Category Archives: Intentional Communities

Inclusive Prosperity Capital

HARTFORD, Conn., May 06, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Inclusive Prosperity Capital, Inc. (IPC) has raised $13 million of program- related investments (PRI) from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, McKnight Foundation, and The Kresge Foundation to support the capitalization and deployment of accessible clean energy upgrades across the nation. Created in 2018, IPCs mission is to ensure everyone has access to the benefits of clean energy. IPCs programs and products are designed to serve historically marginalized communities and other underserved markets non-profits, faith-based institutions, small-to-medium commercial businesses, affordable multifamily housing, and credit-challenged and lower income homeowners.

The foundations have provided IPC with a combined $13 million in PRI critically flexible and catalytic capital support. Investors like these are deeply aligned with IPCs mission and have allowed IPC the opportunity to expand the depth and breadth of its investing platform. IPC intends to blend the PRI money with other private and public capital to create a unique investment platform for underserved markets.

John Balbach, Director of Impact Investments at MacArthur, said, With its roots in green banking, its deep connections in community development, and its intentional focus on engagement with historically marginalized communities, IPC is demonstrating that the expansion of clean energy and energy efficiency solutions is inextricably intertwined with climate justice. These solutions must be accessible for all communities, and we are thrilled to provide IPC with $5 million in catalytic capital to advance this essential mission.

Elizabeth McGeveran, Director of Investments at McKnight, said, We are thrilled to build on our philanthropic support of Inclusive Prosperity Capitals expansion to the Midwest with a $5 million program-related investment. We know that we can't win on climate unless were attentive to racial equity and justice and bring everyone along. With this investment, IPC and local partners will create more opportunities for underserved communities to reap the benefits of the clean economy.

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Joe Evans, Portfolio Director and Social Investment Officer of The Kresge Foundation, said, Kresge has invested in IPC from the beginning because we believe in its unique mission. Were excited to make this additional capital available to them in partnership with new investors. Kresge provided a $3 million PRI.

Kerry ONeill, CEO of Inclusive Prosperity Capital, said, Foundation investors like these are at the core of our ability to deliver on our mission. Without low-cost PRI investment, were less likely to be able to provide a loan for an affordable multifamily building to install heat pumps and improve indoor air quality, or to help a community center or house of worship in an underserved community go solar and see significant savings on their bills, or to help low-income homeowners make green improvements that reduce their energy burdens. We are so grateful to Kresge, McKnight, and MacArthur, who have helped us streamline the capital raising process from this critically important sector. The need for catalytic capital is only growing, and its how well ensure everyone has access to the benefits of clean energy.

About Inclusive Prosperity Capital:

Inclusive Prosperity Capital, Inc. (IPC) is a not-for-profit investment platform scaling clean energy financing solutions that channel investment capital to program partners in communities that need it most. As a spin-out of the Connecticut Green Bank, IPC is focused on scaling its work and expanding its successful model nationwide by accessing mission-driven capital and partnerships. IPC operates at the intersection of community development, clean energy finance, and climate impact. We believe everyone should have access to the benefits of clean energy, helping to deliver Inclusive Prosperity. For more information about Inclusive Prosperity Capital, please visit inclusiveprosperitycapital.org

About The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation:

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation supports creative people, effective institutions, and influential networks building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. MacArthur is placing a few big bets that truly significant progress is possible on some of the worlds most pressing social challenges, including decreasing nuclear risk, promoting local justice reform in the U.S., and reducing corruption in Africas most populous country, Nigeria. In addition, the Foundation continues its historic commitments to the role of journalism in a responsive democracy as well as the vitality of our headquarters city, Chicago. MacArthur also is committed to building the field of impact investing and providing catalytic capital to address social and environmental challenges around the world.

About McKnight Foundation:

The McKnight Foundation, a Minnesota-based family foundation, advances a more just, creative, and abundant future where people and planet thrive. Established in 1953, the McKnight Foundation is deeply committed to advancing climate solutions in the Midwest; building an equitable and inclusive Minnesota; and supporting the arts in Minnesota, neuroscience, and international crop research. The McKnight Foundation has committed to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions across its $3 billion endowment by 2050 at the latest and over 40% of its $3 billion endowment has some mission alignment, with $500 million committed to decarbonizing the economy. Learn more at McKnight.org.

About The Kresge Foundation:

The Kresge Foundation was founded in 1924 to promote human progress. Today, Kresge fulfills that mission by building and strengthening pathways to opportunity for low-income people in Americas cities, seeking to dismantle structural and systemic barriers to equality and justice. Using a full array of grant, loan, and other investment tools, Kresge invests more than $160 million annually to foster economic and social change. For more information visit Kresge.org.

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Inclusive Prosperity Capital, Inc. raises $13 Million from MacArthur, McKnight, and Kresge Foundations to support the deployment of clean energy...

by Beau Hebert

Dear The Beauster,

It took me months but I finally just watched the movie Dont Look Up. How is this not our future?

Sincerely,

Bryn-Mawr Bill

Dear B-M-B,

Thanks, Bill! Your question is what galvanized me to finally sit down and watch Dont Look Up in its 145-minute entirety (spoilers to follow). After getting over the shock of a schlubby, middle-aged Leonardo DiCaprio playing the role of scientist, I found myself along for the ride, laughing as the movie presented the greatest existential threat to humankind with sardonic, meme-spun humor dripping with social-media references and lots of celebrities playing sharp-witted but unlikeable characters.

This was fun stuff until it wasnt.

As the film wore on, the many permutations of its dire message started thudding me in the gut with sapping regularity, like body shots delivered by Sugar Ray Leonard tenderizing his opponent for the big knockout. When the knockout came in the form of global armageddon at the films climax, I did not feel energized to save the planet, but instead felt listless and devoid of hope. While I may have faith in human ingenuity, technology, and scientific innovation, the policy-decision side of things seems, well, insurmountable. Governments and giant corporations are like enormous aircraft carriers; getting them to change course is a drawn-out process, and thats assuming theyll even acknowledge the problem in the first place.

I am reminded of my Uncle Mark, a former rocket scientist whod worked for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Upon retirement, he pledged to leave the United States if George W. Bush became president. Bushs opponent in that election, Al Gore, ran on a platform of confronting global warming and later produced the movie An Inconvenient Truth, dedicated to creating awareness around global climate change. But the inconvenient truth of the 2000 election was that, despite Gore receiving over a half-million more popular votes than Bush and being declared president on all national news networks, the closely contested state of Florida was handed to Bush by a Supreme Court decision, giving him victory in the electoral college. An oilman plowed into the White House; climate change got plowed under the rug by a corporate-friendly Republican agenda; and Uncle Mark plowed his retirement account into an open-ended bicycle journey spanning the planet with the idealistic purpose of making a documentary that would galvanize humankind to combat the unfolding climate crisis.

Uncle Mark bicycled from Los Angeles to Tierra del Fuego, staying for a time on an organic winery in Argentina. There he observed the destruction to the land from climate-induced flooding and the displacement of poor people. He rode through India, exploring intentional communities, and learned about the disruption of the monsoon rains that Indian farmers depend on for their crops. Throughout Indias countryside, he witnessed desperation and desertification.

He rode his bike through China and looked aghast at an environment that had been utterly polluted, with rivers that barely flowed because they were filled with so much sludge and trash. He rode through Chinas monolithic ghost cities, comprised of unoccupied high-rise buildings built not to house people, but for bloated real estate firms to skim billions of leveraged dollars into their coffers through overvalued expenditures on the construction of cheap, unsafe concrete pillars. He rode through Mongolia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, the Middle East, North Africa, and on into Europe, seeing firsthand, at 15 miles per hour, the impact of climate change across a broad swath of the earth.

