Federal grants target gun violence prevention in highest-risk schools

What it does

This bill creates a federal grant program through the Public Health Service Act to fund school-based violence prevention programs in communities with high rates of gun violence. Eligible partnerships of state education agencies, local school districts, and nonprofit organizations in high-violence areas can receive up to $25 million annually (2025–2031) to implement evidence-based trauma-informed programs, mental health services, and community engagement strategies targeting youth at risk. The bill requires evaluation and public reporting of outcomes.

Why we flagged it

The bill's operative mechanism is a straightforward federal grant authorization to fund school-based violence prevention in high-homicide communities. It is a public-health appropriations measure with clear eligibility criteria, evaluation requirements, and geographic distribution mandates.

What the text implies

• Eligibility criteria (35+ homicides/year or 20+ with double national average rate) will concentrate funding in a small number of urban centers, potentially excluding mid-sized cities with rising violence but lower absolute numbers.
• The 20% evaluation cap on grant spending may limit program scale in smaller districts; independent researcher evaluation (5% reserve) creates a two-tier assessment system that could reveal implementation gaps.
• Requirement for state education agency partnership may create bureaucratic friction in states with weak capacity or political resistance to gun violence framing.
• Data disaggregation by student subgroups (race, disability, ELL status) will expose disparities in violence exposure and program access, potentially creating political pressure on districts.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

The bill directs federal funding to communities experiencing disproportionate gun violence, providing evidence-based prevention services, mental health support, and trauma care to youth and families in those areas. The program is geographically targeted to high-need communities and includes rigorous evaluation requirements to ensure accountability and public transparency of outcomes.

Who stands to gain

• community-based nonprofit organizations (program operators)
• local educational agencies (administrative partners)
• independent research firms (evaluation contracts)

Named in the bill

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Education, State educational agencies, Local educational agencies, Community-based nonprofit organizations, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Institute of Education Sciences, Bureau of Indian Education, Public Health Service Act

Where it stands

31 cosponsors: 31 Democrats.

• Jun 12, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Jun 12, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

1 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $80,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 70 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.

Jahana Hayes, the sponsor, reported $664,811 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence — $80,000 on 2 filings

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 17, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.