Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Education vs Incarceration: The Real Cost of Failing our Kids

Middletown CPTV Flyer

For the first time in recent history, five states (including Connecticut) now spend more money on incarceration than education.  In response, CPTV has filmed a documentary, Education vs. Incarceration: The Real Cost of Failing Our Kids, which examines this alarming trend by detailing the critical topics of early childhood education, diversion of teenagers from the Juvenile Justice system, and the economic, social, and human costs of providing children with an inadequate education. The film also investigates how socioeconomic factors, geography, and race affect those who come into contact with the Justice system and explores the effectiveness of intervening in children's lives to get them the help they need in order to succeed in school and in life.  After making the documentary, CPTV partnered with the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance to organize forums around the state to help communities understand and address the issue. The Alliance has spearheaded major juvenile justice reforms that have improved public safety while reducing the number of youths sent to the state's most expensive juvenile justice programs.

Middletown Mayor Daniel T. Drew, Middletown Youth Services Bureau, Local Interagency Services Team(local juvenile justice collaborative), and the Wesleyan Center for Prison Education invite you to join them on April 24, 2012 at 6:00pm to watch the documentary and engage in a discussion about how this issue affects your community.  The documentary will be shown in the Daniel Family Commons located in the university's Usdan Center (77 Wyllys Ave) and parking is available in parking lot E located directly across the street. Refreshments will be served at 5:30pm. Please RSVP for this free event with the Middletown Mayor's Office at 860-344-3401.

1 comment:

Elizabeth Bobrick said...

I hope that people will come out for real discussion of this issue. More of the state budget is spent on incarceration than on education. The topic is vital to our rethinking of how our tax money should be spent. The issue isn't owned by liberals or conservatives.It affects all of us -- more, I think, than we are aware.