About

THE STORY OF SAVE THE KIDS FROM INCARCERATION

Save the Kids from Incarceration emerged in the summer of 2009 out of Outdoor Empowerment (OE), a nonprofit established in 2005. Save the Kids National was established in August 2011.

Save the Kids is a nonprofit 501 c 3 national organization located in Utah.

In 2009, four African-American youth (Jason, Ali, Jarih, and Amound) in Hillbrook Juvenile Detention Facility chose “Save the Kids” and its mission, while participating in a group discussion about the need for an organization to keep them from being trapped in the juvenile justice system. They needed, as one kid stated, “to be saved instead of thrown away as trash.” That statement speaks volumes.

STKFI does not claim to have all the answers, nor are we outsiders coming in to “save” anyone. We are individuals who have and had family members incarcerated in youth detention facilities and/or adult prisons and jails. We are made up of formerly incarcerated youth and adults, politicians, lobbyists, policymakers, judges, lawyers, detention staff and administration, youth advocates, teachers, religious leaders, and mentors.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

MISSION STATEMENT

Save the Kids from Incarceration is a research group, founded in 2009 in New York by four Black youth incarcerated in a juvenile detention facility. STKI is in solidarity with youth of color through the empowerment, creativity, community, joy, peace, love and justice within Hip Hop and Lowrider cultures and the transformative justice movement for the mission of ending the school to prison pipeline and stopping the policing, criminalizing, and incarcerating of all youth.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PURPOSE STATEMENT

Save the Kids from Incarceration, a research group, works toward their mission in solidarity with youth of color by providing quality education, research, shows, workshops, performances, conferences, and publications incorporated in four programs – (1) National Week of Actions, (2) transformative justice, (3) Hip Hop studies, and (4) Lowrider studies.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

History

Save the Kids from Incarceration was founded in 2009 by four brilliant hopeful Black youth, Amoud, Jahri, Ali, and Jason, in a juvenile detention facility in New York to liberate and defend all systems impacted BIYOC.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Programs

Our three BIYOC focused programs are all free, public, celebratory, and family-friendly and led by BIYOC to provide space and place for BIYOC voices and stories with partnerships between key agencies such as juvenile detention facilities, organizations, school districts, and colleges/universities.

When you become part of Save the Kids you: receive educational development, build your network, become part of a larger movement, and receive awareness-based merchandise that funds the organization.

1) Transformative Justice Program:
(a) Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) workshops (life skills and conflict transformation)
(b) educational events (such as conferences, film screenings, lectures, workshops, and teach-ins)
(c) productions/publications (such as newsletters, journals, podcasts, videos, and books)

2) Hip Hop Studies Program:
(a) educational events (such as conferences, film screenings, lectures, workshops, and teach-ins)
(b) community shows (such as poetry slams, Hip Hop shows, DJ battles, lowrider shows, and cyphers)
(c) productions/publications (such as newsletters, journals, podcasts, videos, and books)

3) Lowrider Studies Program:
(a) educational events (such as conferences, film screenings, lectures, workshops, and teach-ins)
(b) community shows (such as poetry slams, Hip Hop shows, DJ battles, lowrider shows, and cyphers)
(c) productions/publications (such as newsletters, journals, podcasts, videos, and books

4) National Week of Action Against Incarcerating Youth / National Week of Action Against School Pushout
(a) The National Week of Action Against Incarcerating Youth is a fully-volunteer project organized by hundreds of groups and individuals around the United States. The juvenile justice system targets four youth group for incarceration; they are the following, in no specific order: (1) Youth of Color, (2) Youth with Disabilities, (3) Economically Disadvantaged Youth, and (4) LGBT+ Youth.
Problems: The three-step oppressive punishment process targeting youth is.
1. Criminalization of Youth is the stigmatization of youth through laws and norms that are based on their behavior, dress, socializing, identity, and community they live in.
2. Policing of Youth is the surveillance and social controlling of youth by law enforcement and those in disciplinary roles.
3. Punitive Discipline of Youth is the punishment of youth which includes detention, out-of-school suspension, incarceration, home arrest, and probation.
These three steps need to be eliminated in the juvenile justice system, which is the prison part of the school-to-prison pipeline.

(b) Each October, members of the Dignity in Schools Campaign (DSC), a national coalition of over 100 organizations, host a series of events, teach-ins, rallies, protests and workshops across the country designed to bring attention to the ongoing and devastating impacts of school policing and zero-tolerance discipline policies. National Week of Action Against School Pushout will bring students, parents, education advocates, lawyers and many others committed to social and educational justice together to amplify the nationwide call for schools to move away from punitive, cold, criminalizing policies and towards emotionally-safe, restorative and culturally responsive school communities.

TEN POINT PRINCIPLES

We believe that all youth need support, love, and skills in order to achieve their goals.
We believe that all youth are amazing and wonderful, no matter the actions they have committed.
We make a clear distinction between actions and kids; actions can be bad, but not kids.
We are committed to promoting food justice for healthy sustainable living with youth because they are our future and if we do not help them, we will not have one.
We believe in respecting all gender, ability, race, economic status, sexuality, religion, ethnicity, health, age, or nationality.
As a Hip Hop activist organization, we work towards both social justice and the end of all forms of oppression, specifically the school-to-prison pipeline.
As an organization based on transformative justice principles, we strive to promote and analyze alternatives to incarceration, such as community-based programs, rather than institutionalization.
We believe in peace and nonviolence in resolving and transforming all conflicts.
We reject the stigma created by labeling and are inclusive in all of our activities.
We promote interdependence, that everyone in the community should work together in making a peaceful world and not to exclude anyone. STKFI will work with everyone and anyone in order to achieve that goal.