Amount: $15,000
2015
Boston, MA
Through its leadership development programming, community organizing training and personal support, Youth on Board (YOB) builds the capacity of young people to develop leadership and social emotional skills and provides them access to ways to build power in their schools, communities, and lives. YOB, through its co-administration of the Boston Student Advisory Council (BSAC), amplifies the voices of young people of color (like the population of Boston’s public schools, YOB’s membership is almost entirely comprised by youth of color), dismantle the school to prison pipeline through restorative justice practices and support youth-led organizing for student rights in Boston and beyond. Hazen’s grant will enable YOB to work on ensuring that its policy victories are implemented and the district held accountable to the new student Code of Conduct. YOB will use a wide range of strategies to inform youth of their rights, including developing a mobile app that will not only provide information about their rights but also enable students to file grievances on the spot, as they happen. Hazen’s grant will also support YOB’s challenges of the harsh funding cuts to the Boston Public Schools.