18 Jul

School suspensions tied to increase in assaults, theft, drug crimes, Kentucky researchers say

Posted by in BUILD, Minority Rights, Public Education Improvement

July 18, 2019. Lexington Herald Leader.

Two researchers from Kentucky have co-authored a new study that shows that school suspensions increased criminal behaviors among teens that include assault, stealing, and selling drugs.

The study, by former Elizabethtown resident Thomas James Mowen, now a researcher at Ohio’s Bowling Green State University and John J. Brent, an assistant professor at Eastern Kentucky University, was published July 12 in Justice Quarterly, a publication of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. It has received national media attention this week.

“The effect of school discipline aren’t as short-lived as some people think,” Brent told the Herald-Leader Wednesday. “It can create a ripple effect that impacts youth as they move into and enter adulthood.”

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19 Jun

New IDs for undocumented immigrants in Palm Beach County

Posted by in Minority Rights, PEACE Palm Beach

June 19, 2019. WPTV

PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Undocumented immigrants have a new opportunity in Palm Beach County to get IDs.

The Community ID Program, sponsored by the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County, does not provide government issued ID cards, but it does offer a form of photo Identification recognized for city services in West Palm Beach, Lake Worth, and Belle Glade.

Maribel Gonzalez has lived as an undocumented immigrant in Palm Beach County for seven years.

“I want to be part of the community,” Gonzalez said.

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28 May

Charleston Area Justice Ministry continues push for audit of N. Charleston police department

Posted by in CAJM, Criminal Justice Reform, Minority Rights

May 28, 2019. WCSC.

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) – The Charleston Area Justice Ministry (CAJM) is calling for an audit of the North Charleston Police Department in a citizen’s advisory commission meeting on Tuesday.

The North Charleston Citizen’s Advisory Commission on Community-Police Relations will meet at 6:30 p.m. at North Charleston City Hall.

The Charleston Area Justice Ministry says they called for an audit of both the Charleston and North Charleston Police Departments a few years ago.

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24 May

Interfaith group pushes Fayette to address higher rates of suspensions for black students

Posted by in BUILD, Minority Rights, Public Education Improvement

May 24, 2019. Lexington Herald-Leader.

A “high number of suspensions and racial disparities” in Fayette County Public Schools is motivating Belinda Snead to implore school board members to make changes.

Snead said that she is not only speaking as a member of an interfaith organization but as a grandmother of students in Fayette County schools who have been suspended.

“I’m very concerned about the high number of suspensions and racial disparities,” Snead told school board members at their May 20 meeting. “My grandchildren have been suspended three times as have other families represented by the BUILD organization and we know that kids do better when they stay in school.

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06 May

Interfaith group BREAD seeks more focus on housing crisis

Posted by in Affordable Housing, BREAD, Economic Opportunity, Minority Rights, Public Education Improvement

May 6, 2019. The Columbus Dispatch.

Ali Miller is an AmeriCorps VISTA worker who spends half of her paycheck on housing here in Columbus.

The job doesn’t pay much, she said — about $12,000 a year. That gives her no money for a car, or alcohol. She gets no money from her parents.

And a local social justice group says there are thousands more like Miller who can’t pay the escalating rents in a growing Columbus and central Ohio.

“We want affordable housing too,” said Miller, not new places with $1,000-a-month rents with granite countertops and fancy exercise rooms.

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