[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 3 (Monday, January 22, 2001)]
[Pages 112-113]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

January 13, 2001

    Good morning. As I enter the final week of my Presidency, I'm 
extraordinarily grateful for all the progress we've made together these 
last 8 years: building the strongest economy in a generation, renewing 
our ethic of responsibility, and strengthening the bonds of community 
and family all across America. Today I want to talk about our progress 
in reducing youth violence and new steps we're taking to make our 
communities even safer.
    Over the past few years, terrible tragedies at Columbine and other 
schools have forced us to take a hard look at youth violence and

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an even harder look at what each of us can do and must do to ensure that 
such tragedies do not happen again.
    Although there are no simple solutions, recent evidence suggests we 
are moving in the right direction. According to the latest data, violent 
crime by young people has been cut nearly in half since 1993; schoolyard 
deaths have dropped dramatically. These are both important declines that 
reflect the lowest national crime rate in 25 years. But still, we have 
more to do.
    At my direction, the White House Council on Youth Violence has 
developed a new website and toll-free information line to help parents 
and educators get the facts they need to reduce youth violence. The 
website address is www.safeyouth.org. And the toll-free number is 1-866-
SAFE-YOUTH. That's www.safeyouth.org and 1-866-SAFE-YOUTH.
    I'm also pleased to release another important resource, a guide for 
parents on communicating better with teenagers. It incorporates the 
latest research as well as the best ideas from the White House 
Conference on Teenagers, which Hillary and I sponsored last year. We'll 
distribute this publication nationwide through the website, the toll-
free line, and with the assistance of school principals, school nurses, 
and pediatricians.
    Like all parents, Hillary and I know it's not always easy to talk 
with your children about sensitive subjects. That's why this new guide 
is so very valuable, because it teaches parents how to listen more 
carefully to their children and nurture relationships built on trust, 
love, discipline, and respect.
    America has made a lot of progress in renewing these enduring values 
and strengthening our sense of national community. A record number of 
young people now volunteer for community service. So together, we've 
built a country that's not only better off but a better, safer place for 
all of us.
    We passed the Brady law, which has kept guns out of the hands of 
over 600,000 felons, fugitives, and stalkers. We've secured funding for 
more than 100,000 new police officers on the beat. We created the COPS 
in schools program to help local law enforcement hire police officers to 
work in our schools.
    We established after-school and summer school programs that are 
helping now 1.3 million children a year stay out of trouble and succeed 
in the classroom, and we've launched a national program to foster local 
partnerships that make our schools safer, identify children at risk, and 
get them the help they need.
    Working closely with the private sector and community groups, we 
also expanded the GEAR UP initiative to give young people mentors and 
encouragement to seek a college education. And now a record number of 
young people are going on to college.
    We need to build on this remarkable success. Here in Washington, 
Congress should now move swiftly to close the gun show loophole and 
require background checks for all gun buyers. In the private sector, 
Hollywood should own up to its responsibilities and stop marketing 
violence to America's young people.
    There is nothing more precious to a parent than a child and nothing 
more important to our future than the safety of all our children. So 
let's do all we can to protect them from harm and teach them to walk 
away from violence. In the end, all of us have a responsibility to help 
our youth succeed and to help end youth violence. If we do this mission 
successfully, America will always be a great and peaceful Nation for 
generations to come.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 4:20 p.m. on January 12 in the Oval 
Office at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on January 13. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
January 12 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast.