This year the Student Peace Alliance has begun organizing around a series of campaigns that focus on issues of access to education for people impacted by the justice system. This spring, SPA staff visited Princeton University to work with a group of students, activists and formerly incarcerated individuals on forming the National Campaign to Abolish the Box. This campaign, of which many SPA chapters are a part, aims to remove questions from the Common Application and individual universities asking people to disclose their history with the justice system and with school punishment systems. Through this campaign, students are fostering a commitment to creating more diverse and accessible academic spaces, and holding their own institutions accountable in the process.
Visit the SPA campaign page: CLICK HERE
Visit the ATB National Campaign website: CLICK HERE
Visit the SPA campaign page: CLICK HERE
Visit the ATB National Campaign website: CLICK HERE
SPA is also working on a campaign with the Education from the Inside Out Coalition (EIO) that empowers students to advocate for a bill that would remove barriers for currently incarcerated people trying to access Pell Grants for academic study. Through this campaign, SPA has garnered more than 2,000 new members of the network, and the petition we created generated over 3,000 letters to Members of Congress about the REAL (Restoring Education and Learning) Act. This campaign has also helped SPA to build a relationship with Brave New Films, who is interested in producing a video with us and EIO on access to education for people impacted by the justice system. Their social media network consists of over half a million followers, and they have had a tremendous impact on the visibility of our campaigns.
Visit our campaign page: CLICK HERE
SPA has also been involved in supporting a national campaign with the ACLU, NELP, and PICO Network on Federal Fair Chance Hiring initiatives, which, similar to our Abolish the Box campaign, would remove background-check barriers on employment applications. Our SPA Director has been working to cultivate future collaborations with these organizations to encourage larger scale support for Abolish the Box and other related initiatives.
If you are interested in getting involved with SPA, please CLICK HERE! You can sign up to create a chapter, or join our email list to receive action alerts and updates!
In solidarity,
Visit our campaign page: CLICK HERE
SPA has also been involved in supporting a national campaign with the ACLU, NELP, and PICO Network on Federal Fair Chance Hiring initiatives, which, similar to our Abolish the Box campaign, would remove background-check barriers on employment applications. Our SPA Director has been working to cultivate future collaborations with these organizations to encourage larger scale support for Abolish the Box and other related initiatives.
If you are interested in getting involved with SPA, please CLICK HERE! You can sign up to create a chapter, or join our email list to receive action alerts and updates!
In solidarity,
Sally Kaplan
Director of Student Peace Alliance
Director of Student Peace Alliance
RSS Feed