Maryland: Isometric arrow formed by multiple merging colorful lines on white background. Coalition, partnership, merger, alliance, integration concept.

Opinion: Our Maryland Coalition Supports Evidence-based Programs For Black, Brown Communities

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Gun violence in Maryland disproportionately impacts young Black and brown men and, increasingly, women. It is important that gun violence prevention organizations look beyond traditional efforts to curb gun violence. In light of the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and many other individuals who have experienced police violence, advocates of violence prevention must address the growing concern of police violence and offer alternatives to community policing. 

Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence has led the charge on that front, joining with The Community Justice Action Fund to create The Maryland Violence Prevention Coalition (MVPC). 

MVPC is a statewide coalition of organizations with the joint mission of reducing violence and improving living conditions in underserved Maryland communities. Using a community-led approach, we seek to empower the voices often neglected and educate elected officials and the public about urgent community needs. The coalition was initially formed in 2018 to coordinate education and advocacy efforts to support state Delegate Brooke Lierman’s legislation to establish the Maryland Violence Intervention and Prevention Program (VIPP).

Leader of Civil Rights March Shaped By Exposure to Segregation, Racial Bias

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When she was in the sixth grade, when she still wanted to be a pediatrician and not a lawyer for revolutionaries, Soffiyah Elijah entered her first integrated school in Hempstead, Long Island. She remembers that in response to integration the administration of the school then segregated the classrooms. So she spent her first day in an integrated school among all black students.

Maryland’s High Court Turns Fate of State’s DREAM Act Over to Voters

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The highest court in the state of Maryland has cleared the way for voters this fall to determine the fate of a 2011 law allowing certain children of undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition at Maryland universities. Maryland is among a dozen states to have passed such a law, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In a brief order  released Wednesday, the state Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, upheld a ruling by a lower court judge that a voter referendum on the law be allowed to appear on the November ballot. The law remains suspended until the public votes on the measure. Lawyers for the immigrant rights organization CASA de Maryland had unsuccessfully tried to convince the state supreme court’s seven-judge panel that the law was an appropriations bill as it dealt with tuition rates.

Swimming Pools, Not Prisons

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Until I was in the sixth grade my family lived on an Air Force base in South Georgia. The base was a great place for kids. From the time I was six or seven I could ride my bike to wherever I wanted to go. Trips to the movies or the library were a lot of fun, and my parents didn’t have to worry about whether or not I was safe. In the summer my favorite bike ride was to the swimming pool.

Disparity in Treatment of Girls, Boys by Maryland Department of Juvenile Services

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About 80 percent of girls accused of misdemeanors in Maryland were committed to residential treatment centers compared to 50 percent of boys, according to statistics from Maryland’s Department of Juvenile Services (DJS). The statistics, part of the Female Offenders Report, show more than two-thirds of girls sent to residential treatment centers were committed for offenses such as fighting and shoplifting or for drug offenses. “That disparity between boys and girls is troubling and quite large," Juvenile Services Secretary Sam Abed told Capital News Service. "It's something I'm concerned about. It's a very complicated question, but it's something that merits explanation.”

The Maryland Legislature in 2011 passed a law requiring DJS to provide statistics breaking down services for boys and girls.

SREB Middle Grades Report 2011 cover image

Southern States Must Address Middle Grades Education Immediately, Report Warns

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Only about a quarter of rising ninth graders in the Southeastern United States will graduate high school on time, according to a new report from the Southern Regional Educational Board (SREB). “The middle grades are the make-or-break point of our K-12 public school system,” SREB President Dave Spence said in a press release. “If states are serious about raising graduation rates and preparing more students for postsecondary study, work has to begin now on the middle grades.”

The SREB is a non-profit, non-partisan organization established by regional governors and legislators to improve the public education system. The organization covers 16 states in the South and Southeast, working directly with state leaders, schools and educators to improve learning and student achievement from Pre-K to higher education. The 16 states covered by the SREB have made “good” progress in early grades achievement in recent years according to the report, but a number still lag behind national standards.

States Respond to Budget Shortfalls with Hodgepodge of Juvenile Justice Cuts

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Around the nation, states continue to grapple with the reality of budget shortfalls with a hodgepodge of cuts to various programs, including juvenile justice.

North Carolina’s Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is being forced to cut spending by 10 percent while eliminating roughly 275 positions, a 15 percent decrease in work force, under the new FY 2012 budget.

Also gone are 75 beds from the state’s seven youth development centers, raising concerns that serious offenders may end up back on the streets to make room for new juveniles entering the facilities.

Alabama’s Department of Child Abuse & Neglect Prevention has a FY 2012 General Fund roughly half that of FY 2011. The department saw a 74 percent drop in state funding and significant cuts from the federal-level.

“Scared Straight” Programs Suspended in California and Maryland

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Two states suspended Scared Straight programs on Friday.  California and Maryland prison officials, who welcomed producers of Beyond Scared Straight into their high security facilities, are now backing away from the show and the confrontational diversion program for troubled teens.  South Carolina is also reviewing the issue, according to mercurynews.com. The U.S. Department of Justice is warning state officials that scared straight techniques don’t deter young people from crime, and may make them more likely to offend in the future.  An op-ed piece published in the Baltimore Sun this week and written by two Justice Department officials says the agency discourages funding for scared straight-type programs, and states that operate them risk losing their federal funding under provisions of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act. Episodes of Beyond Scared Straight were created inside prisons in California, Maryland and South Carolina for the show that debuted in January on the A&E network. The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services began a review of its diversion programs after inmates were shown touching and grabbing kids in the episode.