HR 5383119th CongressIntroduced

Mentoring and Supporting Families Act

Introduced: Sep 16, 2025

Social Services

Standard Summary

Comprehensive overview in 1-2 paragraphs

The Mentoring and Supporting Families Act would amend the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) program, which operates under section 2008 of the Social Security Act. The bill inserts a new requirement to prioritize grant applications that include peer support, peer mentoring, and career coaching as part of the participant’s case management plan, and that commit to providing participants with a monthly cash stipend or wage supplement. It also requires that each HPOG project include case management plans with career coaching and optional peer support/mentoring to help develop soft skills and social capital, usable before, during, and after initial health-profession training as part of a career pathway model. The changes would take effect October 1, 2025. In short, the bill is designed to embed mentoring, peer support, and career coaching more formally into HPOG projects and to provide financial stipends to participants as part of those programs.

Key Points

1Adds a new subsection to the Health Profession Opportunity Grants statute titled “Use of Peer Support, Peer Mentoring, and Career Coaching.”
2Preference in grant selection: Secretary must give preference to applications that include mentoring or peer support and offer career coaching, and to applications that commit to monthly cash stipends or wage supplements for participants.
3Required services: Each HPOG grant project must include case management plans that incorporate career coaching, with the option to provide peer support and mentoring to help develop soft skills and social capital, integrated as part of a career pathway model before, during, and after initial training.
4Structural change: The new subsection (c) is added after subsection (b), with subsections (c)–(e) redesignated accordingly (changing the numbering of later subsections).
5Effective date: The amendments take effect October 1, 2025.

Impact Areas

Primary group/area affected: Participants in the Health Profession Opportunity Grants program (often low-income individuals seeking training and placement in health careers) and organizations/state agencies that administer HPOG grants.Secondary group/area affected: Grantmaking agencies (e.g., U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ administration of HPOG) and the workforce development ecosystem that supports health care career pathways.Additional impacts:- Administrative and design implications for grant applicants, who may need to integrate formal peer support, mentoring, and career coaching into their case management plans.- Potential budget implications if stipends or wage supplements are funded as part of grants.- Anticipated outcomes such as improved participant engagement, development of soft skills, stronger social networks, higher completion rates of training, and better job placement and retention in health professions.

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