Zoe Lofgren: “Mr. Chairman, before the House recessed in July, we had a rather contentious deliberation over how to deal with updating…”

“Mr. Chairman, before the House recessed in July, we had a rather contentious deliberation over how to deal with updating our juvenile justice laws. One of the things that we all said, that we all agreed on, was the need to prevent crime among young children. That is what we are talking about in the funding of the community schools issue. What is it? It is small funding for each school that really allows a community to invest in very poor children who need a future. We know that most juvenile crime occurs between the hours of 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., when parents are still at work and after children have been dismissed from school. Mr. Chairman, last Congress this project was, once again, at risk and utilizing a bipartisan group of Members on both sides of the aisle. We moved together to salvage this program. Let me tell my colleagues, because it is very typical of these projects throughout the United States, about the community school program in San Jose, CA. When I went to this school, the after-school program is run primarily by Catholic charities in collaboration with the school district, the district attorney. I went to this meeting at 7:30 in the evening. There were the parents in their rough work clothes. They had just come back from work. There were tears in their eyes because their hope for their children was that their children would become good students.”