Current Organizing

Community Organizing in New Orleans

The Center for Restorative Approaches 

http://www.engagers.ca/2015/05/07/branding-for-centre-for-restorative-approaches/

A community organization aiming to offer the people of New Orleans alternative ways to grapple with tension, violence, and conflict. Involvement in schools is aimed at reducing violence between students and increasing communication between students, families, teachers, and school administration.

Café Reconcile 

http://scnz.net/projects/cafe-reconcile

A New Orleans program for youth ages 16-24 that seeks to work on non-violent and productive behaviors while providing hands-on job training. Café Reconcile is designed specifically for young people who have struggled to stay in school, have criminal records, or have faced other challenges in their lives. Their goal is to help these young people achieve the positive change they wish to make.

Community Mediation Services

https://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediationServices/

A community-based mediation service focused on facilitating difficult conversations between different groups of people. Among the many relationships they offer mediation for, CMS seeks to build healthy relationships in schools (i.e. mediation between students or between the administration and families).

Youth Rebuilding New Orleans

http://yrno.com/

 

YRNO brings together the wider New Orleans youth community through service learning to help “bring life back” to dilapidated New Orleans neighborhoods. Central to YRNO is awareness of social inequalities and bridging the gap between local youth and the “status-quo”. They emphasize the importance of community on a child’s development by rebuilding blighted homes, raising the property values and status of these neighborhoods. YRNO employs local youth and empowers them to see how they can affect positive change in their city.

Community Organizing in the US

Padres y Jóvenes Unidos

https://www.padresunidos.org/

Padres y Jóvenes Unidos is a coalition between parents, students, and community members that tackles a multitude of issues facing the Latinx community in and around Denver, including equitable access to early and post-secondary education and voter registration. In their fight to disconnect the school-to-prison pipeline, Padres y Jóvenes leads a movement for restorative discipline practices in schools.

Greater Richmond Trauma-Informed Community Network

http://grscan.com/

A branch of Greater Richmond SCAN (Stop Child Abuse Now) centered around advocating for trauma-informed care for the Greater Richmond community. This includes conscientious school discipline, as well as educating people on how to properly respond to experienced trauma in children.

STOP (Southside Together Organizing for Power) Chicago 

http://www.stopchicago.org/

A community organization that has a number of focus points. Their Youth Justice Program has an initiative called the Restorative Justice Reinvestment Campaign that advocates for more community-informed juvenile justice.

The Dignity in Schools Campaign

http://www.drumnyc.org/blog/page/9/

A national alliance of grassroots organizations that promote civil and human rights in schools seeking to find productive alternatives to no-excuses discipline policies and criminalization in public schools.

Ohio Student Association

https://twitter.com/ohiostudents

OSA is an organization that unites students against societal barriers that prevent equitable access to education, especially for marginalized communities. One of their biggest projects is “End Zero Tolerance”, a movement that seeks to reform discipline practices in Ohio schools and stop the school-to-prison pipeline.

VOYCE: Voices of Youth in Chicago Education

https://www.equalvoiceforfamilies.org/a-chicago-alliance-calls-for-chicago-police-to-change/

VOYCE is an organization of Chicago youth seeking to combat injustices in education and beyond. Their Campaign for Common Sense Discipline raises awareness of the current state of school discipline, including the high rates of out-of-school suspension and other no-excuses discipline practices in Illinois. VOYCE has also drafted state legislation proposals that hold school districts to higher standards with regards to discipline.