Law Enforcement Reading to Head Start Kids

The Head Start program helps kids 5 and under get their school-age years off on the right foot.

And Head Start apparently saves society a lot of money.

Marquette County’s sheriff and prosecutor are both members of a statewide group called “Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Michigan”.

The group is trying to spread the word about the benefits by going to a Head Start classroom in Marquette and reading to kids.

Marquette State Rep Steve Lindberg joined the two of them today.

National studies have shown that kids who go through Head Start are much less likely to eventually commit crimes than kids who don’t.

That saves a lot of money on law enforcement and corrections.

It prevents the tragedy of people wasting their lives by ending up in jail or prison.

Marquette County Prosecutor Gary Walker says it also prevents the tragedies that can sometimes befall crime victims.

He says if there’s anything that’s proven to work as well as Head Start does to prevent crime, it leaves society much better off.

Head Start kids are also far more likely to stay in school through high school and beyond than kids outside the program.

And Marquette County Sheriff Mike Lovelace says that’s extremely important to the justice system, if you realize that more than two-thirds of American jail inmates lack a high school diploma or GED.

Marquette County Sheriff Mike Lovelace says he thinks it’s very telling

Lindberg received a crime fighter award for his support of Head Start.

The Fight Crime group also had an award for Congressman Bart Stupak as an American Champion for Children.

Stupak’s district director, Tom Baldind, accepted the award for him.