Cradle to Prison Pipeline

We understand that the systemic effects of race and poverty are the largest contributors to the over-representation of African-American males in the criminal justice system in America. These are some of the alarming statistics that we are up against:

Facts about Child Poverty in America:

• More than 13 million children—1 in 6 children—in America live in poverty. Of these children, almost half—5.8 million—live in extreme poverty, with family income below half the poverty line.

• A child is born poor every 35 seconds. That's 2,483 children each day.

• Child poverty in America has risen since the year 2000. About 1.7 million more children live in poverty today than in 2000—an increase of 15 percent.

• Most poor children have working parents. The majority of poor children—7 out of 10—are in working families where someone works full- or part-time for at least part of the year, but they do not earn enough to escape poverty.

• Children of color suffer disproportionately from poverty. Black and Latino children are more likely to be poor than White children. Approximately 1 in 3 Black children and more than 1 in 4 Latino children are poor, compared to 1 in 10 White children.

• The 2008 Federal Poverty Level is $21,200 for a family of four with two children. This is rarely enough to meet all basic necessities such as housing, food, child care, education and health care.

There are many "entry points" that serve to collect our children and introduce them to the "Prison Industrial Complex". We are working to close those entry points through education of the community and activism at the local and state level by working to change overly punitive laws.