Reversing the School-to-Prison Pipeline for African Americans and Minorities: Comprehensive Programs, Practices, and Policy Solutions

Join the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Incorporated (CBCF) for " Reversing the School-to-Prison Pipeline for African Americans and Minorities: Comprehensive Programs, Practice, and Policy Solutions," an invite-only breakfast roundtable from on Wednesday, March 18, 2015 from 8am to 10am in B-339 of the Rayburn House Office Building. This event is held in partnership with Rep. Barbara Lee, chair of the Democratic Whip Taskforce on Poverty, Income Inequality, and Opportunity and co-chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Taskforce on Poverty and the Economy

According to the U.S. Department of Education, African American and Latino students are significantly more likely than their white classmates to be suspended or expelled, 3.5 times and 1.5 times respectively. Furthermore, while black students represent 16% of student enrollment, they represent 27% of students referred to law enforcement and 31% of students subjected to a school-related arrest. Ever since the passage of the Gun Free Schools Act of 1994 (GFSA), which requires all schools receiving federal funds to expel students for a year if caught with a firearm on campus, schools across the nation have expanded the reach of GFSA to include harsher penalties across the board for other types of misbehavior. The result of zero tolerance policies have sent millions of minority youth on the school to prison pipeline; this has led to a monumental shift in more punitive based programs, policies, and practices aimed at addressing student misbehavior that disproportionately target minority youth and the disabled, vulnerable populations already burdened by poverty and lack of educational and economic opportunity.

This panel aims to provide effective and comprehensive programs and policy alternatives for reversing the school to prison pipeline that better address the root causes and systemic trends/factors that minority youth face in and outside of the school system.