#Schools Not Prisons – Advocating Education

by April | Education

Through the hard work of Joanne Fields and many others, the San Diego Organizing Project and District E Trustee Cabinet presented the Invest in Schools Not Prisons Community Festival. In California it costs $62,300 per year to imprison someone, but just $9,100 per year to teach a child. A powerful short video from Californians for Safety and Justice challenges us to “do the math” when it comes to expanding the criminal justice system or investing in schools seen on the right of our website endorsing The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act

The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act of 2014 is a voter initiative for the November 2014 California ballot that will change sentencing for low-level nonviolent crimes such as simple drug possession and petty theft from felonies to misdemeanors and direct financial savings to K-12 schools, mental health treatment, and victim services. This reform maintains the current law for registered sex offenders and anyone with prior convictions for rape, murder or child molestation.

Details of the Act

• Stops wasting prison space on low-level nonviolent crimes: Changes the lowest level nonviolent drug possession and petty theft crimes from felonies to simple misdemeanors. It authorizes resentencing for anyone who is incarcerated for these offenses and poses no threat to public safety. These changes apply to juveniles as well as adults.
• Keeps rapists, murderers and child molesters in prison: Maintains the current law for registered sex offenders and anyone with prior convictions for rape, murder or child molestation.
• Stops government waste and redirects hundreds of millions from prison spending to K-12 and treatment: California counties will save hundreds of millions annually and state prison reductions will generate between $750 million to $1.25 billion in savings over the next five years alone. Those savings will be shifted into K-12 school programs (25%), victim services (10%) and mental health and drug treatment (65%).
• Protects public safety: Focuses law enforcement resources on violent and serious crimes, and directs savings to programs that stop the cycle of crime. Prisoners may only be released if they demonstrate that they are no longer a threat to public safety.
• Reduces the collateral consequences of felony convictions for low-level crime: Reduces the barriers that many with felony convictions for low-level nonviolent crimes face to becoming stable and productive citizens, such as employment, housing and access to assistance programs and professional trades.

H.E.A.R.T. did our part by helping with event setup as well as providing a booth advocating education. The festival was a family-safe day with music by Tribal Theory, Lyrical Groove, DJ Miki Vale, and the Thunder Squad Drumline. it also included free community resources, community marketplace,including The Blue Heart Foundation, Pat On The Back Foundation,FANCY Teen Girls Expo, Ground-Up Youth Foundation, Heartbeat MUSIC Academy, INC., Lincoln High School Cheerleaders, Father2Child, Alton Lister, Jeff Harper-Harris, Shaun Manning, Elizabeth Libbi Nichols, Torrion Dedmon, The Lyrical Groove, Tribal Theory, Dona Gonzales, Chef Rick, Tywnot?, Akroz, Imagine Media Group, San Diego Organizing Project & the SDUSD Board Trustee Marne Foster – District E Cabinet with all our support we made the Invest in Schools Not Prisons Community Festival a success. 

Great H.E.A.R.T. workshop to start the semester

by April | Education

This past weekend on the campus of San Diego State University’s Calpulli Center marking the launch of The Blue Heart Foundations H.E.A.R.T. Workshops (Higher Education And Rising Together). The H.E.A.R.T. mentoring workshops focus on assisting young men in high school understand what it takes to matriculate to a four year university but what it takes to succeed once there. Each workshop will vary but at the same time rooted in driving and empowering members towards goals of higher achievement.

Our workshops include but are not limited to 1) “Checking in” and addressing any issues or roadblocks these young men may be running into as well as celebrating any accomplishments achieved. 2) Education – Periodically there is SAT/ACT prep as well as workshops on how to avoid “Test Anxiety presented by CalSOAP 3) Professional Development – This is when guest speakers come and present on behalf of their organizations as well as speak on what is required to succeed in their respective fields. 4) Personal Develop ranges from preparing the members of H.E.A.R.T. for the challenges that lay with pursuing a higher education as well as the “soft skills” every young man should have in his tool belt.

Our first workshop covered our academic expectations, conversations and careers with the San Diego Police Department and San Diego Fire Department along with an introduction to SDSU’s Student African American Brotherhood (SAAB). We also had the opportunity to present $1000 grant to two incoming SDSU freshmen Rabi Ahmed and Andre Wortham. Our grant awards specifically target young men in the San Diego community that plan to focus on STEM based majors. We want to thank Dr. Aaron Bruce San Diego State University’s Chief of Diversity Affairs for assisting in the presentation of these awards. We also want to recognize Dr. Bruce’s efforts for finding a fitting venue to enrich the live s of the young men that will one day attend college and in hopes many will be Aztecs.

Pictured with Dr Aaron Bruce are incoming freshmen Rabi Ahmed and Andre Wortham both of whom recieved financial grants