Violence Survivor Outreach
The Survivor Voice: Investing in Kids Cuts Crime
Violence Survivors Speaking Out and Making a Difference
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“I think a lot about this young man. I didn’t think he was born to do this. If someone had been there to reach out a hand to him, I believe it would have changed his life.”
-Ellen Halbert, first crime victim appointed to Texas Board of Criminal Justice
Fight Crime: Invest in Kids partners with victims of violence to educate the public, state and federal policy-makers on the best ways to prevent crime. As an anti-crime organization, we know that investing in children today means fewer offenders and fewer victims tomorrow.
Our membership includes survivors of violent crime, parents and family members of homicide victims and other survivors who are dedicated to making sure at-risk children never turn to a life of crime.
We invite you to join the violence survivors membership of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids.
Why Join Fight Crime: Invest in Kids?
Watch this minute long video showing members in action.
Proven, effective investments in kids make us safer and pay for themselves many times over. The key components of our plan have been endorsed by the National Organization for Victim Assistance and dozens of state and national law enforcement organizations.
Research shows that crime and violence can be prevented by giving kids the right start in life, through investments in high-quality early childhood education, voluntary in-home parent coaching, after-school programs and school-based approaches to reducing bullying, aggression, substance abuse and crime, and interventions for troubled youth.
The Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Survivor of Violence membership undertakes two major areas of activity: submitting opinion editorials and letters to the editor to newspapers and speaking at media events.
We have played a critical role in winning billions in new federal and state investments in Head Start, pre-kindergarten, voluntary in-home parent coaching, after school, and other youth programs that can cut crime (See graph).
Fight Crime: Invest in Kids has helped change the way America looks at after-school programs. Our report, After-School Programs or After-School Crime, contained the until-then-unpublicized data that violent juvenile crime skyrockets from 3-6 p.m. and showed that after-school programs can shut down this “prime-time for juvenile crime.” Federal after-school funds served fewer than 10,000 children when Fight Crime: Invest in Kids began in 1996. Today, federally funded programs serve more than one million youngsters.
We have generated widespread media coverage of the “fight crime by investing in kids” message each year through newspapers, television, internet and radio networks across the country. We reached an audience of over 51 million in the last year.
Fight Crime: Invest in Kids has educated scores of opinion leaders and policy-makers through testimony, briefings, and meetings about the importance of investments in children and youth to reduce later crime.
We are working improve the lives of at-risk children, stopping violence before it occurs and building safer communities for all.
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No prison can bring back a murdered child, and no amount of tough on crime rhetoric can comfort a grieving parent. Police, prosecutors, researchers and victims will tell you the same thing: the key to preventing crime is investing in the early childhood and youth development programs that start kids down the right path and help them steer clear of crime later.
-Marc Klaas, father of Polly Klaas, abducted and murdered in Sausalito, CA, Oct. 1993 San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, CA
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Note: To respect and protect the privacy of our members, we do not list publicly all members who are survivors of crime and violence. If you are interested in learning more, please contact our membership team.
Other Resources:
Concerns of Police Survivors provides resources to assist in the rebuilding of the lives of surviving families and affected co-workers of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty as determined by Federal criteria.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children serves as the nations resource on the issues of missing and sexually exploited children.
The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization headquartered in Washington, DC, the Memorial Fund built and continues to maintain the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial the nations monument to law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty.
The National Organization for Victim Assistance is a private, non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization of victim and witness assistance programs and practitioners, criminal justice agencies and professionals, mental health professionals, researchers, former victims and survivors, and others committed to the recognition and implementation of victim rights and services.
Parents of Murdered Children provides the on-going emotional support needed to help parents and other survivors facilitate the reconstruction of a “new life” and to promote a healthy resolution.
Prevent Child Abuse America works to build awareness, provide education and inspire hope to everyone involved in the effort to prevent the abuse and neglect of our nation’s children.
U.S. Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime is an online resource for victim service providers and crime victims.
