Macalester College Forum on “The Day After the End of the Schools to Prisons Pipeline” April 24, 2008

To employees and associates of the Council on Crime and Justice:

We (Aaron Rosenblum and Jason Rodney) have been interning in the Research Dept. this spring, through our Macalester College class Schools and Prisons, an American Studies course which explores race and class issues and the symbiosis of underfunded schools and a broken corrections system. Our work at the Council has included outreach to expungement clients and employers (through the GAUGE project), editing the School Ethnography Report and creating the new Council Research blog (www.ccjresearch.wordpress.com).

Our class is hosting an end of the semester event, “Imagining the day after…” which will be a creative, interactive and engaged exploration of the day after the school-to-prison pipeline is dismantled.

Please join us Monday, May 5^th from 6:30 to 9:30 PM in Macalester College’s Smail Gallery (Olin-Rice Building) as we begin to envision a new world.

We welcome your thoughts with open minds and look forward to seeing you!

Please RSVP to Professor Karin Aguilar San Juan (sanjuan@macalester.edu or 651-696-6148) by May 1.

Thank you!

-Aaron and Jason

GCVS/CVL Identity Theft Presentation today 5:00 – 7:30p April 24, 2008

Just a reminder that the GCVS/CVL Identity Theft Presentation is today 5:00 – 7:30pm in the big conference room. The speaker is the Director of the MN Financial Crimes Task Force and this is an excellent presentation!

Experimental College of the Twin Cities is looking for teachers! April 24, 2008

The Experimental College of the Twin Cities (EXCO) is looking for teachers and facilitators for the summer and fall semesters. Do you have something to share? EXCO is a free school initiative that offers classes for anyone to take, all free. Summer session begins June 15th.

More info and applications to teach are available online at www.excotc.org.

Amy Goodman of “Democracy Now!” to Speak April 24, 2008

Amy and David Goodman will be in the Twin Cities on Monday April 28 at the St. Joan of Arc Church (4537 3rd Ave. South, Minneapolis).  The time is 6:30PM and tickets are $10 in advance or $12 at the door.  Amy and David have just written a book titled “Standing Up to the Madness: Ordinary Heroes in Extraordinary Times.”

C-Dreams April 24, 2008

A Council developed program, “C-Dreams,” was featured in an article by  Ebony Ruhland (Research Associate) and Elena Gaarder (Interim Project Director) in the U of M School of Social Work publication CW360. Click here to check out the article!

The article outlines the creation of C-Dreams in response to a Council study examining the needs of children with incarcerated parents.  The goal of the program is to create a strong community and family support system around the children to encourage them to make positive decisions and prevent intergenerational incarceration.  The project has been successful in helping build support for families and children with an incarcerated parent/husband/wife.

Council Finds New President April 24, 2008

Welcome to our New President!
Judge Pamela Alexander grew up in South Minneapolis and graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School.  She began her legal career as a criminal defense attorney with the Legal Rights Center and then moved to the Hennepin County Attorney’s office as a prosecutor in the Criminal Division.  Since 1983 she has been a Hennepin County District Court Judge where she presided over the Juvenile Division and served as Assistant Chief Judge for the Court as a whole.  She sits on many community boards and committees including The Minneapolis Foundation Board of Trustees, the Children’s Defense Fund, and the Juvenile Judges Leadership Council, and has been awarded numerous community service awards ranging from the University of St. Thomas School of Law Dean’s Award for Outstanding Teaching to the NAACP Profiles in Courage Award.

Green jobs, not jails April 24, 2008

Earlier this month an increasingly visible movement for “green-collar jobs” hosted a historic event in Memphis, commemorating the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Dream Reborn, a conference reenvisioning King’s legacy in our current circumstances, was sponsored by Green For All, an environmental justice alliance. The event glowed with the organization’s vision, that we can create a green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty. Infused with phrases like “Green jobs, not jails,” The Dream Reborn embodied a beautiful unity of movements, concretely examining the interrelation of environmental sustainability and societal sustainability, and how confronting climate change can and must be the same struggle as the fight against inequality, racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, ablism, and all forms of oppression.

Green-collar jobs are defined as family-sustaining, career-track jobs that engage the creation and transformation of a more sustainable society- one that does not permanently harm the Earth.

Some amazing models for this work are being pioneered around the country, with job training programs designed for formerly incarcerated/convicted persons to enter in energy efficiency or renewable energy work. As the green economy becomes an increasing reality, this movement shows how vital it is that no one is left out.

As organizations like the Council on Crime and Justice approach the corrections system from inside and out, the sustainability movement and other causes can join in solidarity and alliance, as these struggles are so connected.