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Dear Friends,
This February we celebrated Black History Month and continued to reflect on the many impactful yet often unjustly overlooked achievements of Black people. Black people and communities continue to thrive in inventive, creative, beautiful, and brilliant ways. This month reminded us that representation matters, and that together we are stronger. In solidarity, National Crittenton continues to fight and advocate for all that girls, young women and gender-expansive people of color can accomplish and change in this world.
National Crittenton
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While congress continues to settle into its new session with a new Majority in the House and a slight Majority in the Senate, there have been few legisltive actions. However, our young people continue to make a presence on the Hill and partner with the Administration to create meaningful change. Our advocacy efforts the past month have been nothing but phenomenal.
In late January, IMPACT Steering Committee and child welfare expert Lanitta Berry participated in a panel discussion hosted by Georgetown University titled "School Support of Expecting and Parenting Students: Today's Rights under Title IX." During the panel discussion, Lanitta talked about the challenges faced by system-impacted young moms in secondary school and what the system can do to better support expecting and parenting students.
In addition, our partnership with the Children's Bureau continues to grow. On February 2nd, three youth advisors took part in a convening with the Associate Commissioner of the Children's Bureau and of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to work on finding potential solutions on supporting young people who are system-involved. In Solidarity Fellow Chloe (CA) , IMPACT Steering Committee member Kristen (KS), and Crittenton SC participant, Christina, participated in the advisory group which will continue over the year and produce recommendations to the Agencies.
Lastly, we were so excited to announce the dates for our upcoming In Solidarity Conference! This year the conference will take place at the beautiful Marriott Marquis in San Fransisco California from November 8th through the 10th. More details will be coming soon, and we hope we will see you there!
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Lawmakers consider proposal to lighten sentences against domestic violence survivors
Oregon Capital Chronicle - 2.6.23
Sen. Wlnsvey Campos, D-Aloha, plans to introduce a legislation, which would allow the courts to consider evidence of domestic violence during sentencing and give judges the discretion to choose a lighter sentence than mandated under the state’s sentencing requirements. The bill would also allow people to petition the court for a new sentence if evidence of domestic abuse had not been introduced before sentencing.
“There is a group of survivors who remain ignored and subjected to continued abuse by the state through the criminal justice system,” Campos said. “We call them survivor-defendants, a term for defendants in criminal cases who are survivors of domestic violence and for whom that abuse was a contributing factor in the commission of their crimes.”
The concept could affect hundreds of women, with nearly 900 imprisoned in Oregon as of last October. In a survey of more than 140 incarcerated women in Oregon, about three-quarters of them were in a relationship when they were arrested. Of those, 44% said the relationship contributed to their crime, according to a report by the Oregon Justice Resource Center, an advocacy group that helped develop the proposal.
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71 commands in 13 minutes: officers gave Tyre Nichols impossible orders
The New York Times - 2.1.23
Police officers unleashed a barrage of commands that were confusing, conflicting and sometimes even impossible to obey, a Times analysis of footage from Tyre Nichols’s fatal traffic stop found. When Mr. Nichols could not comply — and even when he managed to — the officers responded with escalating force.
The review of the available footage found that officers shouted at least 71 commands during the approximately 13-minute period before they reported over the radio that Mr. Nichols was officially in custody. The orders were issued at two locations, one near Mr. Nichols’s vehicle and the other in the area he had fled to and where he would be severely beaten. The orders were often simultaneous and contradictory. Officers commanded Mr. Nichols to show his hands even as they were holding his hands. They told him to get on the ground even when he was on the ground. And they ordered him to reposition himself even when they had control of his body.
Experts say the actions of the Memphis police officers were an egregious example of a longstanding problem in policing in which officers physically punish civilians for perceived disrespect or disobedience — sometimes called “contempt of cop.” The practice was notoriously prevalent decades ago.
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HUD awards $12.9 million to prevent homelessness among youth transitioning out of foster care
U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development - 2.23.23
WASHINGTON - In an effort to help youth in foster care find affordable housing, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded $12.9 million to 16 Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) in 9 states to provide housing assistance to young adults who are transitioning out of foster care and are experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness. The funding was awarded through HUD’s Foster Youth to Independence (FYI) Initiative.
“Helping young adults to find a place to call home gives them the opportunity to focus on their goals and dreams without having to worry about where they are going to lay their head at night,” said Secretary Marcia L. Fudge. “We are excited to work with Public Housing Agencies to help them meet the housing needs of youth who have aged out of the foster care program so that they have access to safe, stable, and affordable homes.”
The FYI initiative aims to create a community response to youth experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness who have been involved with the child welfare system. FYI makes Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) assistance available to PHAs who have a partnership with public child welfare agencies (PCWA). Under the program PHAs can provide housing assistance to young adult in between the ages of 18 years and not more than 24 years old who left foster care or will leave foster care in the next 90 days and are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
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W.A may launch a cold-case unit for missing, murdered Indigenous people
Crosscut -1.27.23
Washington lawmakers are pushing ahead with a bill to establish a special cold-case unit for missing and murdered Indigenous people after pushback from some law enforcement officials who claimed the new task force could interfere with their work.
House Bill 1177, requested by Attorney General Bob Ferguson, is sponsored by the 40th District’s Rep. Debra Lekanoff, who sits on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People Task Force at the Attorney General’s Office, which offered specific recommendations for the legislation.
The Washington State Association of Sherifs and Police Chiefs a union for executive and top-management law enforcement, argued that the bill’s original language could jeopardize the cold-case investigations. “We cannot tolerate insertion into criminal investigations that could do more harm than good,” James McMahan, policy director for the WASPC, said during a Jan. 17 meeting of the House Committee on Community Safety, Justice, & Reentry. The bill is scheduled for a committee vote on Thursday.
