Grassroots Organizations

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Suspension Stories Chicago, Illinois: this organization is actually youth-led and focuses on disrupting the School-to-Prison Pipeline in Chicago. They want to do this not only through protests or demonstrations, but also through more artistic methods and the sharing of stories. The creation of this website was one of their main goals because they believe it can serve as a “platform for organizing against the school-to-prison pipeline”2

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ESToPP Miami-Dade County, Florida: they target students at risk of suspension, expulsion, dropping-out, and/or incarceration to provide the help these students might need to avoid such outcomes. They do this through both virtual and face-to-face mentoring, as well as offering reentry and other forms of support.3

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Gwinnett SToPP Gwinnett County, Georgia: Gwinnett SToPP has a number of initiatives with the purpose of ending the School-to-Prison Pipeline. They focus on raising awareness, developing parent advocates and leaders in the reform movement, and try to find policy alternatives to Zero Tolerance and other harmful policies. They also have a project called “100 Stories in 100 Days” in                                                     partnership with the ACLU that encourages parents and students to                                                 share the challenges or success they have faced in regards to the                                                   School-to-Prison Pipeline.4

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Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance Connecticut: their mission is “to stop the criminalization of Connecticut’s children and youth” by engaging in legislative reform, community organizing, and getting involved with other groups locally and nationally. Some of their current campaigns involve raising the age at which youth are tried as adults for non-violent crimes as it is currently 16 in CT.5 They are also directly targeting the STPP. You can read more about their current campaigns here.

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Youth First Charlottesville, Virginia: this grassroots organization has the goals of finding alternatives to juvenile detention centers, reducing the number of youth who are arrested or referred to the Department of Justice, and helping youth who are released from detention facilities to avoid committing further crimes. They are also concerned with the undue financial burden and pressure the                                                       juvenile justice system puts on families. 6

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Youth Justice New Jersey New Jersey: evidence has emerged that incarceration is simply not working anymore and that rehabilitation coupled with prevention are much more successful ways to address misbehavior in schools. Not only do they want to severely reduce the number of youth entering juvenile detention facilities,                                                       but they also want to improve conditions in such facilities, get rid                                             of policies that push students from classrooms to juvenile detention,                                           and end the differences in treatment between youth of color and white                                           youth.7

 

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Kansas United for Youth Justice Kansas: concerned with the costs and ineffectiveness of out-of-home placements and prison sentences for youth, this Kansas based group wants to find community alternatives to these practices that can help reform misbehavers.8

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Youth Justice Milwaukee Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Youth Justice Milwaukee wants to take control of youth justice programs because it feels that the communities where youth live should be the ones holding the reins. One of their top priorities is ending the racial and ethnic disparities in the youth justice system as Wisconsin is one of the top five least equitable states in America.9