Presentation at a PACE Parent Recognition Dinner: “All of you here represent the great strides that have been made in advancing the optimal capacities of our children and families – and in increasing their potential. For, as we all know – that it is the unleashing of the capacities of our children and families as a form of preventive care that, in the long run, is helping to change the paths that, in the past, have sentenced our children(through no fault of their own) to a life of exclusion, incarceration, and death at an early age. Let us all work together — then — so that our families can have access to the types of resources that will ensure that they have good jobs – and so that our children have the high quality education, nutrition, healthcare, and caring that they deserve.

Ultimately, it does not make sense to spend so much on our prison system when we could ultimately lower the incarceration rates – by investing in our early education programs and ensure that the gains made are continued in the pipeline of K-12 and higher education.”