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Pauli Murray will be first Black queer person on U.S. currency
Advocate - 2.10.23
Pauli Murray, nonbinary Black activist, lawyer, priest, and poet, will be featured on a quarter in the next round of the U.S. Mint’s American Women Quarters Program, making Murray the first Black queer person to appear on U.S. currency.
Murray’s quarter will be issued in 2024. Others in the 2024 group are Patsy Takemoto Mink, the first woman of color to serve in Congress; Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, a Civil War–era surgeon, women’s rights advocate, and abolitionist; Zitkala-Ša, a writer, composer, educator, and activist for Native Americans’ rights; and Celia Cruz, the Cuban-American singer known as the Queen of Salsa.
“All of the women being honored have lived remarkable and multi-faceted lives, and have made a significant impact on our Nation in their own unique way,” Mint Director Ventris C. Gibson said in a press release. “The women pioneered change during their lifetimes, not yielding to the status quo imparted during their lives. By honoring these pioneering women, the Mint continues to connect America through coins which are like small works of art in your pocket.”
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Meet four young Black women who are making history today
Ignite - 2.9.23
Many young Black women are using their voices to create change across the country, but their stories often go untold. Let’s celebrate these young leaders, today and every day. Keep reading to learn more about some of the young Black women who are making history.
Imani Barbarin is an activist, writer and speaker from Philadelphia. With 300,000+ followers on TikTok, she uses her platforms to raise awareness and start conversations about racial justice as well as disability rights. Growing up, Imani learned quickly that she had to speak up for herself, or be spoken over. “I had to make as much impact as possible with a limited amount of words. When I try to say things, I try to do so in a way that is digestible for people,” she says. As a Black, disabled queer woman, Imani hopes to help create a community where people can share their stories and experiences.
Zyahna Bryant is an activist, organizer and student at the University of Virginia. At the age of 12, she organized her first demonstration to raise awareness about police violence following the murder of Trayvon Martin. Since then, she has organized with other young leaders to shed light on issues regarding race and equity.
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Minnesota becomes first state to pass bill enshrining abortion rights post-Dobbs
Mother Jones - 1.29.23
After more than 14 hours of debate, the Minnesota Senate passed a bill on Saturday that would establish a “fundamental right” to abortion in the state. Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, has said he will sign the Protect Reproductive Options Act, known as the PRO Act, into law. The move makes Minnesota the first state to pass a law guaranteeing the right to abortion in the wake of the Dobbs decision, accoring to Minnesota Public Radio.
Abortion is already legal in Minnesota as a result of a 1995 state Supreme Court decision. The bill will not have a major impact on Minnesotans’ current access to abortions, but would make it harder to restrict abortion rights in the future.
“What we saw was a need after Roe v. Wade was struck down this past summer, to codify the rights we currently have in Minnesota into the statutory law to provide that extra layer of protection,” said the bill’s lead author, Rep. Jen McEwen of Duluth.
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'New York Times' stories on trans youth slammed by writers — including some of its own
NPR - 2.15.23
About 200 New York Times contributors have signed an open letter calling out the legacy newspaper for its coverage of transgender issues.
In the letter addressed to the Times' associate managing editor for standards, the contributors say they have "serious concerns about editorial bias in the newspaper's reporting on transgender, non-binary, and gender nonconforming people."
The list of signatories include a few prominent Times journalists, including opinion contributor Roxane Gay, culture reporter J Wortham and former reporter Dave Itzkoff. It counted a far greater number of writers, such as Ed Yong of The Atlantic and Jia Tolentino of The New Yorker, who contribute only occasionally, and others such as actors Lena Dunham and Cynthia Nixon.
In the letter, they say the Times has treated coverage of gender diversity "with an eerily familiar mix of pseudoscience and euphemistic, charged language," and recent reporting has omitted some sources' associations with anti-trans groups.
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Alone and exploited, migrant children work brutal jobs across the U.S.
The New York Times - 2.28.23
It was almost midnight in Grand Rapids, Mich., but inside the factory everything was bright. A conveyor belt carried bags of Cheerios past a cluster of young workers. One was 15-year-old Carolina Yoc, who came to the United States on her own last year to live with a relative she had never met.
About every 10 seconds, she stuffed a sealed plastic bag of cereal into a passing yellow carton. It could be dangerous work, with fast-moving pulleys and gears that had torn off fingers and ripped open a woman’s scalp.
The factory was full of underage workers like Carolina, who had crossed the Southern border by themselves and were now spending late hours bent over hazardous machinery, in violation of child labor laws. At nearby plants, other children were tending giant ovens to make Chewy and Nature Valley granola bars and packing bags of Lucky Charms and Cheetos — all of them working for the processing giant Hearthside Food Solutions, which would ship these products around the country.
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Los Angeles County renews pledge to stop incarcerating girls
Imprint - 2.7.23
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Tuesday to work toward ending the incarceration of girls and gender-expansive young people, part of a state and national effort that is gaining momentum.
The motion introduced by Supervisor Hilda Solis directs county leaders to apply for a new California initiative that awards funding and technical support to four counties aiming to end the incarceration of girls.
Solis called it “a great opportunity,” that supervisors should not pass up. Board of Supervisors Chair Janice Hahn expressed her support during Tuesday’s meeting, stating that “this motion will allow us to double down on our commitment to reexamine the entire system of locking up girls.”
As first reported by The Imprint, last month the state’s Office of Youth and Community Restoration and the Vera Institute of Justice announced the “Ending Girls’ Incarceration Initiative.” Under a competitive application process described by the state as “unprecedented,” counties can now apply for grants of up to $250,000 accompanied by technical support to phase out the incarceration of girls. Four counties will be awarded the grants in March.
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