OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007

Floor Speech

Date: Feb. 7, 2008
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Higher Education


COLLEGE OPPORTUNITY AND AFFORDABILITY ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - February 07, 2008)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. LINDA T. SÁNCHEZ of California. I would like to thank my colleague, Mr. Hastings.

And, Madam Chairman, I rise in support of the Hastings-Sánchez amendment to H.R. 4137, the College Opportunity and Affordability Act. I thank Mr. Hastings for his leadership on this issue and was pleased to work with him in this effort to provide constructive opportunities for youthful offenders.

The Hastings-Sánchez amendment would authorize grants to community colleges to create partnerships with juvenile detention centers and residential facilities that would reduce recidivism rates by providing education, vocational training, counseling, and related activities.

Gangs, crimes, and youth problems are often symptoms of larger problems, problems that require comprehensive solutions. Too often, we have spent far more time, money, and effort on enforcement than we have on prevention, missing opportunities to rehabilitate the youth that we incarcerate.

Unfortunately, taxpayers have not experienced a great return on these massive anti-gang investments. For example, the State of California will spend over $9 billion on incarceration this year, yet gang activity in California continues to rise.

Young people who are involved in gangs do not have to be condemned to a lifetime in gang involvement.

This amendment would leverage power of community colleges to help in the campaign against youth violence. Community colleges already have expertise in providing job training and education to nontraditional students. By encouraging them to develop partnerships with other local agencies and community-based organizations, we can multiply the opportunities that young ex-offenders have to get involved in their communities in a positive way and cut down on the odds that they will return to gang activity.

I urge my colleagues to support the Hastings-Sánchez amendment to help make our communities safer.


Source
arrow_upward