During his journey, Uncle Mark read every significant book on the subject and stayed current with new reports. Just as he was ready to start videotaping in earnest, he came to the scientific conclusion that it was pointless too many thresholds had been crossed. We were on a collision course with Dont Look Ups metaphorical comet, and, as in the movie, it was time to abandon Mother Earth for a more hospitable planet, even at the risk of being devoured by a carnivorous ostrich-like creature inhabiting its terrain.

And that seems to be where we find ourselves, dear B-M-B. The conversation around climate change is no longer about stopping it, but about managing it. A recent report states that 9 trillion dollars at minimum must be allocated annually through 2050 to help avoid planetary collapse. Yes, this is now standard verbiage around the discussion. Even with technology breakthroughs, the political will to actually take on this ridiculously enormous crisis appears to be lacking. Meanwhile, the general public yours truly included is fatigued and overwhelmed by the subject. Which is not to say we shouldnt keep trying our best, but its going to be one hell of an uphill battle, and we should prepare to bear witness to some dramatic and frightening changes in our lifetimes. So in answer to your question, I think that the movie Dont Look Up relates not just to our future, but to our present as well as our past. Now if youll please excuse me, Im gonna tiptoe up to some higher ground.

The South Seattle Emerald is committed to holding space for a variety of viewpoints within our community, with the understanding that differing perspectives do not negate mutual respect amongst community members.

The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the contributors on this website do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the Emerald or official policies of the Emerald.

Beau Hebert is a humor columnist and owner of Lotties Lounge in Columbia City.

Featured Image: The Beauster. Illustration by Lou Patnode.

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Dear The Beauster: Give Me a Reason for Some Hope! - South Seattle Emerald

I've been passionate about justice work ever since I took my first criminal justice class in my junior year of high school. My teacher really stressed the structural issues across the justice system. I learned there were jobs within the criminal justice system other than police officer, lawyer, etc., and I wanted to learn more.

I decided to major in justice studies at James Madison University, a major with three tracks: criminal justice, global justice, and social justice, the one I chose. All of the tracks took the same beginning core classes as well as the same final two senior classes. The other electives and major specific classes were up to you and what you thought would be important to know for the field you hoped to go into.

The criminal justice students hoped to go into law, politics, or law enforcement. The global justice students hoped to go into diplomatic politics and homeland security. All important work on a broad spectrum, but none quite encapsulating what I wanted to do with my life.

The social justice track is "designed to investigate what is fair, equitable and just for society. Emphasizing the oppression and liberation of vulnerable, exploited and marginalized populations, this curriculum promotes sustainable and just solutions to social, political and economic problems."

Maybe this was because it was my own major, but I noticed that the jobs seemed broader with the social justice track. Social justice work can take so many forms: nonprofit managers, social workers, advocates, peace-builders, activists.

My favorite course at JMU was one of my last: restorative justice. Unfortunately, I began the class at the start of 2020, and we had to go virtual in March. But before that, in every class period, all the students sat in a large circle. We learned the traditional and restorative means of a circle process, which traditionally provides an opportunity for communities to come together and hold space to discuss something that has harmed them and what their needs are moving forward. Today, restorative justice can take the form of community-building, responsive conflict resolution in schools, victim-offender conferencing, and so much more.

I graduated in the spring of 2020, so opportunities to learn more about these topics that I was so passionate about were in short supply. I had always wanted to do a year of service, but amid a pandemic, I had no idea what that would look like.

I applied and was accepted byGood Shepherd Volunteersin the spring of 2021. I applied to the program originally because of my placement site,Rose House and Barbara Blum Residence. It was important to me to know what juvenile justice actually looked like before making further steps in my education.

The more I spoke with the program directors and past volunteers, the more I became excited about an intentional community and collectively growing as people in the social justice field. I now only have two more months of my position with Good Shepherd Volunteers, and it's been one of the best decisions I could have made.

This service year has been great for many reasons, but one of my favorites has been my access to training throughGood Shepherd Services. I have trained in safety crisis management,the Missouri Approach and the Sanctuary Model, and so many more interesting topics.

Recently, the Good Shepherd Services office in East New York, near my job site, hosted theNew York Peace Institute, which trained all of us in restorative justice. My time as a Good Shepherd Volunteer has come full circle (pun not intended) for me in many ways, but this has been one of the craziest.

For three Fridays in a row, 25 Good Shepherd Services staff members from various programs came together and sat in a circle to learn. I was finally able to complete a training I was passionate about while meeting people in programs different from my own. The New York Peace Institute is also a big name when it comes to mediation, so it was a great opportunity to network.

I now know the variety of work that goes into a single juvenile justice program, and there are a lot of moving parts. Youth development counselors spend most of their days with the youth, mentoring and encouraging them to do better for themselves. The recreation specialists do community outreach to bring in speakers and groups and find locations for trips. The case planner tirelessly maintains relationships with all of the families to ensure a seamless release. The education specialist has to keep up with education politics and legislation while also keeping track of all the available transfer and community schools across New York City. The social worker keeps track of all the youths' cases and holds therapy sessions for each youth every single week. The community success coaches find the youth jobs and extracurriculars upon their release and travel all across New York City every week to check in with them in their communities. These descriptions don't even encapsulate half the things these social justice workers do for these kids.

I have learned what many of these titles mean and what they look like on a day-to-day basis. I've gained insight on how intertwined the current political climate is to the youth I'm working with and how it affects their cases within the juvenile justice system.

There's something to be said for learning about the work directly from the people who have been here doing it. It's only right to bear witness to the issues and people you strive to advocate for, and that has been what this year is to me. We cannot read about or assume from statistics what problems individuals and families face. We must sit in community to gather understanding first. And these are the lessons I will carry with me as I begin to transition out of this role and find my own journey to justice.

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My year of service has shown me the many facets of social justice work - Global Sisters Report

Published 05-06-22

Submitted by Arbor Day Foundation

LINCOLN, Neb., May 6, 2022 /CSRwire/ The Arbor Day Foundation is partnering with NatureQuant, a technology and research company, to highlight the positive impact trees have on a neighborhoods health and wellbeing.

There is an infinite amount of research that shows people who live near trees and green space are mentally and physically healthier than those without, said Dan Lambe, CEO of the Arbor Day Foundation. But until now, you could not see a trees impact on a block-by-block radius in a visual, easy-to-understand way. NatureQuants technology will help us not only convey the benefits we know trees have on health, but it will allow us to focus on the neighborhoods that would benefit from more tree canopy.

Since forming in 2019, NatureQuant has received acclaim for its algorithm that pulls public data, satellite imagery, and image-recognition software to map where nature was plentiful and where it was needed across the country. For each census tract across the country, it then provides a rating, or NatureScore, on a 0-100 scale, depending on how deprived an area is of nature.

As it has become increasingly clear that nature access is an essential pillar for wellbeing, it is now time to put that knowledge into action in partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation, said Jared Hanley, CEO & co-founder of NatureQuant. We are excited to help enable communities around the world to plant and manage trees and green spaces in a way that optimizes public health and equity.

Research shows trees can cool cities by up to 10 degrees to help combat the urban heat island effect. Neighborhoods with higher tree canopy coverage, which helps to clean the air, have been shown to have lower childhood asthma rates, too. Studies also show people are happier the more connected to nature they become and have a higher feeling of well-being when living in urban areas with more green space.

The Arbor Day Foundation will work with its partners to use NatureScore data to develop high-impact projects designed to boost health outcomes and promote environmental equity among the most disadvantaged communities around the world.

This partnership will help us make more informed, intentional decisions as we focus our work in communities where trees are needed most, Lambe said.

For more information about the Arbor Day Foundation and its 50 years of tree planting work around the world, visit arborday.org.

