$30,000 / 2014
Denver, CO
Pam Martinez, Executive Director
Website: www.padresunidos.org
This $30,000 renewal grant will enable Padres & Jóvenes Unidos to continue to build youth leadership and power toward ending the School to Jail Track in Colorado, including intensive reform in Denver, increasing Denver Public School (DPS) accountability around disciplinary policy, continuing the College Prep for All initiative and continue their support for a range of state and national initiatives to increase immigrant student access to higher education , including campaigning for and winning in-state tuition at the state level and supporting the Dream Act and comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level. Over the last grant period, Padres & Jovenes (PJU) co-hosted a national Ending School to Jail Track Action Camp that brought together more than 150 youth and adult activists for intensive learning, planning, and training. PJU also educated and engaged 1,000 additional youth, parents, teachers, and community members through on-line education, social media, and direct actions. In March 2014 PJU released the nationally recognized Colorado School Discipline Report Card report on racial disparities in school discipline. Padres y Jóvenes Unidos continues to be active in a number of regional and national coalitions including: Colorado Juvenile Defenders Coalition, Colorado Progressive Coalition, Colorado Juvenile Defenders Coalition, the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, University of Colorado at Boulder National Education Policy Center, Colorado chapters of the NAACP, National Center on Time and Learning, Generations Schools, Colorado Legacy Foundation, OneColorado, the Alliance for Educational Justice and the Right to the City Alliance.