October 3, 2019
9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Johns Hopkins University, Glass Pavilion at Levering Hall
3400 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21218

Youth arrests in Baltimore have significantly declined in the last six years. However, too many African American youths confront harsh and punitive practices in their schools and communities that lead to confinement, thus preventing upward mobility and thriving communities.

• African American youths make up 90% of the juvenile arrests in Baltimore, although they represent only 64 % of youths living in the city.
• 13% of African Americans in Baltimore have a B.A. or higher, compared to 51% of Whites.
• 60% of Baltimore City High School students are chronically absent, although regular attendance is one of the main predictors of academic achievement.
• From 2011 and 2016, neighborhoods that were less than 50% African American received four times the investments made to communities that were more than 85% African American.

A Call to Action: Generating Strategies that Promote Nurturing, Justice, and Equitable Environments in Baltimore

In response to these inequalities in homes, schools, and communities, the Baltimore Office of Civil Rights and Wage Enforcement, Johns Hopkins School of Education, and Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute are partnering to produce a framework and platform, with the intent of generating strategies to bring about structural change and support to students and their families who are combatting intergenerational educational inequities and community disinvestment.

The symposium aims to:

• Identify the root causes and current state of racial segregation, intergenerational poverty, and the school-to-prison pipeline in Baltimore City
• Explore evidence-based strategies and practices that provide youth with services and social supports needed to thrive
• Acknowledge and learn from the strengths, talents, knowledge, success stories, and celebrations of families and communities.
• Break down silos by bringing together policymakers, business leaders, experts, school personnel, the mayor’s cabinet, and community members to produce policies and practices so all students and families can thrive in Baltimore.

Symposium Agenda (PDF)

Symposium Speakers Information (PDF)

Keynote Speaker features Damien Sojoyner, associate professor at University of California and author of First Strike: Educational Enclosures in Black Los Angeles. He analyzes black masculinity, education policy, and schools as a form of “enclosure” for students of color in order to problematize the “school to prison pipeline.”

Articles, Research, & Readings

• Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance — United States, 2017 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Download (PDF)

• Fact Check: A Survey of Available Data on Juvenile Crime in Baltimore City published by the Abell Foundation, June 2018 Download (PDF)

• Report: Baltimore juvenile arrests down 46%, but more youths charged with violent crimes by Jessica Anderson from The Baltimore Sun Read the Article

• Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced, and Underprotected published by the Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies and the African American Policy Form. Download the Report (PDF)

• Baltimore Schools Punish Black Girls More Frequently, Study Find by Lauren Lumpkin and Liz Bowie from The Baltimore Sun, June 2018 Read the Article

• Analysis of Patterns of Employment by Race in Baltimore City and the Baltimore Metropolitan Area published by the Associated Black Charities. Download the Report (PDF)

• 2019 Data Scorecard published by Baltimore’s Promise which measures outcomes that serve as key indicators for important milestones on the Cradle-to-Career Continuum. Download the Scorecard (PDF)

• Youth Involved with the Juvenile Justice System from youth.gov. Read the Article

• Baltimore City School Board Votes ‘No’ to Arming Officers The Baltimore City school board voted unanimously to oppose a measure that would have allowed school police officers to carry weapons during the day. From the Baltimore Sun. Read the Article.

• First Strike: Educational Enclosures in Black Los Angeles by Damien M. Sojoyner takes a unique, multifaceted, insider’s perspective into the root causes of Los Angeles’ ever-expansive prison system and disastrous educational policy. Read the Book (PDF)

• State-by-State Data the Sentencing Project compiles state-level criminal justice data from a variety of sources. View the Data

• Baltimore City Public Schools – School Police Baltimore City School Police ensure that students and staff have safe, secure environments for teaching and learning. Visit their website

Map to JHU Glass Pavilion & Parking

#CivilRightsWeek2019