About the Arbor Day FoundationFounded in 1972, the Arbor Day Foundation has grown to become the largest nonprofit membership organization dedicated to planting trees, with more than one million members, supporters and valued partners. Since 1972, almost 500 million Arbor Day Foundation trees have been planted in neighborhoods, communities, cities and forests throughout the world. Our vision is to lead toward a world where trees are used to solve issues critical to survival.

As one of the world's largest operating conservation foundations, the Arbor Day Foundation, through its members, partners and programs, educates and engages stakeholders and communities across the globe to involve themselves in its mission of planting, nurturing and celebrating trees. More information is available at arborday.org.

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Founded in 1972, the Arbor Day Foundation has grown to become the largest nonprofit membership organization dedicated to planting trees, with more than one million members, supporters, and valued partners. During the last 44 years, more than 250 million Arbor Day Foundation trees have been planted in neighborhoods, communities, cities and forests throughout the world.

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CSRWire - Arbor Day Foundation Partners With NatureQuant to Quantify Tree's Impact on Health in Neighborhoods - CSRwire.com

Winsome McIntosh will never forget her first visit to Belle Glade, the often-overlooked agricultural city where sugarcane is grown on the western edge of Palm Beach County.

It was the early 70s, and as a new South Florida resident, she was struck by the stark differences between wealthy Palm Beach and the widespread poverty of Belle Glade. She remembers seeing the barracks where people lived and the impoverished workers who toiled in the fields all day, struggling to feed their families.

We were appalled. It bothered us a lot, Ms. McIntosh said of the trip that helped inspire her and her late husband, Michael, to found the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties. We knew we wanted to do something that would have a long-lasting effect on our greater community.

The pair had just moved to Palm Beach from New York to help care for Ms. McIntoshs aging father-in-law. She was in her 20s and her husband in his 30s, with a new baby in tow. Her mother-in-law had been one of the last remaining individual stockholders of The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, commonly known as the A&P, and after she died, Ms. McIntosh and her husband soon found themselves deeply engaged in the work of the foundation originally started by her in-laws in 1949: the McIntosh Foundation, which focuses on environmental issues.

But despite the tremendous impact made through the McIntosh Foundation where Ms. McIntosh, 77, still works daily as president and trustee the McIntoshes knew they also wanted to directly help transform their new community. They founded the Community Foundation in 1972 with an initial gift of $50,000, managing it themselves with an independent board for the first 10 years.

A community foundation was important because it would be able to support a variety of local needs, McIntosh said. The structure benefits philanthropists because it allows each donor to set up an individual fund without the trouble of setting up their own private foundation, and it benefits the community because it allows the money to go where the needs are greatest.

There was nothing like it in Florida at the time that we knew of, Ms. McIntosh said. We believed it could bring about systemic change in philanthropy.

After a decade, the McIntoshes hired a staff, led by former CEO Shannon Sadler Hull, who remained with the Community Foundation for 28 years and who is credited with bringing the organization from a small nonprofit to one of the largest in Florida. Among numerous initiatives, she raised the money for the Community Foundations landmark building to be built in downtown West Palm Beach, which today serves as a symbol for the prominence the nonprofit organization has played in the community through the years. The 33,000-square-foot Center for Philanthropy provides a permanent home for the Community Foundations offices as well as other nonprofit organizations.

To date, the Community Foundation has provided nearly $200 million in grants and scholarships over its 50-year history. It has helped nearly 3,400 local organizations and provided 2,500 scholarships to students in need. Through the support of its donors and fundholders, the Community Foundation has been able to address some of the communitys most pressing needs. The foundation has long focused specifically on unmet needs in the community, such as mental health, food insecurity, housing and education.

Its current president and CEO, Danita DeHaney Nias, said shes consistently inspired to see the ways that the McIntoshes dream of helping the ever-changing needs of the community has manifested through the Community Foundations work. Notable examples include organizing and founding the Palm Beach County Food Bank in 2012, as well as raising over $4 million in emergency funds and issuing over 185 grants to organizations and programs when the pandemic hit in 2020.

And the Community Foundations model is truly exceptional in its approach, she said.

We are the only local organization that is singularly focused on our community and its most pressing needs and the only entity that brings together the donor base and nonprofit ecosystem to address these issues, Ms. DeHaney Nias said. Were uniquely poised to provide grants to the nonprofits that are in our community doing the work. And were also uniquely poised to serve as the convener to bring together various entities to address some of our communitys most pressing needs.

At 14 locations throughout the county, a focus on mental health for underserved children has changed thousands of young lives this school year. Through the Community Foundation-funded program Rebound and Recovery, students ages 4 through 8 enrolled in afterschool programs with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County have been taught a lauded social-emotional curriculum based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy developed by Florida State University. Young children learn how to identify their emotions, develop coping mechanisms and gain social skills, enabling them to emotionally thrive.

Its incredibly moving to watch these young children learn how to identify what theyre feeling and how to talk about it, Ms. DeHaney Nias said. Its equipping them with lifelong skills that will help them in school, in work and for the rest of their lives.

Looking ahead to the next 50 years, the Community Foundations leaders hope to play an even more important role in strengthening the communities of Palm Beach and Martin counties. The organizations greatest current need is attracting philanthropic dollars that are unrestricted, which will enable the Community Foundation to develop a pool of resources that will allow the organization to be responsive to needs as they emerge. Instead of losing valuable time when a need is identified, it would allow the foundation to recognize and immediately fund a community need to get assistance started, then obtain additional funding once donors are aware of it.

Unrestricted funds are an invaluable gift because they enable us to be nimble and flexible, Ms. DeHaney Nias said. We feel a sense of obligation to our community to be very intentional about our plans for the future. I hope when someone looks back 50 years from now, theyre able to see the pivot we made and how we amplified our impact and attracted even more support to help where the needs are greatest.

For more information about the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties, call 561-659-6800 or visit http://www.yourcommunityfoundation.org.

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Community Foundation marks 50 years of service - Florida Weekly

Dr. Melinda Brennan became executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin (ACLU) in January. Surveying Wisconsins landscape of civil rights and social justice battles, she says its crucial to maintain a very intentional focus on how the issues that weve been devoted to for a long time are very tightly intertwined.

At the core of many of those issues is a common theme of the struggles of marginalized groups, a theme Brennan has been familiar with throughout her life. Im a multiple-marginalized person, says Brennan, who was born and raised in Wisconsin. Mexican-American, queer, person of multiple disabilities, and those identities and community memberships taught me a lot in my life, she says. And it also taught me how much, and how hard we have to advocate for people to have more quality of life, equal chances if thats possible in a system of significant and interlocking structural oppression.

Those experiences shaped Brennan to be always an advocate, even when I was little. By the time she got to college, Brennan was very very focused in thinking about structural inequality. And how different kinds of structural barriers were impacting people in different ways. She earned a bachelors degree in womens studies and a masters degree in sociology from UW-Milwaukee and obtained a doctorate in gender studies from Indiana University. Some of her best work, Brennan recalls, was as a community organizer in higher education environments. And as a teacher, and a mentor, to students who felt very acutely that they did not belong within higher ed that it was not produced for them. And that they had to learn to be resilient in ways that they shouldnt have to be, in order to operate in that space and claim their education.

Brennan quickly discovered how much she enjoyed being directly involved in social and political action. Becoming the executive director of Wisconsins ACLU was a multidimensional opportunity. Shed continue to be involved in direct action, supporting marginalized communities and pushing for causes close to her heart. Brennan is also the first woman of color to serve as executive director of Wisconsins ACLU in the organizations 90 year history.

Brennan says breaking that barrier is bittersweet. Thats difficult when youre a multiple marginalized person, she says. Throughout her life she has encountered leaders who shared some of her experiences, but in some ways she was always the first.

