ou Down With Social Action?

Nearly 50% of our youth do not complete high school. We attribute this to a failing public educational system that lacks creativeness, challenging curriculums and imposes social barriers on inner city youth. And even those that do graduate the vast majority leave school at less than an 8th grade reading level. Ninety-eight percent of the youth in our juvenile detention center are black males. We attribute this to obvious racial profiling and stereotyping of youth of color by our justice system both on the front end through arrest and on the back end through prosecution.

Urban Ed believes that the most effective means for helping to improve the quality of life in our communities and among young people is by an organized voice. Therefore, we are committed to helping our population change and/or remove those common institutional barriers to their gaining financial independence.

Urban Ed is creating a hub through which our programmatic work around economic development is connected with local and national policy work. Based on our work with youth from around the country, Urban Ed has found many youth that are eager to impact the justice system and make correlations between the criminalization, the school system and their ability to gain solid jobs.

We are putting in place an agenda that includes:

• Educating parents about the critical issues that impact their children and what they can do
  
• Educating young people about their rights as a citizen and their rights when detained, arrested or incarcerated
  
• Developing core strategies to help the public school system improve its effectiveness, combining our approach with the workforce needs of our region
  

Urban Ed is currently looking for youth and young adults between the ages of 16-25 that are interested in social justice and action. We are also looking for ally organizations working on similar issues involving youth that may make sense for collaboration. You can become a part of our platform that will impact this city and the region.

What are YOU doing? Click to complete our Quick Survey to let us know what's up in your 'hood and to get involved. Call us for more information at 202-610-2344.