The History of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids in Illinois

1998 | Fight Crime: Invest in Kids opens its first state office in Chicago.

2000 | 35 members of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids — law enforcement leaders from throughout Illinois — participate in a news conference in Springfield, calling for greater state-budget investments in children. It is the first of dozens of news events that have helped make the case for stronger state investments in research-based programs that prepare children for successful lives.

2003 | Fight Crime: Invest in Kids helps win passage of legislation to establish the Early Learning Council, a public-private partnership that has been central to expanding and strengthening services for children from birth to age 5 in Illinois. Fight Crime: Invest in Kids staff currently serve on the Council.

2005 | Fight Crime: Invest in Kids helps lead efforts that create the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice as a code agency separate from the Department of Corrections, in efforts to better serve youth interacting with the criminal justice system and help curb recidivism.

2006 | Fight Crime: Invest in Kids helps establish the landmark “Preschool for All” law in Illinois, which set the goal of providing preschool for every 3- and 4-year-old in the state whose families wished to participate, prioritizing those most in need.

2016 | Fight Crime: Invest in Kids leads successful efforts to have the Teen REACH afterschool program codified in state statute.

2019 | The law enforcement leaders of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids help lead efforts that secure $100 million in construction and renovation funding for Illinois early childhood facilities.