A Prayer for a Brighter Future for Baltimore's Children
Dear God of love, grace and mercy. We thank you for all of Baltimore's children. We thank you for those who have love and supervision and those in need of more love and supervision.
We thank you for the promise and potential that all of their lives possess.
Forgive us God for not being more attentive to their needs; their needs for a quality education, supportive family environment and a healthy community. Forgive us for being reactionary and not proactive, for spending more money on their private jail-care than their public welfare. Forgive us for meeting their youthful mistakes with adult penalties absent our love and understanding.
Forgive us for placing a higher priority on balancing budgets than balancing young lives.
Now enable and empower us God to find a creative solution to the problems that challenge, plague and victimize our children. Empower us to be better advocates for our youth. Enable us to tell more people about the urgent need to reform our juvenile justice system improve our educational system and revitalize our communities.
Help us this day to be better models and purveyors of your hope. Help us this day to express love, extend grace and show mercy for both our and their sakes. Please hear our prayer, dear God.
Kinetics and our allies will host Youth Justice Sunday, October 31, 2010 on the site of the proposed $100 Million Youth Jail.
If your church or organization would like to endorse Youth Justice Sunday please contact us @ info@kineticnet.org
You can also connect with us on FACEBOOK @ Stop Martin O'Malley's Youth Jail
Call the governor (410)974-3901. Sign the electronic petition . If you would like to volunteer, contact me @ info@kineticnet.org
Please join us for Prayer, Worship and Justice.
Stay tune for more details.
In love & service,
Jamye Wooten
Kinetics
info@kineticnet.org
Youth Justice Sunday Endorsers
Dr. Karen Bethea, Set the Captives Free Outreach Center
Rev. Heber Brown, III, Pleasant Hope Baptist Church
Rev. Frances Toni Draper, Freedom Temple AME Zion
Rev. Kevin Brooks, Gethsemane African Methodist Episcopal
Pastor Ronald Covington, Hope Community Ministries
Rev. Dr. Al Hathway, Union Baptist Church of Baltimore
Min. LeVar A. Jones, City Youth Leaders Network
Rev. Eric King, New Life UMC in Baltimore
Rev. Lester Agyei McCorn, Pennsylvania A.M.E. Zion
Bishop Douglas Miles, Koinonia Baptist Church in Baltimore
Pastor Kinji Scott, My Father's House of Baltimore City
Elder Ted Sutton, Sutton House, Inc.
T.R.U.C.E. MOVEMENT
West Baltimore Clergy United
"The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood."
-Martin Luther King Jr., "Strength to Love" |
Children of color and students with disabilities are disproportionately represented among these students. In Florida, Black youth, who represented only 22 percent of the overall juvenile population, accounted for 47 percent of all school-based delinquency referrals; youth with special needs accounted for 23 percent of all school-based referrals.- POLICING IN SCHOOLS:
DEVELOPING A GOVERNANCE DOCUMENT FOR SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS IN K-12 SCHOOLS
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These Three People Will Decide If Baltimore City Gets Yet Another Youth Jail
From l to r: Nancy Kopp (Treasurer), Martin O'Malley (Governor), & Peter Franchot (Comptroller)
by Heber Brown, III
FaithinActionOnline.com
The Maryland State Board of Public Works is the legislative body which will ultimately decide either to sign or dismiss contracts to continue with planning and construction of another youth jail in East Baltimore. The Board is made up of State Treasurer, Nancy Kopp, State Comptroller, Peter Franchot, and of course Governor Martin O'Malley.
According to its website, "the Board of Public Works ensures that significant State expenditures are necessary and appropriate, fiscally responsible, fair, and lawful. In reviewing and approving capital projects, procurement contracts, and the acquisition, use, and transfer of State assets, the Board assures Marylanders that executive decisions are made responsibly and responsively."
We'll we how responsive the Board is to the desires of the people of Baltimore City and specifically the city's Black community. As I and many others have been canvassing the community, it's become clear that an overwhelming majority of city residents disagree with O'Malley's $104 Million Dollar Youth Jail proposal for East Baltimore. Ask people what this money can be used for and you'll hear them speak of support for mentoring programs, after school opportunities, youth jobs, and new school construction. All wonderful ideas which should be further explored and supported.
Read More
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Turnout reached record high two years ago, but might dip in governor's race By Julie Bykowicz, The Baltimore Sun11:08 p.m. EDT, October 5, 2010  He is airing campaign advertisements on minority-owned radio stations. He has enlisted the support of leaders in the African-American strongholds of Baltimore and Prince George's County. He will host a visit by President Barack Obama at historically black Bowie State University on Thursday.Less than a month before Election Day, Gov. Martin O'Malley is stepping up his courtship of the state's African-American community - a constituency with which the Democrat has had a complicated relationship, but which could decide the outcome of his race against Republican former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.A pair of recent polls, including one released Tuesday, show O'Malley beginning to break away in what had been a neck-and-neck race with Ehrlich. But the incumbent remains concerned about voter turnout, especially after unexpectedly low participation last month in the Democratic primaries in Baltimore and Prince George's. Read More
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Data Makes Case to Scrap New Juvenile Jail
July 26, 2010 | by Diana Morris and Tom Wilcox
The following originally appeared in the Maryland Daily Record.
