Deep Center on Tuesday unveiled its first policy briefing for a more equitable Savannah.
The brief was written by executive director Dare Dukes, community engagement coordinator Raphael Eissa, director of communications Coco Papy, and community partner Kate Blair of Savannah/Chatham CASA.
The six recommendations Deep makes are:
1. Community, civic and faith-based organizations should build skills and capacity to undertake systems-change advocacy.
2. Child serving institutions should embrace a healing-centered, whole-village approach to building a climate of community healing, achievement, and thriving.
3. Chatham County Juvenile Court should abolish economic sanctions for youth in the juvenile justice system.
4. Our community should re-imagine policing.
5. Savannah Chatham County Public School System should centralize and codify positive school discipline across the district.
6. Chatham County should expand affordable mental health care.
Deep reached these conclusions by partnering with researchers at the University of Georgia to perform youth participatory action research. Through that process, the researchers found the most harmful system to be the school-to-prison pipeline. Deep encourages all child-serving institutions, municipalities, law enforcement, and civic- and faith-based organizations to join in advocacy for these policies.
Deep Center was founded in 2008 to foster literacy in Savannah's youth by hosting free creative writing workshops at middle schools. Since then, Deep's offerings have expanded to move into the community and fighting for equity and justice for our youth.
For more information on Deep, visit deepcenter.org.
The brief was written by executive director Dare Dukes, community engagement coordinator Raphael Eissa, director of communications Coco Papy, and community partner Kate Blair of Savannah/Chatham CASA.
The six recommendations Deep makes are:
1. Community, civic and faith-based organizations should build skills and capacity to undertake systems-change advocacy.
2. Child serving institutions should embrace a healing-centered, whole-village approach to building a climate of community healing, achievement, and thriving.
3. Chatham County Juvenile Court should abolish economic sanctions for youth in the juvenile justice system.
4. Our community should re-imagine policing.
5. Savannah Chatham County Public School System should centralize and codify positive school discipline across the district.
6. Chatham County should expand affordable mental health care.
Deep reached these conclusions by partnering with researchers at the University of Georgia to perform youth participatory action research. Through that process, the researchers found the most harmful system to be the school-to-prison pipeline. Deep encourages all child-serving institutions, municipalities, law enforcement, and civic- and faith-based organizations to join in advocacy for these policies.
Deep Center was founded in 2008 to foster literacy in Savannah's youth by hosting free creative writing workshops at middle schools. Since then, Deep's offerings have expanded to move into the community and fighting for equity and justice for our youth.
For more information on Deep, visit deepcenter.org.