That bittersweetness also had a second, deeper edge to it. Her grandmother was a factory worker for her entire life, Brennan explains, and had a fourth-grade education. She had two daughters, my mom and her sister, says Brennan, and she told them that education is everything. And that you have to get educated to end the family curse of poverty. And they did it. What became a family mantra drove Brennans own quest for education. She says she wishes her grandma had been around to see her assume leadership of the ACLU, because I think that it would have been beyond her wildest dreams. While serving as the first woman of color to ever lead the ACLU of Wisconsin is momentous, theres also a recognition that I really shouldnt be the first.

Theres a saying in the civil rights community about taking on new roles, that its like trying to gracefully drink from a fire hose, says Brennan with a chuckle. Theyre not wrong. That metaphor shakes out, its true. She has found ease in adjusting to the flow of information, decision making and planning. The process has also made her ever more aware of how many of Wisconsins civil rights and social justice issues affect one another.

Theres no issue where you can discuss it without racial justice, Brennan says. There just isnt. Theres no issue where you can divorce yourself from the economics of it, or gender, or sexuality or citizenship. For Brennan, one of the most significant ways thats materializing in Wisconsin is through attacks on voting rights, such as banning mail-in ballots and restrictive voter I.D. laws. She said that the ACLUs outreach efforts have turned up many concerns about people being denied access to the ballot.

Wisconsin is also among 26 states that are likely to ban abortion if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v Wade, as expected. Brennan says Wisconsinites will need to prepare for a new reality after Roe.

She is also concerned about efforts to ban books and discussions about controversial topics in U.S. history including slavery, the effects of colonization and the genocide of indigenous peoples, as well as gender identity and sexuality. The refusing to have informed conversations as if those are the divisive things rather than bigotry bothers her, she says. Along with voting rights, reproductive rights and the whitewashing of education, the ACLU of Wisconsin has also focused on mass incarceration this year. Theres no day that those four things are not constantly involved in our conversations, says Brennan.

White supremacist activity is also something the ACLU has been monitoring. Since 2020, communities including Milwaukee, Wauwatosa, West Allis and Waukesha have seen waves of racist or white supremacist activity. The most recent incidents have occurred in Waukesha and West Allis. Groups have organized around so-called Black terror and stopping anti-white hate in Waukesha since the Christmas Parade tragedy in November. Black families in West Allis have reported property destruction and racist notes being left behind since last year. Fliers advocating white supremacist ideology have been distributed throughout these communities at different points over the last two years. Last week, the Anti-Defamation Leagues Center on Extremism warned of alarmingly high levels of antisemitism across the country, and in particular in Wisconsin.

Brennans dissertation at Indiana University was actually on the nexus between hate acts, nationalism, white supremacy and American Islamophobia. It matters a great deal to me, she says. Its been clear to me for some time that Donald Trump was a catalyst, but then theres been cycles, which is whats more important, of rising and falling white supremacy in the United States. And Wisconsin is no different. She adds that what meets those cycles too is the activism and the attempts at meaningful conversation beyond hate speech.

Surveillance is also a lingering concern across the state. During the protests of 2020, reports of surveillance and harassment by local law enforcement haunted organizations spearheading marches. In 2021 many rumors about surveillance and spying were confirmed. Those included the existence of a protester list which also included lawyers and a journalist, and had been shared to numerous local and federal agencies. Another was the use of geofence warrants during the Kenosha unrest to gather data about everyone in a given area. Theres also a growing awareness of the activities of Milwaukees intelligence fusion center, and the use of technology to track and access cell phones. There is actually a national task force for surveillance and privacy concerns all across the nation, said Brennan. And as there are pivotal concerns in states, we work with them to figure out what the best strategies are to protect peoples rights.

The ACLU has also strengthened its community outreach and legal observer operations as the summer fast approaches. Warm weather could bring with it more activism and organizing. The ACLU is going to be most effective when were deeply connected to community, Brennan says, and we know what they need and whats happening in Wisconsin long before it ends up in the public conversation.

Most of all, Brennan wants Wisconsinites to register to vote and to always have a plan for how to vote. It is always pivotal for folks to be engaged as actively as they possibly can be in their local government, she says. But in this particular political moment, it is incredibly vital that everyone has a plan and a back-up plan for voting, that they execute it, and that they convince everyone in their circles to do the same.

From the changes to voting rules to the recent decision to keep Wisconsins voting district maps gerrymandered to maintain a Republican majority, Brennan understands how that can affect morale. Theres a certain obvious unfairness to that, she says, but beyond that theres a destabilization of the system itself. And it can add to the hopelessness that some people feel that things can ever change. Its just utterly unethical.

Brennan sees the state and country in a perilous moment. Its a moment, she says, where talking about difference is being labeled as divisive, when whats divisive is the bigotry and oppression based on difference. She sees the Supreme Courts ruling disallowing a map that created an additional majority Black district in Wisconsin, reflecting growth in the number of Black residents, as an outgrowth of that wrongheaded discussion. Were making monsters not out of the right thing, she says. The monstrous component of it is the refusal to discuss race in ways that are factual and that make sense. And thats what showed up in the gerrymandering decision.

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New ACLU executive director reflects on the struggles facing Wisconsin - Wisconsin Examiner

Geography may not appear to be a particularly contentious field of study, but its wide scope and long history present all sorts of ethical challenges. For instance, choosing what to include on a map and how to represent it reflects historical trends, social values, minority representation and more. The fact that it can sometimes be a tricky business has often slipped by geographers themselves.

But a new wave of researchers hopes to end this lapse. UC Santa Barbara geographers Trisalyn Nelson and Michael Goodchild are working to better integrate ethics into their field. The two faculty members recently teamed up with UCSB alumna Dawn Wright, Esris chief scientist and a recently elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, to discuss how geographers can best promote ethics, empathy and equity in spatial data science, often referred to as GIScience.

Their research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, highlights ways in which geographers can help accelerate the inclusion of those things in their field. With ideas such as addressing issues with data privacy and designing diverse teams, they hope to help foster a generation of spatial data scientists that can address big societal problems and shape spatial planning and decision-making to better the world.

In GIS we have a long tradition of evaluating the quality of each others work, Nelson said. We really care about doing accurate and quality research. But I think weve entered a time where we also need to start talking about ensuring we are doing ethical research.

Spatial data is ubiquitous, from GPS-connected smartphones to satellite images online. As a result, spatial data science has become an interdisciplinary tool for science and society. Yet ethical guidelines for using this data have not kept pace with technological developments. Geographers who have wrestled with the ethical implications of maps in the past are now leading dialogues on standards for data use to ensure that detailed locational data is protected and anonymized to safeguard user privacy.

The authors also tackle equity, both in the applications of GIScience as well as who is included in its development and use. The time is past for waiting for [science] to diversify itself, the authors write. There must be a more intentional building of teams that will support the training of more diverse people, which means seeking out diverse team members.

The authors organized the paper around the three Es: ethics, empathy and equity.

Photo Credit: COURTESY IMAGE

One solution the authors suggest is to shift spatial data science toward open-access. Removing barriers to accessing spatial data will enable more people to explore spatial trends and expose spatial inequities.

Spatial data scientists also need to find ways to close the information gaps that come from using big data sources. Conducting research exclusively using cell phone data, for example, leaves out large swaths of society, like children, older adults and people experiencing homelessness. The authors encourage scientists to take steps to ensure data are inclusive through techniques like data integration and modeling.

In addition to making data as representative as possible, the authors argue that the GIS community needs to create a framework to identify, measure and communicate the bias in spatial data. They suggest that researchers focus on building a consistent way to document missing data and talk about how data biases impact research findings by making them less generalizable.

Many compelling discoveries in spatial analysis are the result of inferences based on data that was gathered at just one point in time. Its wise to be cautious when making inferences from non-representative data, which could support a range of different conclusions. The authors recommend investigating all the possible inferences before making a determination.

