Establishment of a National Community Violence Response Center

(a) Establishment The Secretary shall establish and operate a National Community Violence Response Center (referred to in this section as the Center). (b) Duties The Center shall have the following roles and responsibilities: (1) Assessment; technical assistance The Office and the Center, with the advice of the Advisory Committee, shall— (A) develop a 4-tier taxonomy to assess the maturity of community violence infrastructure among grantees under section 101; and (B) provide technical assistance to grantees under section 101 in the implementation of coordinated community violence intervention funded through the grant. (2) Intensive site implementation support The Center shall— (A) develop intensive site implementation support for each of the 4 tiers to maximize the effectiveness of the development of community violence initiatives; (B) develop intensive site implementation support for each eligible unit of local government that is a grant recipient to assess the contours of the community violence within the jurisdiction and identify relevant community-based interventions that may be successful at preventing future community violence; and (C) provide ongoing support to community-based organizations to facilitate site infrastructure building, program implementation and operation, and quality improvement assistance. (3) Data Collection (A) Policies The Office and the Center shall develop data collection policies for grant recipients that measure safety, community health, opportunity youth engagement, economic development, and recidivism. (B) Assistance The Center shall assist grant recipients in establishing data collection systems and practices, and collect data from the grant recipients. (4) Research coordination (A) Establishment of advisory council The Center, in consultation with nonprofit, nongovernmental organizations and researchers whose primary expertise is in community violence, shall establish a Community Violence Research Advisory Council (in this paragraph referred to as the Research Advisory Council)— (i) to coordinate research on community violence; and (ii) to report to Congress on any gaps on issues related to community violence. (B) Membership The Research Advisory Council shall include representatives from— (i) all Federal agencies that fund research on community violence; and (ii) the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (C) Duties The Research Advisory Council shall provide advice and assistance to the Center to— (i) develop a coordinated strategy to strengthen research focused on community violence education, prevention, and intervention strategies; (ii) track and report all Federal research and expenditures related to community violence; and (iii) identify gaps in community violence research, governmental expenditures on community violence issues, and promising strategies that have not yet been rigorously evaluated. (5) Conferral (A) In general The Center shall establish a biennial conference to include— (i) grantees and providers of intensive site implementation support in the community violence field that receive funding under this title or title II; and (ii) other key stakeholders. (B) Topics The topics to be addressed at the biennial conference shall include— (i) the administration of grants; (ii) challenges and gaps in community violence intervention initiatives; (iii) strategies for overcoming such challenges and gaps; (iv) promising practices in the field; and (v) emerging trends. (C) Report Not later than 90 days after the conclusion of each biennial conference, the Center shall publish a comprehensive report that— (i) summarizes the issues presented during the conference and what, if any, policies the Center intends to implement to address those issues; and (ii) is made available to the public on the Center’s website and submitted to Congress. (6) Capacity building and fostering innovation The Center shall— (A) promote expansion and development of the field of community violence intervention and prevention, including fostering collaboration, information-sharing, and dissemination of best practices among practitioners, providers of intensive site implementation support, and programs and individuals working in the same regions or States, including the identification and dissemination to the public of best practices for addressing community violence; (B) develop a plan for expanding providers of intensive site implementation support in the field of community violence intervention and prevention; (C) develop a plan for identifying innovative community violence intervention and prevention strategies that are in need of further research and evaluation; and (D) develop a plan for providing ongoing intensive site support to organizations implementing community violence intervention and prevention strategies. (7) Reporting The Center shall annually provide a report to Congress addressing topics to include— (A) national trends in community violence statistics; (B) a summary of the activities of the Center and the Office under this title; and (C) recommendations for improving the national response to community violence.