In 2019, VOYCE youth leaders launched the Rethinking Safety Campaign, a campaign working to end the reliance on law enforcement in schools and expand resources for mental and behavioral health supports in schools.
In 2020, as a direct result of years of organizing efforts and amidst the national uprisings, 17 schools voted to remove police, and the budget for school police was cut in half by $15 million. The Board of Education also passed a resolution calling for the development of a new process to create school safety plans that could be implemented without school resource officers designed after rigorous, authentic engagement with school community stakeholders via the development of a Whole School Safety Committee.
Alongside partners Community Organizing on Family Issues (COFI), The ARK of St. Sabina, BUILD Inc, and Mikva Challenge, VOYCE worked with CPS to lead the District’s community engagement process and develop a plan for reinvestment in holistic approaches to whole school safety.
Through this process and along with our partner organizations, we engaged over 650 youth, parents, and other stakeholders in developing a plan to dramatically change school safety, particularly for our Black and Brown communities.
As a result of this hard work, 32 schools have opted to use alternative strategies to school safety resulting in the reinvestment of over $3.8 million from police in schools into holistic approaches to school safety. VOYCE youth leaders will continue to organize to transform what comprehensive school safety looks like across the third largest school district.
The “Curie Way”: Putting Care At The Center Of Our Schools
After a decade of work to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline, the movement to transform school safety in Chicago is at a critical moment. On June 15th, we hosted a panel discussion, inviting others to learn about the “The Curie Way,” a model for school safety transformation through a holistic approach grounded in holistic student support coupled with a focus on a behavioral health team strategy. Educators, community members, and local school council members left with actionable tools on how schools can implement similar approaches.
As we continue to work with partners and the Whole School Safety committees across the high schools that remain with SROs, there is a critical opportunity to reinvest resources away from law enforcement approaches in our schools and into healing-centered approaches. The panel discussion served as a historic opportunity for parents, students, local school council members, and community members to be involved.
Stay tuned for more actions and unique opportunities to advance this critical work.
For more information about VOYCE or get involved, please contact Maria Degillo, VOYCE Coordinator, at maria@voyceproject.org or at 773-240-9612.