Nelson and Goodchild say that GIS can also be used as a tool to support equitable and inclusive design and decision making. It has a unique ability to represent and analyze spatial differences that stem from racism, housing and income inequality such as community policing, access to public transit, food deserts and other social justice issues. In their paper, they advocate for the use of GIS to analyze and expose these spatial inequalities, and stress the importance of including the people being impacted in the research and decision-making process.

Geography today is a larger, more vibrant field than it has ever been, with GIS-based apps and dashboards helping millions of people every day. The burgeoning availability of spatial data has coincided with a widespread recognition of the value of social justice research. Now, the researchers argue, geospatial scientists must accelerate collaboration with the communities they study and promote equity in their field.

The authors hope spatial data science can set a standard for using ethics, empathy and equity across science. UCSB is an international powerhouse when it comes to spatial data science, Nelson said, so it is important that we also lead in ethical use of the technology and science.

Read the original post:

Ethics in Geography | The UCSB Current - The UCSB Current

We all come together to honor and celebrate our teachers every May during Teacher Appreciation Week. But, now more than two years into a global pandemic its time to go beyond appreciating teachers with words and commit to supporting their well-being all year with action and resources.

Its a challenging time for teachers. Weve asked them to learn entirely new methods of teaching, and to tend to the trauma and stress that students are experiencing right now. These pressures are taking their toll. At the beginning of the pandemic, the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence asked more than 5,000 teachers how they were feeling. Anxious and overwhelmed rose to the top. Since then, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of educators working in public education has decreased by 600,000.

Its clear: Teachers are at a very real risk of burnout. And teacher stress affects students well-being and achievement, threatening the well-being of the entire education system. If teachers lack belonging and connection, their students will feel the same way, which will impact their readiness for learning and development.

But, heres the good news: We can all start supporting teacher well-being right now better equipping them to meet the needs of their students

Here are five proven ways school and district leaders can provide support for teacher well-being, helping teachers reengage with what they love about the profession and revitalizing their relationships with their students.

Strong and trusting relationships between adults are just as crucial as those between teachers and students. We cant assume adults are making these connections during free moments on busy days, particularly when educators report feeling more responsibility than ever.

At Van Ness Elementary, head of school Cynthia Robinson-Rivers is intentionally working to create dedicated time and space for teachers to connect and de-stress. Teacher schedules include frequent breaks and well-being support from an on-site clinical psychologist. There are also dedicated school spaces for teachers to have mindful moments and time for physical activity, including community yoga.

As our students and teachers continue to navigate uncertainty, instability and trauma, its crucial to prioritize environments that center healing and equity, and recognize and celebrate both students and teachers culture and identity. Kingmakers of Oakland provides a great example of how professional development can support these goals. The nonprofit organization leads trainings for educators and district leaders on culturally-responsive curriculum. Their efforts are supporting collaborative learning communities to share, plan, build and implement safe learning environments.

Positive, trusting, healthy relationships cannot be left to chance. There must be intentional design in addition to resourcing and monitoring how these designs are built and fostered in our learning environments.

To that end, New Village Girls Academy is exploring research-backed strategies to ensure strong relationships between teachers and students through a partnership with the University of California, Los Angeles and University of Southern California. Their multi-year collaboration will evaluate whether teachers ability to self-regulate helps to co-regulate with students and create stronger conditions for student-led work.

Over the past few years, in particular, weve seen technology play a critical role in helping people stay connected. When used with intention, it can be leveraged to bolster relationships between teachers and students.

For example, Along, a teacher-student connection builder created by our Education Initiative and our partners at Gradient Learning, helps students and teachers connect. Based on the science of how people relate, Along is designed to be an easy way for teachers to get to know students on a deeper level, so students feel seen and motivated to participate and learn. Research-backed conversation prompts in Along equip teachers to help students open up and build lifelong skills in areas such as organization, motivation and stress management.

By listening to the needs of their community, leaders can prioritize and adapt strategies to improve teacher and student well-being with insights from those who know it best teachers and students. They can do this by conducting more robust school climate surveys that look at how well a school is supporting teachers and students sense of belonging and connection.

The well-being and development of our students starts with how we care for our teachers, and how we support them with resources to care for our students. Were committed to the development of accessible resources that help districts and schools prioritize well-being for teachers. Help spread the word by sharing these strategies with your school community.

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5 Ways To Support Teacher Well-Being - CZI Blog - Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Hurdle Health, the leading provider of culturally intentional digital mental health services, is presenting the Second Annual Black Mental Health Roundtable in collaboration with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), the Kennedy-Satcher Center for Mental Health Equity and the American Psychological Association (APA). The roundtable, to be held on May 11, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. EDT in the Rayburn House Office Building (Room 2044), is hosted by U.S. Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (Florida 20th Congressional District).

The event will bring together leading experts in minority mental health, members of Congress and others to discuss a report that Hurdle will publish next week about the effects of vicarious racism on the mental health of Black Americans. The goal of the event is twofold to raise awareness around systemic and vicarious racism and to create a platform for policy change that improves the mental health, and therefore, the daily lives of those in the BIPOC community.

We have decades of research that demonstrate the harmful effects of racism on peoples physical and mental health. We also know from the scientific literature as well as through anecdotes and qualitative research, like Hurdles Voices of a Collective Experience: Vicarious Racism and its Effects on Black Mental Health that racism can also be experienced indirectly and cause people considerable distress and trauma, said Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD, CEO and Executive Vice President of the APA. Why do policymakers acknowledge the detrimental indirect effects of cigarette smoke or the harms of witnessing violence on peoples health, but too often ignore those associated with experiencing racism? By recognizing indirect experiences of racism as a complex and significant public health issue, our nation can better develop policy solutions that stop the perpetuation of racism and its devastating effects on mental health.

Hurdles inaugural May 2021 roundtable event focused on Black Mental Health Before and After George Floyds Death, an incident that triggered an unprecedented rise in mental health issues among Black Americans.

George Floyds name has become tantamount to themes of solidarity and remembrance. His legacy beckons a commitment to the causes of equality, justice and the Black Lives Matter movement, said Kevin Dedner, CEO and Founder of Hurdle. And, Floyds death demands a deeper level of understanding of where and how racism shows up, and its toxic effects on the minds of the racially oppressed. That is why for the last two years, proceeding with Hurdles seminal research into Black mental health in his honor has required the utmost intentionality.

Two years following Floyds tragic death, Black Americans report experiencing elevated levels of depression, anxiety and other forms of psychological distress. Vicarious racism, or ones indirect encounters with racially charged acts of disrespect, harassment, contempt and/or violence (such as Floyds death and other racially charged tragedies in recent years), is directly correlated with a decline in mental health and individual well-being. The upcoming report published by Hurdle Health explores a qualitative analysis of the Black experience of vicarious racism and how it has impacted the mental health of Black Americans.

The George Floyd tragedy awakened Americas consciousness to systemic racism. By lifting up Darnella Fraziers story as the 17-year-old witness whose recording of Floyds death catalyzed a racial awakening, Hurdles Voices of a Collective Experience report details the ways prejudice and oppression surface through indirect, vicarious racism, said Daniel H. Gillison, Jr., CEO of NAMI. The report calls for an unprecedented focus on the mental health of Black Americans and other historically disenfranchised communities through the grounding of our mental health workforce in cultural humility.

Moderated by Gillison, the panel will be comprised of the reports authors:

The event will also feature remarks by:

Hurdles powerful report spotlights the challenges people of color face in a society that disregards the impact of racially-charged incidents like George Floyds tragic death, said former Congressman Patrick Kennedy of the Kennedy-Satcher Center for Mental Health Equity. The correlations drawn between exposure to racism secondhand and the ways in which images, videos and stories of anti-Black violence assail Black Americans sense of self-worth are profound reminders of the important work that lies ahead. We need to prioritize culturally intentional therapy and parity in our mental healthcare system now.

