Don’t Oppress Youth Success

Don’t Oppress Youth Success

Project Theme: School-to-Prison Pipeline Prevention
Years in Existence: 2
Target Audience and Location: Students at Dexter McCarty Middle School.
Mission: Through education and advocacy, we inspire educators to utilize positive relationship-building and restorative justice practices while connecting caring high school mentors of color to middle schoolers who need them most.

Project Description: Founding Scholar Kim Cortes-Martinez and educator Cyrus Harshfield designed their project to address the overrepresentation of young men of color in school disciplinary actions and the juvenile justice systems. They created a mentorship program comprised of high school mentors who support and connect with sixth-grade students. Carried forward by student leader Luong Nguyen, the project will continue to empower students by hosting opportunities for high school mentors to connect with middle school students. Luong is most proud that “we had middle school students go through our program, graduate middle school, and then matriculate back to the program as high school mentors.”