Freedom School 2021: Recap

Our organization has been active since 2013, and our Freedom School program has been around since 2019. We consider ourselves pretty committed to our mission, but after COVID-19 canceled our plans In 2020, we were that much more motivated to come back stronger this year.

Each year, along with each Freedom School site in the country, we participate In the National Day of Social Action. This year's theme was on Youth Justice and bring focus to the state of youth Incarceration. For context, according to the State of America's Children report:

• In 2019, 696,620 children were arrested in the U.S..

• A child or teen was arrested every 45 seconds despite a 62 percent reduction in child arrests between 2009 and 2019.

• Although 63 percent of children arrested in the U.S. were white, American Indian children were 1.5 times more likely to be arrested and Black children were 2.4 times more likely to be arrested than white children.

• The percent of LGBTQ children in the juvenile justice system (20 percent) is more than two times that of LGBTQ youth in the general population (7-9 percent); 85 percent are LGBTQ children of color.

The work we do in this community is crucial, so please understand - we need your help to keep going.

August 28th is an important day in American history. (We encourage you to learn more at Give8/28!) We believe it can also be a big day for our organization in our efforts to engage, change and save lives - like those impacted by youth incarceration.