As a clinical and practicing psychotherapist, I believe we need to deepen our understanding of mental healthcare through the lens of human rights principles dignity, autonomy and equitable access. Mental healthcare is healthcare, and access to it is a human right, added Madhuri Jha, MPH, Director of the Kennedy-Satcher Center for Mental Health Equity.

The Second Annual Black Mental Health Roundtable is free to attend. Interested parties can register here for the event.

Second Annual Black Mental Health Roundtable

Wednesday, May 11, 2022 | 10:00 11:30 a.m. EDT

US Capitol, Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2044

About Hurdle

Hurdle is the leading culturally intentional mental healthcare provider. With cultural humility, we create a safe space where all people can show up as they are and feel understood. Our therapists are trained to provide culturally responsive evidence-based care to individuals, couples and families of all backgrounds, with a specific focus on people of color. Hurdle has established relationships with employer groups, leading payers and strategic partners, providing access to care to more than thirty million Americans. For more information, visit hurdle.health.

About the APA

The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. APAs membership includes over 133,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve peoples lives. For more information, visit apa.org.

About the Kennedy-Satcher Center for Mental Health Equity

The Kennedy-Satcher Center for Mental Health Equity (KSCMHE), a division of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at the Morehouse School of Medicine, was jointly envisioned by the 16th U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. David Satcher, and former U.S. Representative Patrick J. Kennedy (D-RI). Building on their longstanding relationship and shared commitment to promoting mental health parity and health equity for people living with mental health and substance use disorders, the Center was made possible through a generous endowment from the Kennedy Forum, and matched by MSMs endowment from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. For more information, visit https://kennedysatcher.org.

About NAMI

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is the nation's largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. NAMI provides support, education, and advocacy nationwide with our network of 650 NAMI state organizations and affiliates. For more information, visit nami.org.

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Hurdle Health to Host Second Annual Black Mental Health Roundtable at the U.S. Capitol in Collaboration with NAMI, APA and the Kennedy-Satcher Center...

This story was originally published by ProPublica.

ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.Series: The Price Kids Pay How Schools and Police Work Together to Punish Students

At Bloom Trail High School in Chicagos south suburbs, the student body is diverse: About 60% of the 1,100 students are Black or multiracial. Another 27% are Latino. And 12% are white.

But when you look at the group of students who get ticketed for misbehavior at school, the diversity vanishes.

Police, in cooperation with school officials, have written 178 tickets at the school in Steger since the start of the 2018-19 school year. School district records show that six went to Latino students. Five went to white students. And 167 went to Black or multiracial students 94% of the total.

Such racial disparities in ticketing are part of a pattern at schools across the state, an investigation by ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune has found. In the schools and districts examined, an analysis indicated that Black students were twice as likely to be ticketed as their white peers.

Reporters set out to analyze police ticketing in nearly 200 districts throughout Illinois, which together enroll most of the states high school students. Most local officials either did not specify race on tickets or refused to provide the information, but the news organizations obtained documentation of the race of students for about 4,000 tickets issued at schools in 68 districts.

After excluding places where ticketing was rare, schools in 42 districts remained, representing more than one-fifth of the states high school students. The analysis found that about 9% of those students are Black but nearly 20% of tickets went to Black students.

Analyzing tickets received by members of other racial or ethnic groups is more difficult, in part because the Tribune and ProPublica identified anomalies in the way school districts and police recorded information about white and Latino students. But students in those groups dont appear to have been ticketed at high rates compared to their share of school enrollment.

Student ticketing in Illinois, or any other state, has never been examined on this scale. In fact, while Illinois officials have focused on whether schools are suspending or expelling Black students in unequal ways, they have not monitored police ticketing at schools. Neither has the division of the U.S. Department of Education that oversees civil rights issues.

The first installment of the Tribune-ProPublica investigation The Price Kids Pay detailed how student ticketing flouts a state law meant to prevent schools from using fines to discipline students. The investigation, which was based on school and municipal records from across the state, documented at least 11,800 tickets during the past three school years. It found that schools often involve police in minor incidents, resulting in harsh fines, debt for students and families and records that can follow children into adulthood. (Use our interactive database to look up how many and what kinds of tickets have been issued in an Illinois public school or district.)

In response, Illinois top education official told school leaders to immediately stop and consider both the cost and the consequences of these fines, and Gov. J.B. Pritzker said conversations already were underway with legislators to make sure that this doesnt happen anywhere in the state of Illinois.

Illinois lawmakers tried in the past to pass legislation that would require school districts to collect and share student race and ethnicity data compiled by police when they intervene at schools for all types of disciplinary reasons, including such minor offenses as tobacco possession, tardiness or insubordination. But those efforts have stalled.

House Speaker Emanuel Chris Welch, a Democrat, said the legislature should take action if school ticketing is harming students.

If these tickets are being issued disproportionately to people of color, we need to address that. That can create larger problems for students of color, problems that weve become accustomed to for far too long, Welch said in an interview.

The U.S. Department of Education collects data nationally in alternate years about the race of students referred to and arrested by police. But it didnt do so during the 2019-20 school year, when in-person learning was interrupted by the pandemic. In 2017-18, the most recent year data was collected, Illinois stood out for the gap between the percentage of students who are Black and the percentage of students referred to the police who are Black. No other state had a bigger disparity.

In response to similar data on expulsions and suspensions, the state last fall put a group of districts including Bloom Township High School District 206 on notice to reform how they handle discipline.

In an emailed response to reporters questions, district officials said they were concerned about the racial disparities in ticketing identified at Bloom Trail. The districts response asserted that Black students and white students receive the same consequences for the same offenses and that the school has been affected by a rise in violent crime and gang activity in the communities the school serves.

Officials at Bloom Trail, which employs security guards to work inside the school, call Steger police when there is a fight that school officials think warrants a citation. Police bring the students tickets to the school, and officials give them to the students or their parents.

Greg Horak, Bloom Townships director of climate, described the citations as a supplement to school discipline. Dealing with the police, we hope this shows parents that this is a very serious situation, Horak said in an interview.

Rodney and Elizabeth Posley, whose sons Josiah and Jeremiah attend Bloom Trail, didnt realize students could get ticketed by police until it happened to their children in the fall. They said the boys were treated too harshly after they were part of a school fight that got out of hand.

The brothers were suspended and ticketed for disorderly conduct, and one was threatened with expulsion extreme measures, Elizabeth Posley said, for teenage mistakes. The Posleys enlisted the help of a lawyer, their church and school employees to advocate for their sons, noting that neither boy had been in trouble at school before and the younger of the two receives special education services.

Theyre young Black men. They stereotyped them, said Elizabeth Posley, who works as a pretrial officer at the Cook County Circuit Court. Theyre not into gangs, where theyre tough and theyre bad. We pray as a family.

Last fall, during his freshman year at Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School, southwest of Chicago, a 14-year-old Black student named Isaiah felt like school employees were closely watching him. Then an administrator reported him to Bradley village police after catching a glimpse of another student handing Isaiah a vaping device in a bathroom.

At the high school, which is patrolled by 10 security guards and a police officer, 10% of students are Black. But Black students received 21% of the 137 tickets written there from the start of the 2018-19 school year through the end of October. White students, who make up more than 68% of enrollment, got 60% of the tickets.

In Bradley, as in many other Illinois communities, students ticketed in schools are funneled into quasi-judicial hearings designed for adults and overseen by the local municipality. At the hearing for Isaiahs ticket at Bradleys village hall in November, the hearing officer asked Isaiah to admit or deny that he had a vaping device at school. Isaiahs mom encouraged him to say deny so the hearing officer would allow him to describe what led to the ticket.

