The Building Civic Bridges Act establishes a new Office of Civic Bridgebuilding within the Corporation for National and Community Service to promote programs that reduce political and social polarization while addressing community needs. The office will administer a three-year pilot grant program awarding competitive grants to nonprofits, community organizations, faith-based groups, colleges, and government institutions to fund civic bridgebuilding projects that bring divided communities together and tackle issues like education, health care, and public safety. The legislation requires the office to develop research-based standards for measuring program effectiveness, provide training to national service participants, compile a public research database on civic engagement, and convene civic leaders to share best practices across the field. The Comptroller General must report to Congress on the pilot program's results within 18 months of each three-year period's completion. Importantly, the bill authorizes no federal funding and specifies that the office will operate solely on private donations.
Take Action
Your position
Add a comment
to comment on this bill.
Annotate the text
Highlight any passage on the Summary or Full Text tab to attach a note. Annotations appear on the Annotations tab.