Budget for Youth

Budget for youth!

The Presbyterian Washington Office has joined other religious and civic groups in urging Office of Management and Budget to "increase investment in community-based juvenile crime prevention efforts that positively engage children and youth." This includes the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, the Title V Local Delinquency Prevention program, and the national programs under the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA), which provide critical assistance to youth in high-risk situations.

[12-19-01]

Here is the full text of the letter, and the list of signatory groups:

December 14, 2001

Mr. Mitchell Daniels, Jr.
Director
Office of Management and Budget
Eisenhower Executive Office Building
17th St. & Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, D.C. 20503

Dear Mr. Daniels:

As the Administration continues its work on the budget for Fiscal Year 2003, we urge you to increase investment in community-based juvenile crime prevention efforts that positively engage children and youth.

To keep all children and youth safe and out of trouble, additional funds must be provided to continue to support youth development and prevention efforts. Study after study has shown that early investment in youth development and prevention programs can dramatically reduce youth crime and violence. Providing all children and youth, including children and youth with disabilities, with constructive alternatives in and out of school is essential to ensuring that our Nation's children and youth in high-risk situations have every opportunity to grow into responsible, productive, healthy, and law-abiding adults. To this end, we ask that the Administration make a strong commitment to keep children and youth safe from harm and to help children and youth realize their full potential by increasing investment in 21st Century Community Learning Centers, the Title V Local Delinquency Prevention program, and Runaway and Homeless Youth Act programs.

Funding for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program has grown over the last several years, providing an increasing number of children and youth, who would otherwise be left home alone after school, with supervised, productive after-school activities. However, this program is extremely modest given the number of children and youth who do not have access to constructive after-school activities. Substantial new investments are still needed given the role that after-school programs can play both in keeping children and youth safe from harm while helping them succeed academically. We strongly urge the Administration to increase funding for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program to a total of $1.5 billion to help schools and community-based organizations start, operate, and expand programs for children and youth.

The Title V Local Delinquency Prevention program is an effective model of community collaboration in which community stakeholders - including locally elected officials, law enforcement, public recreation, private nonprofit organizations, and youth workers - come together to develop a plan for juvenile delinquency prevention. Title V is currently the only federal program providing delinquency prevention funding to communities through a flexible, local prevention block grant approach and steps should be taken to ensure that funding for Title V is available to support the local prevention activities for which it is intended. In addition to protecting Title V funding from dilution, more should be invested in this cost-effective program that keeps children, youth, and communities safe. Despite its success in nearly 1,000 communities nationwide, Title V funding was cut in FY2002, and we are deeply concerned that more than two-thirds of the total appropriation for Title V was earmarked for other programs. Moreover, Title V continues to receive a fraction of what incarceration and intervention initiatives like the Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grant receive. We ask that the Administration expand Title V Local Delinquency Prevention program from $94.3 million to at least $250 million in FY2003.

The Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA) provides critical assistance to youth in high-risk situations throughout the nation through three programs. The Basic Center program provides grants to community-based, faith-based, and local public organizations to support emergency (no greater than 15 days) shelter for youth under age 18, and counseling for youth and their families in order to assist them in reuniting with their families or connecting to alternative guardians. The Transitional Living Program provides grants to support longer-term (up to 18 months) residential supports as well as independent living opportunities to youth ages 16-21 who are unable to return home safely, in order to promote their successful transition to adulthood and self-sufficiency. The Street Outreach Program (formally called the Sexual Abuse Prevention Program) provides grants to support street-based outreach and education to runaway, homeless, and street youth who have been sexually abused or are at risk of sexual abuse, in order to connect these most vulnerable youth with services and a chance for a safe and healthy future. RHYA funds also support a national runaway hot line and regional training, and technical assistance for youth workers and their agencies. The RHYA programs ensure safety and support in community-based settings to thousands of youth who would otherwise risk coming in contact with the juvenile justice and child welfare protection systems. Thus, not only are vulnerable young people supported through RHYA investments, states and localities are also enabled to fulfill their requirements to deinstitutionalize status offenders and to benefit from reduced costs associated when young people become engaged for long periods with the juvenile justice and child welfare systems. We urge you to provide full funding for these programs, including $130 million for the runaway and homeless youth consolidated account (which includes Basic Centers, the Transitional Living Program, the National Runaway Switchboard, and important training, technical assistance, and informational resources), and $20 million for the Street Outreach Program.

Thank you for your consideration in support of significant investments to assist in the productive, healthy development of all our Nation's children and youth.

Sincerely,

Alliance for Children and Families
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
American Counseling Association
American Psychiatric Association
American Psychological Association
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
Child Welfare League of America
Children & Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD)
Children's Defense Fund
Friends Committee on National Legislation (Quaker)
Girls Incorporated
Justice Policy Institute
Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs, Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America
National Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
National Association of School Psychologists
National Mental Health Association
National Network for Youth
National School-Age Care Alliance
Physicians for Human Rights
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Washington Office
School Social Work Association of America
United Church of Christ/Justice and Witness Ministries
Volunteers of America
Youth Law Center