New York Fact Sheet

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Preventing Crime with Pre-Kindergarten: A Critical Investment in New York's Safety

Early Education News

New York State law enforcement leaders work everyday to put dangerous, violent criminals behind bars. From years on the front line fighting crime, police chiefs, sheriffs and prosecutors know that we can beat back crime with a commitment to investing in pre-kindergarten and educational childcare that keep kids from becoming criminals in the first place. The evidence is in. Quality early education readies kids to learn, reinforces respect and responsibility for others and reduces behavior problems that can spiral out of control. Research confirms that at-risk children left out of quality pre-kindergarten are five times more likely to grow up to become criminals by age 27 than children in pre-kindergarten. Quality pre-kindergarten also saves $17 for every $1 invested. Yet, due to underfunding only 11 percent, or 68,000, of New York's 620,000 working families receive some sort of child care aid. Only one in five New York children are served by Head Start and the state funded pre-kindergarten program.

Reports

All Fight Crime: Invest in Kids New York reports on Pre-K, early education, child care and Head Start:

"If we want to decrease criminal acts in a community we need to invest in what we know works, spending our money wisely. Evidence based programs work and we know that they are cost effective. We need to invest now. We need to make these programs a priority so that our investment pays off and our children are protected."

-David Harder, Sheriff, Broome County

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• Head Start narrows the literary skills gap by nearly half between children in poverty and all U.S. children.
• Eight out of 10 kindergarten teachers polled say that poorly prepared kids that didn't attend pre-kindergarten negatively impact well-prepared kids.