Isaiah explained that he had immediately handed the vaping device back to his friend. He said he had been searched by administrators including being made to remove his socks and shoes and no device was found.

The hearing officer found Isaiah not liable for possession of an electronic vaping device a rare vindication in a ticketing case. But the village imposes a $50 fee for attending the hearing, which Isaiah still had to pay.

Isaiahs mother, Catherine Hilgeman, said in an interview that she was upset school officials had questioned and searched her son without contacting her. She said she told her son he had learned a lesson: You are a young Black male. You already have something against you. You shouldnt, but you do its the color of your skin. When somebody looks at you they automatically think, Theyre up to no good.

Christian, a multiracial student ticketed in the fall, described a strikingly similar incident. Another student, who saw in a mirror that a school administrator was walking into the bathroom, quickly handed his vape pen to Christian, who put it in his pocket, the family said.

Christian, 16, was required to appear at a ticket hearing in Bradley on a January afternoon. Most of the people ordered to attend that day were high school students, and most of them, including Christian, had been ticketed for possession of vaping devices. The hearing officer ordered Christian to pay $175 a $125 fine plus a $50 hearing fee and then asked if he would pay that day or if he needed time.

Take some time, Christian said. He is paying the fine off with money he earned at his job at Little Caesars. By early May, he had paid $113, his mother said.

If students dont pay their fines quickly, Bradley is one of many Illinois municipalities that have sent the debt to collection agencies or to a program run by the state comptrollers office that deducts money from tax refunds or payroll checks.

At DeKalb High School, west of Chicago, nearly half the tickets issued during the past three years went to Black students, even though only about 20% of the students are Black. Between the start of the school year and mid-November, police wrote about 30 tickets to students, and Black students received 22 of them, or 73%. Most of the tickets were for fighting, followed by cannabis possession.

Tickets were also written at the two middle schools in DeKalb Community Unit School District 428, to students as young as 11, city records show. Black students make up about a quarter of the enrollment at each school, but at Huntley Middle School at least 63% of tickets went to Black students during the last three school years. At Clinton Rosette Middle School, tickets did not always specify race, but at least 40% went to Black students.

At four DeKalb hearings that reporters attended in the fall and winter, nearly all of the students were Black or Latino. All of the adults involved in the hearing process the prosecutor, the clerk, the bailiff, the hearing officer were white.

Records from the last three school years show that DeKalb students were most commonly cited for fighting, a violation that comes with a minimum $300 fine. The city gives students a choice: Pay within 21 days of getting the ticket, or attend a hearing. At the hearing, students can contest the ticket or plead liable, which usually results in an order to do community service. Hearings are held twice a month at 9 a.m. at the police station, and students have to miss school to be there.

If the students dont pay and dont show up on their hearing date, the fine increases to the maximum allowed by state law: $750, plus a $100 administrative fee. If the fines and fees are not paid, the debt can be sent to collections.

Terri Jackson, whose 14-year-old daughter agreed to perform 25 hours of community service after being ticketed for fighting, said she thinks the reason more tickets are written to Black children is simple: Theyre paying attention to what the Black kids do.

At a hearing in November, a 15-year-old boy who had been caught with cannabis vape cartridges at the high school received 15 hours of community service; he would be fined $250 if he didnt complete it. After he went before the hearing officer, he told reporters he thought white students were disciplined less harshly at his school.

Theres differences. There are situations when they get caught and not punished like we do, said the sophomore, who identifies as Black and Latino.

Brian Wright, principal at Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School, called his schools ticketing disparity disturbing and perhaps a reflection of racial bias.

We have to assume that there is a population of our white students doing the same things that our Black students are, but why are they not getting ticketed but our Black students are? Wright asked. It is bothersome to me, but it is good information to take back to our assistant principals to see.

Wright said the school already is concerned about disproportionate suspensions. He also said the school has been working to address racial equity and inclusivity during the past few years by diversifying the books in the curriculum and including more students of color in Advanced Placement courses.

Administrators at other schools who were interviewed for this story said the disparities in ticketing at their schools are not the result of racial bias.

The police are just being responsive to the actions of the students, DeKalb High School Principal James Horne said. Where you see in the data the disproportionate numbers, the unfortunate part is there is disproportionate trauma that is affecting certain parts of the community. He added: Were just being responsive to the challenge of our students.

Horne said his high school doesnt only respond to student misbehavior by involving police; it also uses restorative justice practices that bring students together to resolve conflicts with discussion and problem-solving. The school tries to avoid discipline that causes students to miss class time, Horne said.

Reporters sent DeKalb district officials questions about disparities at the two middle schools. They did not address those questions but wrote in a statement that they have been taking actions to better support their students and are developing a new districtwide code of conduct.

Disproportionate ticketing also occurs at schools with relatively few Black students, the analysis found. East Peoria Community High School, for example, has about 25 Black students in an average year. But Black students received 11 of the tickets police wrote during the past three school years. Thats 10% of all police tickets, even though Black students represent just 2% of the schools enrollment. This school year, records show Black students received six of the 34 tickets police issued through mid-January, or about 18%. These totals dont include truancy tickets, as those were issued by a school employee.

Marjorie Greuter, the East Peoria Community High School superintendent, disputed any suggestion that students are ticketed unfairly at her school.

Were consistent in our referral for city ordinance violations. If a kid is vaping, it doesnt matter male, female, white, Black, low-income, high-income theyre going to get referred to the school police officer, Greuter said.

If its disproportionate, its because the offense is disproportionate or the offender is disproportionate.

Bloom Township High School District 206 has two schools: Bloom Trail in Steger and Bloom in Chicago Heights. The Chicago Heights police department does not ticket students at Bloom, but Steger police have agreed to ticket students at Bloom Trail when contacted by school officials.

They call us and we ticket them, said Steger Police Chief Greg Smith, who acknowledged that when he got into a fight at school as a teenager in the mid-1980s, his dean and football coach took care of it.

I think the world has changed. What happened in the past, it wouldnt be unheard of for a dean to smack a kid upside the head that, they just dont do anymore.

Now, he said, it is the police officers problem, and its unfortunate, but everything has come down to We need the police. We are handling a lot more issues than police used to.

In Chicago Heights, Deputy Police Chief Mikal Elamin said officers will arrest a student if necessary if the school or a victim signs a complaint but the department doesnt think ticketing is appropriate. Police have not ticketed students at Bloom High School in at least the last three years, records show.

I cant tell you that we have never ticketed, but I can say that it is not our policy to target or focus on our high school students. We wouldnt do that, Elamin said. He said issuing tickets would be punishing the parent because students typically arent capable of paying.

In an emailed response to reporters questions, Bloom Township district officials said administrators call the police when someone is injured or at risk of physical harm, when there is severe and potentially dangerous school disruption or when a students behavior has willfully interrupted the learning process beyond what school workers can handle.

Overall, we work to communicate that the school is not the place to handle your disagreements physically, according to the email. We are intentional about addressing these situations fairly and equitably, regardless of students race or gender.

After reviewing the districts own data and in response to the findings of the Tribune-ProPublica investigation, the Bloom Township superintendent scheduled a meeting with the Steger police chief to revisit their approach to police involvement in discipline.

We want to be on the right side of things and do what is best for children, said Latunja Williams, the districts assistant superintendent for human resources.

Decades of research on school discipline has shown that when a judgment call is involved such as whether to ticket someone for disorderly conduct for being disruptive or profane students of color are disciplined more severely.

The Tribune and ProPublica were able to analyze both the race of students and the alleged violations for about 3,000 tickets that police wrote in 34 districts. While Black students made up about 11% of the enrollment in schools in these districts, they received nearly 29% of the tickets related to student behavior, including disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, insubordination, activity constituting a public nuisance and prohibited conduct on school property. White students represented about 45% of enrollment and 44% of the tickets related to student behavior. Black students also were disproportionately ticketed for fighting, assault and other offenses related to physical aggression.

