Community Justice Resources
Infographic: Virginia’s Changing Racial Demographics
By the Center for American Progress (July 2011)
Progress 2050, a project of the Center for American Progress, and PolicyLink present an infographic that explains Virginia’s changing racial demographics. The infographic shows the change in the percentage of small businesses owned by individuals of each race, percent of school-age children along with with projections for 2020 and 2030, and a “heat map” of the percent of residents of color in each of Virginia’s forty counties. Additionally, Progress 2050 has released a similar infographic for North Carolina.
By the Council of State Governments Justice Center (July 2011)
Breaking Schools’ Rules is an incredibly thorough, six-year, statewide study of how school discipline relates to Texas public school students’ academic success and juvenile justice involvement. The CSC Justice Center partnered with the Public Policy Research Institute at Texasm A&M University. Like similar studies, Breaking Schools’ Rules finds that students who are suspended or expelled are far more likely than their peers to repeat a grade, dropout, or get caught up in the juvenile justice system. The study adds to and reinforces the existing literature on the subject.
Zero Tolerance in Philadelphia
Advancement Project, together with Youth United for Change, a Philadelphia-based youth organization, released Zero Tolerance in Philadelphia: Denying Educational Opportunities and Creating a Pathway to Prison, which criticizes zero tolerance in Philadelphia schools as a failed policy that makes city schools less safe, criminalizes or pushes out of school tens of thousands of students every year, and creates a School-to-Prison Pipeline.
Florida Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Action Kit
Advancement Project and the Florida State Conference NAACP released an action kit and model school discipline policy that will help school districts across the state revise their discipline policies as required by Florida's new zero tolerance law. The action kit provides comprehensive recommendations, a model discipline policy, and other materials that can help schools and communities comply with the new law.
Voter Protection Action Kit
This Voter Protection Action Kit is a collection of tips, examples, and resources to address election problems and to help community partners develop processes to successfully meet and exceed voter protection related goals. The Action Kit focuses on pre-Election Day activities such as ensuring that eligible citizens are able to register to vote and go to the polls and vote on Election Day. As voter protection becomes part of your ongoing work, your own “best practices” will help you remove obstacles that exclude low-income voters and voters of color from political participation in your state. If you are interested in being part of the movement to promote transparency in the election process and achieve a just democracy that protects the rights of all voters, this Voter Protection Action Kit will serve as your playbook for change.
Public Records Request
A public records request does not have to be made in writing. However, should you want to make a written request, the following letter can be used model. Simply fill in the appropriate date, address, and salutation, and describe the records you are requesting.
Local Election Practices
The following guides summarize some of the local practices of election officials. The guides are intended to assist advocates by providing general information about the election process.
Voter Education
Prepare Yourself Pennsylvania!
This Community Voter Protection Guide is an action kit for anyone—including individuals, groups, organizations, communities, and local leaders—interested in refreshing the community’s understanding of their voting rights and reinvigorating their focus on Election Day participation. The Guide is divided into four parts, allowing you to print the entire action kit or just those portions that are most suitable to your audience and your needs. Part I provides detailed answers to some of the most commonly asked questions. It helps the reader prepare for Election Day from the moment s/he decides to leave home for the polling place, to the moment s/he casts a ballot. Part II consists of a true/false Voter Protection Quiz that can be used to encourage voters to self-test their familiarity with their voting rights. It also serves as a powerful, interactive teaching tool with large audiences. Part III contains voter protection practice scenarios that serve as a great partner to the Voter Protection Quiz. The practice scenarios help voters develop their voting rights skills. Part IV is filled with a number of Community Action Steps to promote understanding of the electoral process and support community involvement in that process. It also contains tools for promoting accountability by local election officials to the communities and voters they serve.
