Council Of The District Of Columbia

Council of the District of Columbia _______ Office of At-Large Councilmember Michael A. Brown_______ 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW ~ Suite 406 Washington, DC 20002

B18-367, “Youth and Young Adult Promise Act of 2009” Opening Statement Mr. Chairman, thank you for allowing me to join you for part of this hearing on this critical legislation. As a co-introducer, I am glad to see this bill moving forward. This past summer there was a large amount of debate regarding effective crime fighting tools and strategies, and while I am confident that the Crime Bill that was passed did provide our police with a variety of new and strengthened crime fighting tools that will assist them, I also know that strengthened law enforcement tools alone will never adequately address crime in our city. The problem of crime, especially youth related crime, is far more complicated than law enforcement is equipped to address, we will never arrest our way out of the problem, instead crime must be dealt with at its root causes which are poverty, unemployment, lack of education, mental illness, and substance abuse. This is not just my opinion, this has been empirically proven time and time again. The District has a poverty rate near 20%, our child poverty rate is closer to 30%, we have a substance abuse rate that is 40% higher than the national average, we have an unemployment rate of over 11%, and we have an adult illiteracy rate of 36%, these statistics tell us that no matter how good of a police force we have and how many tools the council provides to them, our city will not begin to truly tackle crime until these realities are changed. This bill will begin to do that by investing in “data driven decision-making” and “evidenced-based programs” that take on these root causes of crime. These are the kinds of policies that the reports have

recommended including the most recent report “Responding to Gang, Crew and Youth Violence in the District of Columbia, A Blueprint for Action.” This legislation is very similar to legislation that my staff and I had been working on and hopefully CM Thomas will be open to some merging of ideas to create a truly comprehensive violence prevention program in the District. I thank CM Thomas for his leadership and ask that my colleagues listen to the experts, follow the recommendations of the many local and national reports, and support this legislation and invest in these services for the long-haul, giving them the time they need to work. Thank you.