Bruce F. Vento: “Mr. Speaker, I think it is clear to most of us that there are severe problems in terms of youth in our Nation today.…”

“Mr. Speaker, I think it is clear to most of us that there are severe problems in terms of youth in our Nation today. Probably the statistic that is most appalling is that which indicates 1 in 5 children, nearly 1 in 5 children, or over 1 in 5 children, about 23 percent, in fact, live below the poverty level. The bill, of course, attempts to try and provide some investment in these troubled communities in a small way. The bill recognizes the important role that urban recreation programs play in developing positive values for young people and keeping them away from crime. In fact, of course, it is this young population that is most likely to be the actors in terms of crime. In fact, crime activities peak between the ages of 10 and 20, demographically, in our population. The bill, and especially this legislation, tries to address that by providing some crime prevention dollars in terms of recreation facilities and programs. This program has long been in existence, since the late 1970's but has been woefully underfunded and has had little attention paid to it.”