Fighting the School to Prison Pipeline: Restorative Justice in Denver

NMAP partnered with the Advancement Project and its local grassroots partner in Denver, Padres & Jóvenes Unidos, to use the voices of youth to challenge the school to prison pipeline in Colorado. After Columbine, the State of Colorado cracked down heavily on minor school infractions, particularly in minority communities—despite the fact that Columbine happened in an affluent, majority white community. We produced a video with local youth to demonstrate the success of a restorative justice program in Denver that began to chip away at the school-to-jail track. The video was used to support a successful ballot initiative to expand the program.