Education Matters
When the school bell rings, millions of children and teens are out on the street without constructive activities or adult supervision. Violent juvenile crime suddenly soars. Families and neighborhoods are put at risk. The hours from 3-6pm on school days are peak hours for teens to:
- Commit crimes
- Be victims of crime
- Be in, or cause, a car crash
- Smoke, drink or use drugs
Quality, constructive and highly supervised programs cut crime immediately, and convert afterschool hours into safe learning time. Tutoring programs can keep kids safe, inspire them to learn, and help working families. According to the Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency, every dollar invested in education saves society between $1.5 to $1.8 million per adolescent prevented from a life of crime.
Strengthening Academic Learning =
Better Lives & Stronger Communities!
Improved literacy = hope for the future
Only 4% of adults with strong literacy live in poverty. At the lowest level of literacy proficiency, 43% live in poverty.Higher achievement = higher earning power
Workers 18 and over without a high school diploma earn an average of only $18,734, and 25% of them have received government assistance; those with a high school diploma average $27,915 per year. Those with a bachelor's degree earn an annual average of $51,206. (U.S. Census Bureau)Better education = better health
Annual health care costs in the U.S. are four times higher for individuals with low literacy skills than they are for individuals with high level literacy skills.Investment in education = good business
American business currently spends more than $60 billion each year on employee training, much of that for remedial reading, writing, and mathematics.Teaching reading = safer neighborhoods
One-half of all adults in the U.S. federal and state correctional institutions cannot read or write at all. 85% of juvenile offenders have reading problems.Supporting education = societal savings
The cost to educate a public school student is $4,000 to $6,000 per year, whereas the cost to incarcerate a juvenile offender is about $30,000 per year.
