On October 3, 2019, Dr. Richard Lofton convened a symposium on Schools, Prisons, & Concentrated Poverty to generate strategies that promote nurturing, justice, and equitable environments in Baltimore. As a partnership between the Baltimore Office of Civil Rights and Wage Enforcement, Johns Hopkins School of Education, and Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute, the work aimed 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.
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The Nobody Asked Me Campaign continues the important work of producing policies and practices to help Baltimore students and families.
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The symposium’s goals:
- 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.
Speakers & Partners
The symposium featured speakers who come from a variety of backgrounds but share a commitment to dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline in Baltimore, including:
- Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott
- Native Baltimorean activist and bestselling author Dwight Watkins
- Chief Communications and Community Engagement Officer for Baltimore City Public School Tina Hike-Hubbard
- Director of Baltimore City Department of Social Services Dr. Randi Walters
- Executive Director of Out4Justice Nicole Hanson
- Principal of City Springs Elementary /Middle School Dr. Rhonda Richetta
- Director of the Education and Youth Development program at Open Society Institute-Baltimore Karen Webber
- Native Baltimorean and GED recipient Jasper Palmer
- Maryland State Senator Jill P. Carter
- Executive Director of the Social Services Administration at the Maryland Department of Human Services Rebecca Jones-Gaston