May 25, 2007

Dear Representative:

As leaders on the front-line in the battle against crime, the 3,000 sheriffs, police chiefs, prosecutors, and victims of violence of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids know that the best way to prevent crime is to invest in programs that are proven to help kids get the right start in life. Law enforcement leaders' experiences - and the research - show that among our most powerful weapons against crime are quality early childhood education, child abuse and neglect prevention and after-school programs. Unfortunately, our nation is far short of making the needed investment in these programs. We are pleased that the Fiscal Year 2008 Budget Resolution provides room for an increased Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (Labor-HHS-Education) allocation for Fiscal Year 2008. We urge you to invest in these proven violence prevention approaches in the House FY08 Labor-HHS- Education Appropriations bill

Quality early childhood education programs are proven to help children start school ready to learn and to cut later crime. For example, a study of the High/Scope Perry Preschool program showed that three- and four-year-olds from low-income families who were left out of the program were five times more likely to become chronic offenders by age 27 than those who were in the program. We urge you to:

• Increase funding for Head Start by at least $750 million to restore funding for services to kids to the Fiscal Year 2002 level. This is the first step toward meeting the unmet need (50% of eligible, preschool-aged kids are unserved, as are 95% of eligible infants and toddlers).
• Increase discretionary funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant by at least $720 million to restore funding for services to kids to the Fiscal Year 2002 level. Only 1 in 7 eligible children is currently served and 150,000 fewer kids benefited from child care assistance in 2006 than in 2000.

• $100 million to expand and improve home visiting programs like those that would be supported under the Education Begins as Home Act (H.R. 2343), which is expected to be enacted this year.
• $545 million (the combined mandatory and discretionary authorized level) for the Promoting Safe and Stable Families program to help communities run home visiting programs, parenting-education programs, family-strengthening services for troubled families, adoption services, and other abuse and neglect prevention programs.
• $200 million (the previously authorized level) for the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to help improve state child protection services and community-based prevention services.
• $1.7 billion (rejecting proposed cuts) for the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG), the federal government's single largest support for child welfare services.

• Substantially increase funding for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers to support and expand after-school programs that offer kids constructive activities during the peak hours of violent juvenile crime, 3-6 PM. Also, we urge you to appropriate at least an additional $500 million for programs targeted toward at-risk middle and high school students who now experience the greatest unmet need-and are at greatest risk of perpetrating or being victims of crime.