Other types of violations, such as possession of drug paraphernalia, were more in proportion to Black students enrollment. For several other racial groups, including Asian students and Native American students, there were too few tickets to draw meaningful conclusions.

Russ Skiba, a professor emeritus at Indiana University and a leading researcher on educational inequity, said U.S. schools began suspending Black students disproportionately for behavioral offenses in the 1970s, after districts were forced to fully desegregate. In the 1990s, he added, police became a more common presence in schools, exacerbating inequalities in discipline.

There is an abundance of research that shows that Black students are not engaging in more severe behavior, that they receive punishments that are harsher for the same behavior, Skiba said. Black and brown kids understand, and it doesnt go unnoticed, that they are being punished more often, suspended more often and, in your case, ticketed more often.

Few studies have examined ticketing of students, including how race may play a role. But an analysis published this year by the American Civil Liberties Union found police cited Black students in the Erie City School District in Pennsylvania for minor infractions at four times the rate of white students.

And in Texas, the Texas Appleseed advocacy group uncovered disparities in police ticketing in multiple school districts, leading state lawmakers to pass legislation in 2013 that prohibits officers from issuing tickets for disrupting class and other misbehavior at school. In the states Bryan Independent School District, police had issued 53% of tickets for disruption of class to Black students during the 2011-2012 school year, even though that group made up about 21% of the districts enrollment. U.S. Department of Education investigators looking into the Bryan district found at least 10 incidents where Black students received harsher punishment than white students for similar conduct.

Federal data tracks how often schools involve police in a school incident, which is called a police referral, and whether an arrest was made, as well as the race of the students involved. The data does not track ticketing or other possible outcomes. In Illinois, Black students accounted for about 17% of enrollment but 42% of the students referred to police in the 2017-18 school year, according to the federal data.

The gap is similar with suspensions and expulsions. State data shows that in the 2019-20 school year about 44% of the students suspended or expelled from Illinois public schools were Black.

Citing the federal and state data, Illinois state education and justice officials in March urged schools to evaluate their punitive discipline policies, including suspensions and expulsions, and the impact of police in their schools. They said the expanding role of police officers at school raises concerns about a disparate impact on students of color, particularly Black students.

It was the first guidance the state has issued to school districts with the intent of ensuring that disciplinary practices do not violate civil rights law. Illinois State Board of Education spokesperson Jackie Matthews said punishing students for behaviors perceived as defiance or misconduct does nothing to address the reasons the students are behaving that way.

These tactics disproportionately impact students of color and increase the odds of students dropping out and experiencing involvement with the criminal justice system, Matthews wrote in an email.

The recent state guidance did not mention tickets, which the Tribune-ProPublica investigation found to be the most common outcome when police get involved in school incidents.

Amy Meek, chief of the Civil Rights Bureau in the Illinois attorney generals office, said schools can be in violation of civil rights laws if their policies and practices have a disparate impact on certain groups of people even if it is not intentional.

Ticketing students falls within the umbrella of concerns related to disparate impact and is something that we definitely look forward to looking at in more depth, Meek said.

School districts have an ongoing obligation to annually revisit their discipline policies, she said. This is a prime opportunity for them to look at their data and take a look at practices that they may be employing that impose an unjustified disparate impact because of race.

Harold Jordan, nationwide education equity coordinator at the ACLU, said the U.S. Department of Education should be specifically tracking police ticketing at schools as part of its Civil Rights Data Collection, which is used to monitor whether schools provide equal opportunities to all students. The education department did not respond to a request for comment.

I think its significant because its an indicator of the extent to which theres a growing amount of collaboration between schools and police thats outright harmful, Jordan said.

He said that while some incidents at school are serious, most discipline is for minor infractions. Two kids can do essentially the same thing and be treated quite differently in how they are disciplined, and especially whether police are involved, Jordan said. Too often, race and ethnicity are factors.

Bloom Township High School District 206 is on an Illinois State Board of Education list of districts that, for three consecutive years, suspended or expelled students of color disproportionately. In the 2019-20 school year, 88.5% of students suspended at Bloom Trail High School were Black, though Black students make up only about 54% of the student body.

Concerned about those numbers, district officials have focused this year on alternative ways to correct student behavior, they wrote in an email. The district is one of six in the state participating in training sessions focused on improving equity in student discipline, funded by the Illinois State Board of Education with pandemic relief funds.

Bloom Township school administrators are working with Loyola University Chicago school discipline experts to get certified in restorative justice practices. In February, all school employees were trained on positive behavior interventions. The district also has partnered with the University of Illinois at Springfield to learn about empathetic instruction, a way of handling student misbehavior in less punitive ways.

Our ultimate goal is to ensure a safe learning environment for all students and the school community, while proactively addressing the challenging behaviors of some of our neediest students, district officials wrote in an emailed response.

But ticketing remains a central part of Bloom Trails disciplinary process, and by mid-April of this school year, all but six of the 54 tickets police wrote at the school went to Black students. No white students were ticketed.

Two of the tickets written to Black students went to the Posleys sons, Josiah and Jeremiah, who were 16 and 14 at the time.

Josiah said he made a bad decision to meet another student in the bathroom after a disagreement. Once there, he said, he got jumped by several boys and defended himself. I didnt instigate it. I didnt cause it, said Josiah, who excels in algebra and literature and wants to be an engineer. Im not like that.

Jeremiah said he followed Josiah into the bathroom out of concern for his brother. He didnt hit anyone, he said, but one of the boys punched him in the face. At least five boys were involved in the fight, and a security guard who tried to break it up needed four stitches after a student not one of the brothers pushed him into a window, according to the district.

After the fight, school officials suspended the brothers and threatened to expel Josiah, a junior, for mob action. A meeting also was called to review the special education plan for Jeremiah, a freshman who has autism, and his parents feared the school would try to transfer him.

The family was shocked by the severity of the punishment for two boys who had not had previous discipline issues and were good students. They decided to find a lawyer and challenge the schools actions. Bloom Trail later withdrew the threat of expulsion and told both boys to come back to school.

But by then, the school had already asked Steger police to write tickets. Both boys, as well as three other students who were in the bathroom, were cited for disorderly conduct.

The Posleys said involving police added a layer of unnecessary punishment and worry for the family. The police department sent letters to their home notifying the boys that they had to appear at a hearing in November at the police station.

Jackie Ross, an attorney at Loyola University Chicagos ChildLaw Clinic who specializes in school discipline and special education, said she took on Josiah and Jeremiahs case because she felt the boys were being treated unfairly. The same goes for many others, she said.

There is this gross secret practice going on of fining families of color who are largely unrepresented and making a lot of money from it, Ross said.

The school district said officials couldnt talk about the discipline of individual students.

As the brothers November hearing date neared, Elizabeth Posley worried that Josiahs longer hair wouldnt be considered presentable. Her husband agreed, even though Josiah thought it was unfair that he would have to change the way he looked to avoid being stereotyped.

In my mind, because you look a certain way as an African American child, youre going to be judged a certain way, Elizabeth Posley said. Rodney Posley used his clippers to cut Josiahs hair.

Both boys wore suits to the hearing, Jeremiahs from his eighth-grade graduation. The family lined up several character references, including one from a church leader. Three Bloom Trail employees a guidance counselor, a social worker and a teacher signed a letter praising Jeremiah and his parents for their positive involvement in school.

Jeremiah is a hard worker, compassionate and respectful of others, they wrote.

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Black Students in Illinois are far more likely to be ticketed by police for school behavior than white students - KTVI Fox 2 St. Louis