Invest in kids now for a better future

By Gary Hinzman

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In his inaugural address to the nation, former President Bush addressed the need to work with distressed families and distressed neighborhoods. He specifically mentioned children with at least one parent incarcerated and the high percentage of those children who would themselves someday go to prison.

Since then, the federal government initiated programs like “Children of Promise” and the AmeriCorps VISTA “Foster Grandparents.” Additionally, programs like “Weed & Seed” and “Partnerships for Safe Neighborhoods” have been funded through the U.S. Department of Justice to help stabilize neighborhoods by arresting criminals, and then bringing much needed social and economic capital to those neighborhoods.

The IRS has a program to assist taxpayers file returns, claim their earned income tax credit, and receive a timely return.

All of these programs and many more have been operating throughout the Sixth District area under the umbrella of the Community Corrections Improvement Association.

The point is simple. By making an investment in our neighborhoods, our families, and our children now, we can stem the huge outflow of taxpayer money in the future. Mentoring a child now for a couple of thousand dollars a years or waiting for them to get into expensive foster care programs until 18, or prison after 18 at $30,000 per year. Which do you choose?

By working with the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, the economic gain back to the community is an additional $1.58 for every dollar of earned income tax credit. In Cedar Rapids that has meant millions of dollars returning to the local economy. For every $42,000 returned, a job is created.

Renowned criminalists and researchers James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling first used the “broken windows” metaphor in 1982. The term explains how small disorders and breakdowns in civic norms, if left unattended, contribute in time to larger social disorders and serious crime. Wilson suggested that “public order is a fragile thing, and if you don't fix the first broken window, soon all the windows will be broken.” It called for community policing and neighborhood-based probation strategies. It was a call to arms to support our vital neighborhoods and the people who live there as part of public safety strategies.

When criminal justice agencies establish a public safety presence and support local neighborhoods, stronger neighborhoods develop, crime is curbed, and social and economic capital begin to flow. There are many partners who are involved, such as United Way and its service agencies, the Department of Human Services, local foundations, schools, police, probation, churches and many more.

The destination we seek is clear: fewer victims, a safer tomorrow, stronger neighborhoods and families, and mentoring our children. If successful, there will be fewer children growing up to become gang members or criminals, neighborhoods will flourish, and the need for incarceration in our expensive prisons will decline.

Leaders of our community, those in the Iowa Legislature, and other professionals need to refocus on solutions for safer communities.

I have noticed how tempting it is to write new laws and build new prisons across our country. Certainly bad people need to be in prison, but if we see them coming down the pike as a youth, why not act now? It is easier and less expensive to mentor and build a strong child than to fix a broken adult.

As we look for new investments for our communities, we need to reinvest in our current neighborhoods to make them stronger and safer.

So who will hear the call and step forward? Our police, schools, churches and human services agencies have their finger in the dike, but there is much more work to be done. We need to pick up this banner and be its champion.

Gary Hinzman, with more than 40 years experience in criminal justice, is director of the Sixth Judicial District Department of Correctional Services and a former Cedar Rapids Police Chief. Comments: Gary.Hinzman@iowa.gov