 and improving a comprehensive strategic plan for carrying out 
 the activities described in paragraphs

    (1) ,

    (2) and

    (3) that 
 includes utilizing developmentally, linguistically, and 
 culturally appropriate evidence-based, evidence-informed, 
 promising-best, or indigenous practices for--
 ``
        (A) engaging residents in building social 
 connections, including across cultural, geographic, and 
 economic boundaries;
 ``
        (B) enhancing local economic, social, and 
 environmental conditions, including with respect to the 
 built environment;
 ``
            (C) becoming trauma-informed and learning simple 
 self-administrable mental wellness and resilience 
 skills;
 ``
            (D) engaging in community activities that 
 strengthen mental wellness and resilience;
 ``
        (E) partaking in nonclinical group and community-
 minded prevention and recovery programs; and
 ``
        (F) other activities to promote mental wellness 
 and resilience and prevent or heal individual and 
 community traumas.
 ``
            (c) Resilience Coordinating Network.--
 ``

    (1) In general.--In this section, the term `resilience 
 coordinating network' means a network that is composed of 1 or 
 more representatives from at least 5 of the categories listed 
 in paragraph

    (2) .
 ``

    (2) Categories.--The categories listed in this paragraph 
 are the following:
 ``
        (A) Grassroots groups, community-based 
 organizations, neighborhood associations, and volunteer 
 civic organizations.
 ``
        (B) Elementary and secondary schools, high-needs 
 schools, institutions of higher education, including 
 community colleges, job-training programs, and other 
 education or training agencies or organizations.
 ``
            (C) Youth serving organizations, such as youth 
 after-school and summer programs.
 ``
            (D) Parental, family, and early childhood 
 education programs.
 ``
        (E) Faith and spirituality organizations.
 ``
        (F) Senior care organizations.
 ``
        (G) Climate change mitigation and adaptation, and 
 environmental conservation, groups and organizations.
 ``
        (H) Social and environmental justice groups and 
 organizations.
 ``
            (I) Disaster preparedness and emergency response 
 groups and organizations.
 ``
        (J) Businesses and business associations.
 ``
        (K) Police, fire, and other agencies and 
 organizations involved with community safety, security, 
 and the justice system.
 ``
            (L) Social work, mental health, behavioral 
 health, substance use, physical health, public health, 
 and other professionals, groups, organizations, 
 agencies, and institutions in the human health and 
 social services fields.
 ``
            (M) The general public, including individuals who 
 have experienced adverse mental health or behavioral 
 health conditions who can represent and engage with 
 populations and sectors relevant to the community.
 ``
            (d) Technical Assistance.--The Secretary shall provide, directly 
or through grants to, or contracts with public or private entities, to 
eligible organizations and resilience coordinating networks technical 
assistance--
 ``

    (1) in developing applications for grants under paragraph

    (1) or

    (2) of subsection

    (a) ; and
 ``

    (2) by sharing best practices learned from resilience 
 coordinating networks.
 ``

    (e) Report.--
 ``

    (1) Submission.--Not later than December 31, 2030, the 
 Secretary shall submit a report to the Congress on the results 
 of the grants under subsection

    (a)

    (1) .
 ``

    (2) Contents.--Such report shall include a summary of the 
 best practices used by grantees in establishing, operating, or 
 expanding community mental wellness and resilience programs, 
 and the outputs and outcomes achieved.
 ``

    (f) 

=== Definitions. ===
-In this section:
 ``

    (1) The term `public health approach to mental health' 
 refers to methods that--
 ``
        (A) take a population-level approach to promote 
 mental wellness and resilience to prevent problems 
 before they emerge, intervene before they become more 
 severe, and heal them when they do appear, not merely 
 treating individuals one at a time after symptoms of 
 pathology appear; and
 ``
        (B) address mental health and psychosocial 
 problems by--
 ``
            (i) identifying and strengthening 
 existing protective factors, and forming new 
 ones, that buffer people from and enhance their 
 capacity for psychological, emotional, and 
 behavioral wellness and resilience for 
 adversities;
 ``
            (ii) taking a holistic systems 
 perspective that recognizes that most mental 
 health, behavioral health, and psychosocial 
 conditions result from numerous interrelated 
 personal, family, social, economic, and 
 environmental factors that require multipronged 
 community-based interventions; and
 ``
            (iii) using the best available evidence 
 to take action and implement strategies that 
 support mental health prevention and recovery 
 efforts.
 ``

    (2) The term `community' means people, groups, and 
 organizations that reside in or work within a specific 
 geographic area, such as a city, neighborhood, subdivision, or 
 urban, suburban, or rural locale.
 ``

    (3) The term `community trauma' means a traumatic event 
 or events that are shared by a community and that have lasting 
 adverse effects on the health and well-being of the community.
 ``

    (4) The term `protective factors' means strengths, 
 skills, resources, and characteristics that--
 ``
        (A) are associated with a lower likelihood of 
 negative outcomes of adversities; or
 ``
        (B) reduce the impact on people of toxic stresses 
 or a traumatic experience.
 ``

    (5) The term `mental wellness' means a state of well-
 being in which an individual experiences positive emotional 
 functioning, pursues self-defined goals, establishes and 
 maintains meaningful relationships, and feels a sense of 
 meaning and purpose. At the individual level, well-being is 
 based on fundamental family, social, cognitive, and emotional 
 skills and supports that help individuals react, cope, and 
 adapt in healthy ways to stress, uncertainty, adversity, 
 trauma, and change. At the community level, well-being is 
 influenced by the social, economic, educational, and 
 environmental factors and conditions that either enhance or 
 diminish well-being within the community.
 ``

    (6) The term `psychosocial problem' refers to social and 
 environmental structures and processes that adversely effect 
 and influence an individual's mental state or community health.
 ``

    (7) The term `resilience' means that people develop 
 cognitive, psychological, emotional, and behavioral 
 capabilities and social connections that enable them to calm 
 their body, mind, emotions, and behaviors during toxic stresses 
 or traumatic experiences in ways that enable them to--
 ``
        (A) respond without negative consequences for 
 themselves or others; and
 ``
        (B) use the experiences as catalysts to develop a 
 constructive new sense of meaning, purpose, and hope.
 ``

    (8) The term `toxic stress' means exposure to prolonged, 
 severe, and stressful situations with no period of recovery or 
 support.
 ``

    (g) Authorization of Appropriations.--
 ``

    (1) In general.--To carry out this section, there is 
 authorized to be appropriated $36,000,000 for the period of 
 fiscal years 2025 through 2029.
 ``

    (2) Limitation.--Of the amount made available to carry 
 out this section for a fiscal year, not more than 5 percent of 
 such funds may be used to carry out subsection
            (d) .''.
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