Notes from the Field
Submitted by Ray Murphy on August 18, 2010
Making change in Philadelphia’s public schools requires a partnership between students, educators and parents. It also requires the support of the larger community of social justice supporters in our region. That’s where Bread & Roses Community Fund comes in. Bread & Roses is the region’s social justice foundation supporting grassroots community organization making change.
I wanted to share a preview from Bread & Roses’ next newsletter which is about the school-to-prison pipeline and the efforts of two grantees to stop it. Enjoy!
Did you know that only 55.5% of Philadelphia students graduate from high school? And only 49% of those graduates enroll in a 2- or 4-year degree-earning institution. What happens to the rest of Philadelphia’s public school students?
The reality is that many students end up unemployed, in dead-end jobs or incarcerated. In fact, the trend of public school students leaving school and becoming incarcerated has a name: the school-to-prison pipeline.
Accelerated schools are one of the few options available to students who have left or been pushed out of neighborhood and magnet schools but still want a degree. For many students it is the one place they are given a second chance — not only for a high school diploma but for a different kind of life.
However, when budget cuts had to be made at the School District of Philadelphia earlier this year, accelerated schooling funds were among the first on the chopping block.
Luckily, members of grantee organization Youth United for Change (YUC) stepped up to the plate to prevent these serious cuts. Holding rallies, educational forums, and attending City Council meetings, YUC managed to have City Council promise $8.2 million toward the accelerated schooling budget. This commitment means that the 13 accelerated schools in Philadelphia will be able to keep their doors open.
Alternative schools are not enough to stop the school-to-prison pipeline. That’s why Bread & Roses grantees such as Youth, Art & Self-empowerment Project (YASP) are doing their part to disrupt this cycle by organizing to end the practice of charging and convicting young people as adults. YASP is focused on repealing Act 33, which allows youth to be charged as adults for crimes including aggravated assault and robbery, and eliminating the dangerous and unnecessary pipeline to prison that it facilitates.
But YUC and YASP can’t stop the school-to-prison pipeline on their own. The reality is that we all need to commit to the fight to end the practice of unfair and unjust incarceration, and to pressure the city to live up to its promise of fully funded, effective educational practices. This is the kind of real change that Bread & Roses’ grantees and community of supporters fight for.
To learn more about Bread & Roses Community Fund, visit www.breadrosesfund.org
