DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin Nationally Recognized as 2024 Champion for Kids
In making the selection, Fight Crime: Invest In Kids’ nationwide organization noted Berlin’s years of service to children and public safety.
SPRINGFIELD - Fight Crime: Invest in Kids recently honored DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin with the Organization’s 2024 Champion for Kids Award at its annual Day at the Capitol event held last week in Springfield. Among other notable accomplishments, Fight Crime: Invest in Kids lauded Berlin for his yearslong support of solutions that steer kids away from crime and toward successful lives. Berlin, who sits on the Organization’s Illinois Executive Committee, was one of only six recipients nationwide of the 2024 Champion for Kids Award. Sean Noble, Illinois State Director for Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, presented the award to Berlin in front of law enforcement colleagues, legislators and fellow Fight Crime: Invest in Kids members at the Illinois Capitol Building.
“I am truly honored and humbled to accept this award,” Berlin said. “I am proud to be affiliated with such a fine organization that not only recognizes, but embraces, the significance and viability of crime prevention through proven investments in children’s well-being. Our mutual commitment to our children is vital to not only our communities, but also the quality of life enjoyed by our residents through reduced crime and increased public safety. I thank Fight Crime Invest in Kids for this recognition, and I look forward to continuing working with them to lead our children on a path to lifelong success and away from the criminal justice system.”
“State’s Attorney Berlin has long shown a deep respect for the research supporting our work: years of studies connecting the dots between public safety and smart investments in children’s development,” said Noble. “As a result of his dedication and advocacy, many thousands of kids are benefiting statewide from better opportunities for learning and growth.”
Over the years, his many contributions to the organization have included:
Hosting events for new DuPage-area legislators in 2015, 2019, and again last year (as well as joining countless other meetings with policymakers),
Authoring several newspaper opinion pieces — most recently, a Daily Herald op-ed supporting the proposed consolidation of core birth-to-5 services under a single, new state agency, and
Anchoring a 2022 news event calling for the dedication of important new resources to birth-to-3 services shown to help counter the opioid crisis: some of the funding from the state’s settlement of lawsuits against opioid makers and distributors, lawsuits that Berlin himself helped file and pursue.
Founded in 1996, Fight Crime: Invest in Kids is a bipartisan, nonprofit network of more than five thousand police chiefs, sheriffs and prosecutors nationwide with approximately three hundred and fifty of these law enforcement leaders from Illinois. Together, they work to strengthen crime prevention and public safety through research-proven investments in children's learning and development. Fight Crime does not provide any of the services for which it advocates; instead, its members speak-up for proven services supported by schools and community-based providers.
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