Dallas ISD made a historic decision to begin this year as one of the first major districts nationwide to ban most discretionary out-of-school suspensions, continuing the work it began in 2017 when it changed its approach to suspensions for pre-K–2 students. This decision sets an important precedent for districts across the country and could have a far-reaching impact.

As the president of a youth-serving education nonprofit, it’s clear to me why supporting this decision, and those like it, is important. At Big Thought, we firmly believe that greatness is inherent inside all youth. And if we as nonprofit leaders in the education space want to give that greatness its space to breathe in youth across all spectrums, then we must make the changes that deconstruct barriers to this happening. Disciplinary inequity in our public education systems, with Black and Latino youth shouldering the brunt of its disparate impact, is a clear and present driver of the gap in opportunities for thriving.

Historically, research has shown that school suspensions disproportionately affect students of color — and especially Black youth — nationwide. Those findings are echoed here in Dallas. Despite Black students making up only 13% of student enrollment in Dallas ISD, they accounted for just over 51% of total suspensions during the 2019-20 school year.

Dallas ISD’s decision is an important policy change that can shift this overall dynamic that has plagued our Black and Brown students for far too long.

It’s an important step on a journey we must continue taking. This is a start, not the end goal.

Plenty has been written about the myth that nonprofits shouldn’t be involved in advocacy — it’s clear the opposite is true: Advocacy can help a nonprofit further its mission and affect greater change. But as leaders of education nonprofits, we must think beyond only education policy.

As leaders in the education sector, we should champion and embrace trauma-informed school systems, social-and-emotional learning, and cognitive-behavioral therapeutic methodology, all restorative and proactive strategies. This could not only help equip all youth with the power of channeling their resilience toward living their best lives, but also aid in limiting the likelihood of future encounters with the justice system.

And we must look for and advocate for other ways to limit these encounters for Black and Brown youth, through means even beyond the walls of our schools.

Read the full article about education nonprofit leaders by Byron Sanders at Forbes.