Fight Crime: Invest In Kids in Massachusetts and nationally is asking Congress, especially Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, to move the Education Begins at Home Act (EBAH) to enactment this year.

EBAH is a bipartisan bill that would authorize $500 million in grants to states over three years to expand and improve the quality of voluntary in-home parent coaching programs. These programs send trained professionals into the homes of at-risk parents who want assistance. During these visits, parents are taught about the health, nutritional, developmental and safety needs of their children.

Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP), a model home visiting program, which found that the children whose mothers participated in the program had nearly 60 percent fewer arrests than the children of mothers who did not receive visits. “The great challenge of policing is to identify that mix of proven prevention and enforcement strategies and tactics that work to make our communities safer,” Vice President Miriam Rollin said. “By helping kids get the right start to life, home visiting programs have proven effective at reducing later crime.”

Law enforcement leaders are encouraging Senator Kennedy, who serves as Chairman of the U.S. Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee, to make the EBAH legislation a high priority and work for it’s enactment this year.

Submitted by:
Kim Gore
State Director
FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS
4 Jersey Circle, Topsham, Maine 04086
Phone: 207-725-5946 Fax: 207-725-7238
kgore@fightcrime.org