Ask TX Senator Cornyn to Cosponsor the Youth PROMISE Act!

►Sign Petition to Senator Cornyn Today

Dear Friends in Texas – in a few days, Jeff Pudlo from our DC office will be meeting with your Senator, John Cornyn’s, office to talk with them about the Youth PROMISE Act. John Cornyn is important to us- he’s on the Judiciary Committee, which has the power to advance the Youth PROMISE Act, and as a Republican, he has worked with the same types of evidence based approaches to reducing violence the Youth PROMISE Act uses. With your help, we think he might sign on as a cosponsor! He and his staff will be paying much more attention if they hear from you, so right now your voice can have a major impact.

These meetings are effective, but only with your help. Meetings in Washington only go so far, Senators need to know that their constituents are behind them!

There’s no better time for you to take action, and there are two things you can do. You can sign the petition, which sends a message directly to both of your Senators, including John Cornyn, and/or you can call his office today.

Sign a petition to your Senator today, urge their support of this landmark peacebuilding legislation >>

Senator John Cornyn’s phone number is:

(202) 224-2934

Here is a quick and easy SAMPLE SCRIPT of what you can say:

My name is ___. I am a constituent calling today to urge the Senator to co-sponsor the Youth PROMISE Act, S. 1307, sponsored by Senators Mary Landrieu and James Inhofe. The Youth Promise Act is an approach to addressing Youth Violence that uses preventive strategies chosen by local communities. It saves money and saves lives, and would only fund approaches that have already been proven to work. For these reasons, I think the Senator should sign on as a Cosponsor of the Youth PROMISE Act. 

The Youth PROMISE Act calls for:

• Decision making by communities not the Federal Government,
• Accountability – evidence must be gathered to show effectiveness,
• Cost Savings – these programs proven to be less expensive than incarceration

Local PROMISE Coordinating Councils will create a plan and be funded to implement proven or promising programs that could include the following areas of support to at-risk youth:

• Early childhood development services
• Mentoring programs,
• Conflict resolution skills training,
• Arts,
• Life skills,
• Employment and recreation programs & summer jobs,
• Targeted gang prevention & intervention,
• Mental health services
• Alternatives to detention and confinement programs, and more.

By specifically focusing on innovative, evidence-based violence prevention and intervention strategies, this bill ensures we are funding programs that save lives and give every young person the opportunity to meet his or her potential.

And, these community-based practices have been shown to reduce rates of violence more effectively and at a substantially lower cost than criminal enforcement and incarceration.

Write your Senator  today!