Fight Crime: Invest in Kids 25th Anniversary - The Texas Office

January 2015: The Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Texas office opened in Austin.

2015: Texas members were instrumental in helping to achieve $118 million in state funds for pre-K.

July 2017: Sheriff Wilson participated in a Hill briefing and meetings with members of Congress in support of Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) reauthorization, an act which supports voluntary home visiting programs for young, vulnerable, or first-time parents across the country.

2017: Fight Crime: Invest in Kids members helped in creating a $9.4 million state funding increase for home visiting programs.

Montgomery County Attorney J. D. Lambright spoke at a local press event in support of home visiting programs.

In 2017, former Limestone County Sheriff Dennis Wilson, then-President of the Texas Sheriffs Association, spoke at a Capitol Hill briefing in Washington, D.C. about the importance of voluntary home visiting programs ahead of the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) reauthorization.

In February 2018, Tom Green County Sheriff David Jones paid a friendly visit to Stacey Miles and Sandra Jackson’s preschool classes at Alta Loma Elementary.

May 2018: Then-Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo participated in a panel of Council for a Strong America members for the SXSW EDU conference.

In May 2018, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo joined other Council for a Strong America members at a SXSW EDU panel on the importance of early childhood education.

2019: Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Texas members were part of a massive increase in education funding for the state. With members’ support, the Texas legislature passed a $6.5 billion increase in education spending, including $780 million allocated for full-day pre-K and other early reading and mathematics strategies. The legislature also increased funding for voluntary home visiting programs by $4.3 million.

Jackson County Sheriff AJ Louderback spoke at a press event in front of the Capitol building in Austin, TX in support of expanding half-day pre-K to full-day programs. This was possible after an increase in state pre-K funding of $780 million in 2019.

2021: Fight Crime: Invest in Kids members were integral in maintaining the public education and pre-K funding that the legislature passed in 2019. They helped to garner support for the Medicaid Mom bill which moved coverage for mothers from two months to six months after they give birth. Members also worked to improve the quality of early childhood education, successfully making Texas’ quality rating system mandatory for any providers who accept government-funded subsidies.