Images (122)
Showing first 60 of 122 pages.
Document
| id |
id
555645714
|
|---|---|
| contentType |
contentType
document
|
| source |
source
import
|
Source image fields (6)
Extracted text
OCR Page 1 of 12208/28/1998 06:26 2023640782
MATHIS&MAHER
PAGE 02
Page 1
To:
John Podesta
From Karen
From:
Senator Christopher J. Dodd
Re:
Follow-up to December 21 Meeting
Date:
December 22, 1998
As we discussed, below I've outlined my proposal for legislation targeting the primary
risks to adolescents.
TEEN LEGISLATION
Rationale:
Young children and college students receive the majority of society's attention
and financial investment, despite the fact that it is during adolescence that young
people make their first life-determining choices - about whether to finish high school, to
avoid or use drugs, to break the law, etc. Eliminating the main threats to the health and
safety of American adolescents - truancy, violence, substance abuse, lack of
supervision after school, and working long hours at part-time jobs increases the odds
that adolescents will successfully navigate the often difficult path into productive
adulthood. This is a new focus for children's legislation and one that offers a cohesive
way to embrace the disparate issues facing our youth. This is also a message with a
shot at gaining bipartisan support, since it takes advantage of Republican interest in
reducing crime and developing a competent workforce for the 21st century. We've
already had Senator Susan Collins express interest in working with us on truancy.
Proposal:
#
Truancy, which is typically the first signal of bigger and more costly problems like
dropping out of school and juvenile crime, has increased 35% in recent years. In
addition to the personal cost to adolescents from lost educational opportunities,
truancy places an additional burden on our already strained foster care and
juvenile court systems. I'm planning to incorporate into the larger Teen bill, my
Prevention of Truancy Act of 1997, S. 1369, which would fund partnerships
composed of schools, law enforcement, and social service organizations to
develop innovative projects to prevent or reduce truancy.
#
Afterschool Care: Although it is commonly thought that juvenile crime occurs
mostly late at night, the peak hours are actually between 3:00 and 6:00 pm --
after school hours when many children are unsupervised. In addition, research
has shown that adolescents left home alone after school report greater use of
cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana than those who were in supervised settings. I
would propose continuing to build on the popular 21st Century Community
Learning Centers. Doubling funding to $400 from the $200 million appropriated
this year for this program would give more teens the chance to be safe and
productive when the school day ends. (see attached)
#
Violence: The recent spate of school shootings highlights the need to help
Relations
belongs_to