Blocks Together Youth Council Humboldt Park, Chicago, IL
Blocks Together Youth Council is open to youth that live or go t10 />o schools in West Humboldt Park, Chicago. They have been at the forefront of the development of and push for Restorative Justice models in Chicago public schools. They have successfully fought to decrease maximum out-of-school suspension days from 10 to 5, and have created interactive ‘Know Your Rights’ workshops run by youth, for youth, on school discipline and policing practices.¹¹

Urban Youth Collaborative New York City, NY
Led by students, the UYC brings New York City students together to fight for education reform around social, economic, and racial justice. Their main campaigns are ending the School-to-Prison Pipeline, college access and readiness, and supporting struggling schools. Their campaign to end the STPP demands the elimination of suspensions for minor infractions—specifically ‘Defying Authority’—funding and implementation of district-wide restorative justice approaches, and a new MOU that puts principles in charge of school discipline, limits the ability of school police officers to intervene in the cases of minor infractions, and prohibits school safety officers from handcuffing any students for minor infractions.¹²

Power U for Social Change Miami, FL
Based in the historic African American community of Overtown, in Miami, Power U works with low-income residents, women, and youth of color who are directly impacted by institutional oppression, and who want to organize for social change. Power U focuses on empowering students to advocate for Restorative Justice.¹³

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Padres & Jovenes Unidos Denver, CO
Padres & Jovenes Unidos has led the fight to end the STPP in Denver. Their main goals are to end zero tolerance policies, hold schools accountable for racial disparities in discipline, limit police presence in schools, and implement positive disciplinary practices such as restorative justice. Through advocacy and public pressure, they won the passage of an incredibly progressive and restorative discipline policy in 2008. More recently, the group has led a discipline accountability campaign, working to force Denver Public schools to implement the new discipline policy. ¹⁵

Youth United for Change Philadelphia, PA
Youth United for Change (YUC) is a youth-led, democratic organization, made up of youth of color and low-income communities. YUC follows a school-based model of youth organizing. Through listening campaigns, school chapters identify common concerns of the larger student body and of their community, extensively research the issues (often publishing reports), and develop strategies for whole school reforms focused on getting Philadelphia Public Schools to better meet the needs of youth of color and working class communities.¹⁶

Currently, YUC has Chapters in Edison, Kensington Education Complex, ASPIRA Olney Charter School, a city-wide chapter for students from other local High Schools, and a chapter made of youth who have been pushed out (or have dropped out) of the public school system.

Gwinnett SToPP Gwinett County, GA
Gwinett SToPP is a parent-driven organization that provides advocacy training for parents, community members, and organizations, to provide them with the necessary skills and institutional knowledge to be effective advocates for their children, and to work to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline. They also implement school-community projects aimed specifically at addressing the school-to-prison pipeline, and work to facilitate cooperative policy-change.¹⁷

CADRE South LA, CA
Driven and led by African American and Latino parents in who work to develop an alternative school reform agenda that challenges the criminalization of children in South LA. Parents learn strategies to use their power to influence policymakers, and develop themselves as active community leaders with political agency.¹⁸                     

PODER: Youth Scholars for Justice Austin, TX
Young Scholars for Justice (YSJ) is the youth branch of PODER (People Organized in Defense of Earth and her Recourses)- a grassroots movement dedicated to redefining environmental issues as economic and social justice issues. YSJ is dedicated to preparing youth and young adults of color to articulate their needs and address education, environmental, economic, and social justice issues that affect their lives, enabling them to make institutional changes. In 2004, PODER’s Young Scholars for Justice initiated a campaign to repeal zero tolerance policies.¹⁹

Black Organizing Project Oakland, CA
BOP is a black member-led community organization. They launched the ‘Bettering Our School System’ campaign in 2011, in response to the murder of Raheim Brown, by an Oakland School Police Sgt. The campaign focuses on ending criminalization of students of color  in the Oakland Unified Schools district, investing in alternative modes of school safety to minimize reliance on police, and implementing restorative justice approaches through policy reform. Through their “Youth Playaz” summer program, the BOP engage youth in discussions about school pushout and criminalization of colored youth.²⁰