January Newsletter
Happy New Year from the Youth Advocacy Foundation
We hope everybody had a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year! Some updates about what YAF has been up to lately:
In Recent News...
NFL Boston's Listen-And-Learn Tour: Racial Inequities in the Criminal Justice System
Patriots players joined YAF, CPCS, and other criminal justice advocates for a day of discussion
Last Friday, Patriots players Duron Harmon, Devin McCourty, Matthew Slater and Johnson Bademosi and president Jonathan Kraft joined YAF, CPCS, and other criminal justice advocates for a day of discussing elements of the criminal justice system in Massachusetts at Harvard Law School.
Panels covered topics from the socioeconomic realities of minority populations in MA and the role of ineffective education and welfare systems, particularly in pushing kids out of school and into the justice system; to the factors that lead to youth involvement in the juvenile justice system, and alternative approaches to locking kids up; to the failure of Massachusetts to adequately address both pre-arrest and post-release failures on a systemic level and possible solutions. The group also traveled to Haley House where they learned about the dynamic community and social change organization and met with former and current individuals involved with some of the many projects and initiatives of Haley House.
Criminal justice advocates and experts included: Joshua Dohan of YAF and CPCS; Samantha Calero, of YAF; Marlies Spanjaard of YAF and CPCS; Jacob Sussman of the Fair Punishment Project; Rahsaan Hall of the ACLU of MA; Jeremy Thompson, of the Madison Park Development Corporation; Judge Gloria Tan of the Middlesex County Juvenile Court; Duci Goncalves of CPCS; Mia Alvarado of Roxbury Youthworks; Andrea Perry of YouthConnect; Sana Fadel of Citizens for Juvenile Justice; Dehlia Umunna of Harvard Law School; Councilor Andrea Campbell of the Boston City Counsel; Randy Gioia of CPCS; Patricia Garin of the Prisoner's Assistance Project at Northeastern; Jerome Pitts of Haley House; Anthony Benedetti of CPCS; Lisa Hewitt of CPCS; Nancy Bennett of CPCS; Lael Chester and Yohanna Beyene of the Justice Lab at Columbia University; Luther Pinckney of Haley House (formerly); Priscilla Duffy of CPCS.
Thank you to all who participated and engaged in these thoughtful discussions!
Check out the Boston Herald article here, and the ESPN article here.
Upcoming Events:
Documentary Screening and Panel Discussion
Join YAF and YW Boston for a screening of the transformative and informative documentary Teach Us All about education inequities that still persist, and have often become more acute, 60 years after the historic decision in Brown v Board of Education and the bravery of the children called the Little Rock Nine to integrate an all-white high school.
Screening to be followed by a panel discussion* about education inequities in Massachusetts.
*Panelists to be announced in the coming weeks
When: Monday, April 9th, 2018 from 6-8:00PM
Where: Lyric Stage, 140 Clarendon St., Boston, MA 02116
Admission: Free
RSVP: On EventBrite
Check out the trailer below:
Save The Date
YAF's 17th Annual Spring Celebration is only three months away! Look out for more information coming soon!
YAF's 17th Annual Spring Celebration will be held on Thursday, May 17th, 2018 at the Boston Children's Museum from 6-8:00PM