Maryland governor Martin O'Malley is known for his attention to data-driven policy and his focus on good government. As longtime partners in his work in juvenile justice, we know the governor will carefully consider the data that led to the decision to build a new jail for youth charged as adults in Baltimore.
And we believe the data lead to one conclusion: The proposed jail should be scrapped.
Conceived at a time when the number of juvenile defendants was rising and state coffers were full, the $104-million jail now makes little sense from a financial, legal, or policy perspective. State legislators and the criminal courts can do much to address the issue without building an expensive new jail. Read More
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Maryland Correctional Enterprises
According to Maryland Correctional Enterprises, the prison industry arm of the Maryland Division of Correction, "In fiscal year 2010, Maryland Correctional Enterprises had unaudited revenues of $50.4 million ...MCE is currently ranked among the top 10 prison industry programs in the United States; ranking 8th in regards to total revenues generated and 6th in the number of inmates employed."
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State Comptroller Peter Franchot on O'Malley's Youth Jail: "I'll follow the Governor's lead"
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Racial Disparities Remain High in Juvenile Arrests
Drop In Overall Arrests Shows More Direct Approach Needed
Advocates for Children & Youth
Executive Summary
African-American youth in Maryland continue to be arrested at a much higher rate than White youth, according to new data obtained and analyzed by Advocates for Children and Youth. This disparity persists despite an overall drop in youth arrests. To reduce disproportionate arrests of minority youth, state and local agencies, particularly schools and school law enforcement and resource officers, must employ proven strategies that more specifically target the problem.
Read Report
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Locating the School-to-Prison Pipeline
The "school-to-prison pipeline" refers to the policies and practices that push our nation's schoolchildren, especially our most at-risk children, out of classrooms and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems. This pipeline reflects the prioritization of incarceration over education. For a growing number of students, the path to incarceration includes the following "stops":
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Mapping and Analyzing The Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track Action Kit
This Action Kit is intended to help mobilized communities (parents, youth, advocates, and educators) understand and begin to address the schoolhouse to jailhouse track so that they may ultimately create caring learning environments that push students toward colleges and careers rather than prison. It includes information on:
- Collecting information and data about school discipline policies and practices;
- Analyzing and organizing the data; and
- Developing messages that resonate with your audience.
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| The number of children arrested or referred to court for school discipline has grown in recent years. In South Carolina, the single most common offense resulting in a juvenile court referral during the 2007-08 year was "Disturbing Schools." - POLICING IN SCHOOLS: DEVELOPING A GOVERNANCE DOCUMENT FOR SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS IN K-12 SCHOOLS | |
POLICING IN SCHOOLS:
DEVELOPING A GOVERNANCE DOCUMENT
FOR SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS IN K-12 SCHOOLS
AN ACLU WHITE PAPER
BY CATHERINE Y. KIM AND I. INDIA GERONIMO
PUBLISHED AUGUST 2009
INTRODUCTION
K-12 public schools across the country have begun to deploy law enforcement agents on school grounds in growing numbers. Although there are no current national figures for the number of such officers, in 2004, 60 percent of high school teachers reported armed police officers stationed on school grounds,1 and in 2005, almost 70 percent of public school students ages 12 to 18 reported that police officers or security guards patrol their hallways.
Frequently referred to as "School Resource Officers" or SROs, these agents are often sworn police officers employed by the local police department and assigned to patrol public school hallways full-time. In larger jurisdictions such as Los Angeles and Houston, these officers may be employed directly by the school district.
Without addressing the question of whether police officers should be deployed to schools in the first instance, this White Paper posits that if they are deployed, they must be provided with the tools necessary to ensure a safe school environment while respecting the rights of students and the overall school climate.
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Improper school-based arrests and referrals to law enforcement have a devastating impact on children. Studies show that being arrested has detrimental psychological effects on the child; nearly doubles the odds of dropping out of school, and, if coupled with a court appearance, nearly quadruples the odds of dropout; lowers standardized test scores; reduces future employment prospects; and increases the likelihood of future interaction with the criminal justice system.-POLICING IN SCHOOLS:
DEVELOPING A GOVERNANCE DOCUMENT FOR SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS IN K-12 SCHOOLS |
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About Us
... You will raise up the age-old foundations; And you will be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of the streets in which to dwell. (Isaiah. 58:12)
Kinetics mission is to develop new ideas that work to strengthen social movements within the African-American community; providing them with the tools and skills to pursue justice and better address the needs of those whom they serve.
Kinetics is a project of Fusion Partnerships, Inc. | |
