By Crystal Swann
April 27, 2009

On April 21, Tulsa (OK) Mayor Kathy Taylor hosted the Cradle to Prison Pipeline Summit in Tulsa. The summit focused on the issues of incarceration, health and mental health coverage, poverty, and education.

The event featured Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) Founder and President Marian Wright Edelman who said that interrupting the cradle-to-prison pipeline, through prevention and early intervention, would save money and lives. “We can’t afford not to do it,” she said.

“We know that there are direct correlations between a first-class education and successful adults,” said Mayor Kathy Taylor. “Unfortunately, not all children in Oklahoma have had success in school. This lack of success often leads to juvenile delinquency and often ends in adult incarceration…”

The summit was held at The University of Tulsa Donald W. Reynolds Center, and highlighted the fact that two-in-nine Oklahoma children are poor. In Tulsa, a staggering 83 percent of kids in the public schools are living at or below the poverty level.

Along with Marian Wright Edelman, Oklahoma Lt. Governor Jari Askins, Commissioner Terri White of the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Rio Rancho (NM) Mayor Tom Swisstack, and Executive Director Olivia Eudaly of the Amachi Texas program participated in panel discussions.

The CDF released the Cradle to Prison Pipeline report in late 2007, outlining major social issues that often determine outcomes for children and youth. CDF also constructed a statistical breakdown for each state. The Tulsa summit focused on Oklahoma stats and possible solutions.

“The Cradle to Prison Pipeline is an urgent national crisis at the intersection of poverty and race that puts black boys born in 2001 at a one-in-three lifetime risk of going to prison, and Latino boys born in 2001 at a one-in-six lifetime risk of the same fate,” according to the report’s summary. “Tens of thousands of children and teens are sucked into the Pipeline each year.” The Conference of Mayors endorsed the campaign to end the “Cradle to Prison Pipeline” at its Miami Annual meeting in June of 2008.