2009 Legislative Recommendation

2009 LEGISLATIVE RECOMMENDATIONS

Established in 1999, FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS NEW YORK is a statewide, bi-partisan, non-profit anti-crime organization of nearly 300 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors, other law enforcement leaders and violence survivors. We are part of the more than 4,500 member national organization, FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS, headquartered in Washington, D.C. As leaders on the front-line in the battle against crime, our mission is to take a hard-nosed look at the research about what works to keep kids from becoming criminals. Research and experience show that certain targeted investments in programs that give kids a good start in life will prevent children from engaging in later crime and violence. These investments include quality early education and care, child abuse and neglect prevention, after-school programs, and programs that help troubled kids get back on track. Government's most fundamental responsibility is to protect public safety. New York State is far short of the investments needed to keep kids from becoming criminals. This gaping shortfall in investments is our nation's crime-prevention gap, leaving every New Yorker at needless risk of becoming a victim. As a first step toward closing this gap, FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS NEW YORK developed an agenda for the 2009/10 legislative session. The legislative agenda outlines the FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS NEW YORK priorities in the context of the programs identified in our plan for preventing crime and violence, including programs that prevent child abuse and neglect, early educational childhood care including pre-kindergarten, after-school programs and programs that get troubled kids back on track also known as evidence-based community initiatives. 

Outlined below is the agenda for the 2009 New York legislative session:

2009 LEGISLATIVE DASHBOARD

I. Expand Efforts to Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect

• Sustain and increase funding for Healthy Families New York and support a comprehensive system for home visiting.

• Retain the Community Optional Preventive Services (COPS) monies by extending these funding streams until 2012 for evidence-based home visitation services such as Nurse Family Partnership, Healthy Families New York and the Parent Child Home Program. Mechanisms to monitor COPS should be created to ensure this funding is properly used.

II. Expand and Improve Quality Early Childhood Care and Education

• Increase childcare subsidies by an additional $30 million to restore lost subsidy slots for children from low income working families and to ensure that these children spend their days in safe and developmentally appropriate settings.

• Maintain funding for Pre-K at FY08-09 levels for two years (09-10 and 10-11) as proposed in the Executive Budget. Expand the current transportation aid formula, which now includes k-12 only, to include pre-k. School districts would no longer be expected to use pre-k funding for transportation but rather for start-up costs, teachers, curriculum development, English language learners, social services and other quality initiatives. Increase per-student investment in pre-k, allowing districts the option of funding full-day pre-k programs, which are proven to have the greatest impact on longterm success.
• Provide $600,000 for QualityStars NY, the proposed Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS), to draw down funding committed by private sector investors .

III. Expand and Improve After-School Programs

• Restore the 25 percent proposed cuts in the Executive Budget for the Advantage After School Program.

IV. Help Troubled Kids Get Back on Track.

• Provide funding for the use of Evidence-Based Community Initiatives (EBCI), that help get kids back on track by working with them in the context of their family and community, as a front-end service for troubled youth before they are arrested.

• Pass a Redirect New York Initiative that will capture the dollars saved by significantly reducing incarceration of youth and reinvest the savings in evidence-based intervention and primary prevention programs.

• Retain the Community Optional Preventive Services (COPS) monies by extending these funding streams until 2012 for evidence-based juvenile justice services such as Functional Family Therapy, MultisystemicTherapy and Multi-Dimensional Treatment Foster Care. New monitoring and evaluative mechanisms should be created to ensure this funding is effectively used.