mr. hill harper, offered the account of in that letter. his entire life was gone one month after his 18th birthday and he asked me a question. he said why wasn't there anyone to tell me there was another way to go? and his question has haunted me. i am sorry to be here talking in support of the youth promise act. let me tell you why i'm sorry. i was here over three years ago talking in support of the youth promise act. why am i still here talking in support of this? why isn't it already funded? you are going to hear from panelist and you have heard from panelists who are telling the truth. they are armed with statistics, information, i can tell you what i am armed with from the streets. i am armed with these words, why isn't there another way? i am armed with the stories of people like a young woman i know named dark eyes who committed our first crime when she was 10 years old. her father belonged to a gang, her mother was a drug dealer, her brothers and sisters were all in gangs. why wasn't there another way? to ask that question, for the

mr. hill harper offered the account in that letter. his entire life was gone one month after his 18th birthday. and he asked me a question. he said, why wasn't there anyone to tell me there was another way to go? and his question has haunted me. i am sorry to be here talking in support of the youth promise act. let me tell you why i am sorry. i was here over three years ago talking in support of the human promise act. why am i still here talking in support of this? why isn't it already law? why isn't it already funded? you're going to hear from panelists, and jefferson perilous you are telling the truth. they are armed with statistics. they are on with information. i can tell you what i am armed with from the streets. i in armed with these words, why isn't there another way? i am armed with the stories of people, like a young woman i know named dark eyes, who committed her first crime when she was 10 years old. her father belonged to a game. her mother was a drug dealer. her brothers and sisters were all in a game. why wasn't there ano

hill harper's presentation with an opportunity for equal time. i guess we'll provide the same opportunity for the representative. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you so much, hill harper, for your beautiful introduction. said just like my mother wrote it. no seriously. i am honored to not only be a part of this program today and to support the youth promise act, but equally as proud of you and your work not only on the screen, but equally as important in our communities. you have been a role model not just for me and lots of young black boys and girls, but all youth. and for that, your work should be commended. mr. chairman, i just want to say thank you so much for inviting me to be a part of this today. and also bringing attention to how important the youth promise act is. i think all of us would agree in the days after trayvon martin's incident, all of us need to be looking at our youth in a different way and trying to do all we can do to make sure they live up to their own promises. thanks. >> thank you. thank you. john pendergrass. >> thank you, congressman scott. for your leadership on these terribly-important issues. i'm humbled to

mr. conyers. now for equal time, we recognize hill harper. >> thank you, chairman. i was wearing my hoody and i got stopped on the way. you know, it's an honor to appear and speak on behalf of the youth promise act. when we talk about educational opportunities, mentoring, intervention, and all types of wrap around services for our youth, i'm the founder of a foundation called the man nest your des in addition. we seek to serve underprivileged youth in this country. we hope to empower them to give them access to college skills, academic programming, and also pass along lessons i learned coming out of the public school system and be able to go on, as the chairman said, to brown and harvard for grad school. i wouldn't have been able to make that transition if it wasn't for interventionist programs that served me and helped me overcome certain obstacles that i came across. i want to really start my remarks with a letter i received recently. you can see it's a handwritten letter from a young man. i get a lot of different types of mail coming to my office. it's fan mail.

hill around harper's -- hill harper's presentation with an opportunity for equal time. i guess we'll provide the same opportunity for representative terry sewell. >> thank you so much, mr. chairman. let me just say thank you so much, hill harper, for your beautiful introduction said just like my mother wrote it. [laughter] no, seriously, i am, um, honored to not only be a part of this program today and to support the youth promise act, but equally as proud of you and your work not only on the screen, but equally as important in our communities. you have been a role model not just for me and lots of young black boys and girls, but all youth. and for that your work should be commended. mr. chairman, i just want to say thank you so much for inviting me to be a part of this today and, also, just bringing attention to how important the youth promise act is, um, and i think that all of us will agree that in the waning days after trayvon martin, the incident with trayvon martin, all of us need to be looking at our youth in a different way and trying to do all that we can do to make sure that they keep and live up to their own promises. thanks. >> thank you. thank you. john pre