Currently Philadelphia public schools employ punitive discipline policies and school policing practices. These policies and practices, although politically popular, are preventing large numbers of students from accessing an equal opportunity to learn. As one example, during the 2007-2008 school year 4,361 students were taken into police custody directly from school. Data from the 2008-2009 school year indicates that 18 high schools had over 50 out of school suspensions (OSS) per 100 students. Four had over 100 OSS’s per 100 students.

The Campaign for Nonviolent Schools (CNS) is a citywide, youth-led coalition that brings together youth from different organizations, neighborhoods, cultures, schools and languages to build their leadership and empower them to advocate for what they need to make their schools nonviolent. They work with the city and the state to make policy and practical changes that will create safer schools and communities.

Every year the Campaign for Nonviolent Schools trains youth and adults from around the city on what it would take to create nonviolent schools and communities.

This project funds a series of three training sessions across 3 months for youth across Philadelphia. Once a month CNS will create and host a workshop, as part of an ongoing series, on topics including but not limited to: ending bias violence, breaking down the school to prison pipeline, tools for implementing restorative practices, and creating a vision of nonviolence. Specifically the project funds materials, food, travel tokens and t-shirts. Each training can accommodate 30 youth and there will be one training a month for the three-month series.

The students that CNS works with are high school students of color, students living in poverty, students with social and emotional needs, English language learners, and students with disabilities. In the school district of Philadelphia, there are 150,000 students in 249 schools; about 60 of those schools are high schools. 81% of the District’s students receive free or reduced lunch, 14% are students with disabilities, and 8% are ELLs. White students only make up 14% of the school population.

Community member details not available yet.

Direct Impact of Your Project

Each training can accommodate 30 youth and the Campaign for Nonviolent Schools will have one training a month for the three-month series.

Extended Impact on Your Partner Community

In addition to the direct impact, one of the goals of the training is for youth to engage at least 4 other youth in their schools or communities in learning about and creating nonviolent schools and communities.