Youth Organized and United to Help (Y.O.U.th) is disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline through our #BooksNotBarsOr programming. We use tutoring, advocacy, literacy, and training—as well as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion education—to create awareness around the issues that cause the school-to-prison pipeline and what we can do to end it.
What if all children received an equitable education in the United States? Imagine a world where even the poorest children from the most desolate neighborhoods had the opportunity to dream through literacy.
Research and historical data have shown and proven the public educational system was designed to reach and benefit a specific demographic and population which often purposefully excludes the majority of learners, specifically Black, Brown, and Indigenous students. We see this immediately in the K-5 model, but also are aware of the preschool to prison pipeline that is sadly becoming more prevalent with the expulsion rates of students aged four and five.
This current educational system does not offer equitable educational resources to Black, Brown, and Indigenous students. As a result, students of those households are over-represented in incarceration and dropout rates.
Change Idea:
Our change plan is to ensure Black, Brown, and Indigenous students have access to literacy resources outside of school by providing free and low-cost tutoring services, ensuring parents are equipped to advocate for their children, and training white educators to see the beautiful diversity in each of our children.
As an organization, our ultimate goal is to equip children with the tools they need to add to their literacy toolbox and to ensure each child has access to additional literacy resources, including tutoring outside of school. We believe with our commitment to step into the gaps, that literacy will look equitable for communities that are often excluded. While our work focuses on Black, Brown, and Indigenous youth, we know any race from a lower socio-economic background will fall into this category of exclusion, not receiving resources, and often being left behind. We believe our commitment to change and our commitment to close the gap where we see need will begin to change the trajectory of young people’s lives one student at a time.
We are an organization that leads community and collaboration. We partner with organizations such as Decoding Dyslexia to provide Dyslexia screenings for our youth. We have strong relationships with local educators and students to provide tutoring services to our children. We partner with community members and parents to provide advocacy resources to parents. In addition, we created programs through our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion curriculum to deliver training to white educators across the state.
During our summer program, learners were tutored remotely for a total of 35 hours. Learners showed growth and progress in foundational reading skills (vowel and consonant sounds and decoding and spelling consonant-vowel-consonant words). The mothers of the learners were present, engaged, and supportive. The children responded positively to the instruction. Sometimes learners would even work beyond the 45-minute session because their engagement and focus were strong. Children responded joyfully to the images of children who had the same skin complexion depicted in books and learning games. When one boy was playing a matching game and he turned over a card depicting a Black baby, he remarked, “That looks like me!”
All parents of students expressed knowing their child was behind in reading and literacy and hoped their child improved with our support. With just a short amount of intentional tutoring time, the students began to improve drastically. What became clear to us, is the schools do not make time to be intentional with students until they are not meeting standards or grade levels. Once a child falls behind, it is very difficult to make up for that time loss. Now multiply that by three or four grade levels and this is how we get high dropout rates and loss of enthusiasm in students. The students in our tutoring program showed grit and joy while they were learning and became more confident in their reading.
We learned that all children can read when they are given the opportunity to learn—when they are seen as the brilliant little minds that they are. When educators are able to see children for who they are, anything is possible. Our change idea has reinforced the knowledge that time with children is the key to their success. Not every learner learns the same way. Therefore, intentional time is required to bring out of a child what is inherently inside of them.
This change has become the catalyst of our programming. It is in the very fabric of who we are as an organization and fuels the change we want to be in the world. It is important to us to ensure that our children have access to an equitable education. Education is a civil right and it’s our responsibility as parents, educators, and community members to ensure that our children are given the opportunity.
Status of the Change Idea: Adapted, Adopted, or Abandoned?
Adopted
Additional Resources
Parents: It’s Not Your Fault – Resha Conroy, MPA
Curricula & Accountability – Kareem Weaver