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Statement of Need
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In the state of Oklahoma, the number of arrest for violent offense have
increased from 172.4 (per 100,000 youth, age 10-17) in 1980 to 355.4 in 1994.
An increase of 106.1%. (2)
"One in five Oklahoma children live in poverty - over 188 thousand."
(3) "One of every five children is born to an unwed mother.
One in every two of those are born to a teenager." (4)
"The cure for crime (in society is not the electric chair, but the high
chair." (5)
"Zero to three is the most formative time in a person's life. That's the time
the child learns the concept of reward and punishment and develops a conscience.
Fiifty percent of all learned human response is learned in the first year of
life. What good is a great education going to be 12 years down the line if
you don't have the foundation that will give you the opportunity for that
education?" (6)
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(2) Oklahoma Kids Count 1996 Factbook, Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy
(3) State of America's Children 1995, published by the Children's Defense Fund
(4) The Oklahoma Department of Health, Maternal and Child Gealth Services
(5) "God's Little Devotional Book" by Honor Books
(6) Mariam Wright Edelman, President Children's Defense Fund; Testimony before
the committee of labor & human resources-United States Senate, Washington D.C.,
Jan. 12, 1994