Organizing to End the School-to-Prison Pipeline – Jewel Patterson, MS; Edgar Ibarria; Nicole Bates, JD

Episode 58 Guests: Jewel Patterson, MS; Edgar Ibarria; Nicole Bates, JD Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

www.dointhework.com Listen/Subscribe on: Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Spotify Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn Join the mailing list Support the podcast Download transcript

If you enjoy what we talk about on the podcast, check out the learning community we're building at dointhework.com. It's a space for connection, reflection, and justice-centered learning—for social workers, therapists, educators, and advocates committed to building a more just world. We offer continuing education courses taught by professionals in the field who are doin' the work—so you can earn CEs while engaging with inclusive, anti-oppressive content. We hope to see you there!

Are you a fully-licensed clinician interested in private practice? Alma and Headway make it super easy! I’ve been using them to manage my private practice. Both handle insurance credentialing and provide you with an electronic health record. If you are interested in learning more, use my referral links for each and they will contact you. Alma Headway

In this episode, I talk with Jewel Patterson, Edgar Ibarria, and Nicole Bates about their work organizing to end the school-to-prison pipeline in California. Jewel is a lead organizer with COPE, Congregations Organized for Prophetic Engagement, a Black-led, faith-based, grassroots nonprofit in the Inland Empire. Edgar is a senior lead organizer with CADRE, a parent-led organization in South L.A. Nicole is a movement lawyer with C4LL, The Collective for Liberatory Lawyering. They define the school-to-prison pipeline and explain how criminalization functions in schools, disproportionately affecting Black and Brown students and families. Jewel and Edgar share how they organize with students and families, as well as examples of the ways students and families are impacted. Nicole discusses the legal issues and strategies that she and other C4LL lawyers use to challenge and change legislation. We talk specifically about their work to change the law on the school discipline category called “willful defiance”, which is a vague term allowing suspensions and expulsions for “disrupting school activities or otherwise willfully defying the authority of school staff.” This change has resulted in fewer suspensions and expulsions in lower grades, yet it needs to be expanded to upper grades and high school, so the work continues. They discuss surveillance in schools, metal detectors, police in schools, the lack of counseling, and how they organize to change all of this and reimagine safety, including the victory of defunding school police 25 million dollars and reinvesting that money in a Black student achievement program. They explain how they build power, the importance of coalitions, movement lawyers, and some of the successes, as well as challenges, of their efforts. They cover so much and really break it down in ways that can provide a blueprint for others. I hope this conversation inspires you to action. Jewel Patterson, COPE Instagram JustJewel__ www.COPEsite.org Instagram COPE2000_ Facebook COPE Inland Empire Edgar Ibarria, CADRE www.cadre-la.org Instagram cadreparents X @CADREparents Facebook Community Asset Development Re-defining Education (CADRE) Nicole Bates, C4LL, The Collective for Liberatory Lawyering www.c4ll-ca.org Instagram liberatorylawyersca LinkedIn @The Collective for Liberatory Lawyering

 

Music credit: "District Four" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by