#PoliceFreeSchools Funders Briefing with the Schott Foundation

About

1.7 million students are in schools with cops, but no counselors.
3 million students are in schools with cops, but no nurses.
6 million students are in schools with cops, but no school psychologists.
10 million students are in schools with cops, but no social workers.

Nationwide protests against police violence and white supremacy have garnered new levels of public attention and strengthened the political will for swift and bold action. Merely days after the murder of George Floyd, the Minneapolis Public School Board voted unanimously to end its decades-long contract with the Police Department, sparking a ripple effect of school districts across the country calling for removal of police from classrooms and hallways that were meant for learning, not incarceration. Since then, public school officials in Portland, Denver, Albuquerque, Rochester, and other cities have committed to ending contracts with their police departments and removing police officers from their campuses.

For decades, grassroots networks like the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools, Journey for Justice Alliance and Dignity in Schools Campaign have called for the end of operating schools in communities of color like prisons. Now, these and other allied partners in the Schott Foundation’s National Opportunity to Learn Network are seizing the historic moment to strengthen the national movement for justice – and ensure that there is real systemic change, not just escalated rhetoric. Join us for this timely funders briefing and learn how philanthropy can support education justice organizers in local campaigns to remove police from schools and dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline.

Explore

• How grassroots networks have called for the end of operating schools in communities of color like prisons
• How grassroots networks and allied partners are seizing this historic moment to ensure systemic change
• How philanthropy can support local campaigns to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline

Speakers

• Leah Austin, Director of National Opportunity to Learn Network, The Schott Foundation for Public Education
• Edgar Villanueva, Senior Vice President of Programs and Advocacy, The Schott Foundation for Public Education