Massachusetts Appleseed Center for Law and Justice

Last month, our Community Engagement & Advocacy Coordinator Nadia headed out to University of Massachusetts Amherst for the Western MA Health Equity & Policy Showcase, helping celebrate 10 years of the Western MA Health Equity Network and connecting with fellow changemakers! Thankful for the great conversations on elevating community voice and how issues like language access, educational justice, and youth homelessness directly intersect with people's ability to live safe, healthy lives. A huge shoutout to the student leaders from Youth for Equity & Action at Northampton High School for sharing their inspiring work on safety in school and community! 

Last week, we were honored to join Eastern Bank’s annual Celebration of Social Justice! Many congratulations to Eastern Bank Foundation for 30 incredible years of impact and to honoree Jackie Jenkins-Scott, a true trailblazer who has advanced equity throughout her extraordinary career. We are so grateful for the Foundation’s sustained support and years of partnership as we work to solve systemic social injustices impacting Massachusetts families and youth!

The U.S. Government Accountability Office recently released a new report which found that Black girls face disproportionately severe school discipline compared to other girls, receiving harsher punishments than their white peers for similar behaviors. This report is devastating and reinforces what we found in our own research, data analysis, and conversations with students: Black girls face criminalization and unjust pushout from school, harming their overall well-being and denying them the same opportunities to succeed. Some key findings from the report we want to highlight: 🔴In Massachusetts, Black girls get suspended at a rate 4.2x higher than their white counterparts.  🔴Adultification — a form of racial and gender bias in which adults view Black girls as older and more promiscuous than their same-age peers — leads to harsher punishments for Black girls. 🔴The effects of colorism are clear — Black girls with darker skin were more likely to be suspended than their white counterparts.  🔴An estimated 90% of dress codes prohibit clothing typically worn by girls as opposed to 69% that prohibit items typically worn by boys. 🔴Nationally, Black girls had the lowest perceptions of safety and connectedness at school. We're so grateful to Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley for continuing to champion this issue at the federal level and for working with Speaker-Emerita Nancy Pelosi and House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro to request this report. Too often, girls are left out of school discipline discussions. Efforts like this help pinpoint the ways Black girls caught in the intersection of racial and gender-based discrimination are driven towards incarceration and away from the healthy, successful futures they deserve. Explore the report further: https://lnkd.in/eE_RJ4Cr

Pro Bono Month kicks off this week and we're so thankful to the partners who help us move the dial on urgent social justice issues throughout the year like Baker McKenzie, Bloomberg, Edgeworth Economics, Mintz, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, Ropes & Gray LLP, and WilmerHale! This year's theme is Making Justice a Reality in Our Communities. Whether conducting in-depth legal research, keeping know-your-rights resources updated and accurate, or analyzing data to inform policy recommendations, our pro bono partners provide essential, capacity-expanding support that helps us realize the promise of justice for all!

Stay informed and take action! Inequitable laws and policies fuel structural racism and injustice, driving Bay Staters into poverty and crisis. Together, we can change that. Sign up for our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop about our research, advocacy, and the ongoing fight for systemic change in Massachusetts! https://lnkd.in/exPR9PYD

We were proud to stand in solidarity with the Haitian community at today’s rally organized by Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA) and their partners. Whether we’re dismantling language barriers, improving access to the courts, expanding support for newly arrived young people facing homelessness, or building inclusive schools for all students, we’re fighting for a future where our Haitian neighbors can thrive. Today, tomorrow, and every day – we reject racist, anti-immigrant rhetoric and we continue advocating for equitable access to rights, resources, and opportunities for all. 

A recent survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of the Legal Services Corporation sheds light on just how severe the access to justice gap remains. The results show more than half of Americans who experienced a civil legal matter did not seek out legal help from an attorney who could have helped them resolve their problem, forcing them to navigate a system designed for lawyers on their own. https://lnkd.in/ehUA-jiM #accesstojustice #justicegap

This opinion piece by Iván Espinoza-Madrigal in CommonWealth Beacon describes Lawyers for Civil Rights' efforts to stem the tide of anti-Black hostility and violence in schools, which has most recently manifested as bans on newly arrived immigrant children experiencing homelessness. Whether disciplining children of color more harshly or preventing immigrant students from even enrolling in the first place, school exclusion in any form represents a collective failure to recognize the inherent humanity of our neighbors. We can, and must, do better. https://lnkd.in/ej68whW7

So exciting to see Kansas Appleseed Center for Law and Justice’s important research on meal debt featured on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver! As we continue to celebrate the passage of universal school meals here in Massachusetts, the segment is a powerful reminder of just why this fight is so critical. We’re grateful for Project Bread’s leadership on this issue in MA and organizations like Kansas Appleseed working to end childhood hunger in other states around the country. #AppleseedNetwork #lunchshaming #endlunchshaming #universalschoolmeals #childhoodhunger

The formal legislative session concluded over the summer and while few bills ultimately made it across the finish line, we saw progress on a number of vital policies. #mapoli 🌟 First, Access to Counsel was included in the FY25 state budget, with $2.5 million included to establish a statewide pilot program! Supported by a broad coalition of 240 organizations, of which Appleseed is a proud member, this marks the first big step to starting a program that can provide full representation to tenants and low-income owner occupants. 🌟 Thanks to continued leadership from Project Bread and the Feed Kids Coalition, $170 million in funding for universal school meals also made it into the budget! This will help ensure hundreds of thousands of students can continue to focus on learning instead of worrying where their next meal will come from. Several priority pieces of legislation we led the charge on with partners received favorable reports, but did not make it to the Governor’s desk. These included the Young Student Exclusion Ban, the Language Access and Inclusion Act, as well as two first-time bills that aimed to 1) prevent the over-policing of girls, students of color, and LGBTQ+ students in school and 2) allow minors experiencing homelessness to access critical supportive services. We’re disappointed that more policy changes that would make a meaningful difference in the lives of Bay Staters did not come to fruition, but it’s important to celebrate the steps forward we did see. Of the 14 bills we supported and helped fight for this session, 11 saw positive movement through the State House and NONE received a negative vote. This is indispensable groundwork for the coming months and a testament to the power of working in coalition. Whether you shared your personal experience with state leaders, wrote to your legislators urging action, or helped us spread the word about these campaigns – thank you! Throughout the fall, we’ll be meeting with our legislative champions and coalition partners to strategize for next session. Some of the prep work we’ll be doing includes redrafting bills, conducting deeper policy research, mobilizing in more communities, and building on all the momentum we’ve developed so far. The formal session may be over, but our advocacy is year-round. Consider starting a monthly gift of $10, $15, or $25 to fuel our organizing in the State House! https://lnkd.in/eTB98S_B