$25,000 / Spring 2017
Neva Walker, Executive Director
San Francisco, CA
http://colemanadvocates.org
Since 1975, Coleman Advocates has pioneered programs and policies to expand opportunity for San Francisco’s children, youth, and families, Many of these hard-won programs and policies have served as models for communities all over the country. Coleman currently focuses on building more effective, equitable, and supportive public schools in San Francisco and beyond. This one-year renewal grant will support Coleman Advocates’ youth-led intergenerational drive for equity, with particular focus on education in San Francisco through Youth Making a Change (YMAC). In 2015, through the organizing efforts of Coleman Advocates for Education and allies, the Safe and Supportive Schools Resolution was passed. The resolution is designed to transform the San Francisco Unified School District’s approach to school discipline by rejecting ineffective zero tolerance practices in favor of evidence-based, positive alternatives. In addition, YMAC developed and secured the passage of a school district resolution to increase resources for African American student achievement, as well as a regular and comprehensive internal and external review of the programs and services supporting African American students. Over the next year, Coleman Advocates will continue a focus on school-to-prison pipeline issues both to move new reforms forward and monitor and ensure full implementation of recently won reforms. Coleman will also continue to monitor and contribute to the development of the education budget, with a focus on equity, transparency, and youth and family engagement through an “inside-outside” strategy of building relationships with school administrators and teachers.