Vawa II, Section 221

SEC. 221. GRANTS FOR VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN PREVENTION AMONG YOUTH.

(a) IN GENERAL- For purposes of this section, the Secretary of Education shall in consultation with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, implement a program to educate young people about violence against women.

(b) USE OF FUNDS-

(1) The Secretary shall make grants to primary, middle, and secondary schools to develop, adopt, implement, and disseminate educational curricula and materials on violence against women, including training for school personnel. Such curricula and materials should be developed, adopted, implemented, and disseminated in consultation and collaboration with experts on violence against women and girls from the educational, legal, cultural competence, youth and victim advocacy fields, such as domestic violence shelters, domestic violence programs, and State domestic violence coalitions, State sexual assault coalitions and rape crisis centers and community-based youth organizations. Priority shall be given to initiatives that address particularly the needs of underserved communities that may be recipients of the curricula and materials and training.

(2) The Secretary shall disseminate any existing Department of Education policy guidance regarding preventing and remedying violence against women in schools.

(3) The Secretary shall study and report to Congress recommendations regarding policies for primary, middle, and secondary schools in screening and referring children for services when children may be experiencing the effects of domestic violence or sexual assault. The study shall consider victim safety and confidentiality as significant factors in any policy recommendations.

(4) The Secretary shall study and report to Congress the link between the victimization of girls and their perpetration of crimes. This study will examine the nature of the link, types of crimes in which girls who are victims of domestic violence and sexual assault engage, and the short- and long-term effect of girls' violent victimization. In addition, the report will explore the extent to which local, State, and Federal policies that govern social welfare, health education, and juvenile justice systems address the needs of girls as victims of domestic violence or sexual assault.

(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS- There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 1999, 2000, 2002, and 2003