“We Have a Dream” Strengthening Community and the Futures of Our Youth Through Storytelling
January 14th, 2017
1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, Theatre
In King County, youth of color are being disproportionately referred to the juvenile justice system at a rate higher than their white peers. This disparity directly correlates to the deprivation of opportunities for youth of color and to socioeconomic inequality between white and minority citizens.
King County has had a courageous response, implementing Peacemaking sentencing circles, working with Creative Justice, an arts-based restorative justice program, and developing Family Intervention and Restorative Services, a reception center for youth to “cool-off” and receive support as opposed to entering the system for charges related to family violence.Even with the current strategies for impact, disparity is still present.
Through “We Have a Dream”, DNDA and partners will steer a community conversation around restorative and alternative justice practices to raise awareness about racial inequity present in the conventional juvenile justice system. This event, hosted at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, will activate volunteers as partners to engage in storytelling, help foster emotional connections, and brainstorm realistic strategies for change. Experience through this event will be captured through a variety of media such as poetry and videography in an effort to publicize our "Dreams" for a new system of justice.
Volunteers will be developing a community framework, participating in peacemaking circles, developing and sharing resources, to address the disparities in the juvenile justice system. Volunteers, in essence, are the participants in this event and serving as a launch-pad for our Race and Social Justice Initiative for 2017. We have the following guest speakers to provide background details on juvenile justice, and it is the volunteers’ jobs to reflect critically and to contribute to the resource development process that we will be introducing in our event.
Guest Speakers
- Judge Wesley Saint Clair - Chief Juvenile Judge, King County Superior Court
- Saroeum Phoung - Peacemaking Circle Facilitator, CEO and Founder of PointOneNorth Consulting Consulting LLC
- Jason Clark - Equity and Justice Advocate, King County Superior Court
- Marcus Stubblefield - Systems Integration Coordinator, King County Youth Service
