SEND OAKLAND YOUTH TO THE RJ CONFERENCE!
Community Power & Youth Voice: Report from the Frontlines of RJ in Oakland
#BelieveinRJ #BelieveinStudentLeadership #theTownStandswithYouth
Help send student leaders from Oakland Unified School District to Denver to present at the national RJ conference! We have been invited to share our visionary model of youth development, peer RJ, and meaningful student engagement. The 2018-19 school year saw massive budget cuts and a teachers strike, both of which mobilized students, families, staff, and community members to advocate for programs and services we believe are vital to our well-being. In our workshop, participants will learn about the campaign to save funding for Restorative Justice in Oakland schools and the strong youth-adult partnerships that are the backbone of our success, allowing us to effectively reduce school push-out and shift our culture away from criminalizing young people.
Participants will also experience a glimpse of embodied storytelling in the tradition of Theater of the Oppressed, one of the tools that RJ facilitators in Oakland have merged with restorative practices. Last year, RJ leaders in OUSD partnered with Partners for Collaborative Change to host a creative learning laboratory for educators at the intersection of circle process and Theater of the Oppressed. We are proud of our accomplishments in integrating arts for healing and positive school culture.
WHO WE ARE: Yota and Itzamar are immigrant youth who are active in the RJ movement. Griffen is a rising Oakland senior who has actively held circles for his school and publicly voiced his opinion on the importance of RJ in OUSD. All of us have worked tirelessly to put RJ on the map both in our schools and the wider community. In Yota's words, "navigating my new home [Oakland] and a new education system was incredibly challenging. But -- everything shifted the first time I sat in a Restorative Justice community-building circle. It was my first time of feeling truly at peace in this country."
Due to current budget crisis and under-investment in public education altogether, there are limited resources to send us to the conference. We must raise $1,200 to cover remaining expenses (flight, registration, lodging, food).
Please give what you can! We appreciate any and all donations, no matter how small. Your support will go a long way in growing the leaership of young people in Restorative justice here in the Bay Area and across the country. Thank you!!!
