[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2445 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2445
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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 24, 2025
Mr. Markey (for himself, Mr. Blumenthal, and Mr. Merkley) introduced
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee
on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
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 PROGRAMS FOR COMMUNITY MENTAL WELLNESS AND RESILIENCE.
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 PROGRAMS FOR COMMUNITY MENTAL WELLNESS AND
RESILIENCE.
``(a) Grants.--
``(1) Planning grants.--
``(A) Awards.--The Secretary, in consultation with
the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance
Use and the Administrator of the Health Resources and
Services Administration, 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 under 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 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 4 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) 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 professional 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 to
eligible organizations and resilience coordinating networks, directly
or through grants or contracts awarded to public or private entities,
technical assistance for purposes of--
``(1) developing applications for grants under paragraph
(1) or (2) of subsection (a); and
``(2) 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 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'
means 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' means 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 2026 through 2030.
``(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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