#DecriminalizationNow #FundYouthFutures #PeoplesEducation

About

History

BSS coalition started as an initiative of the California Endowment and the Liberty Hill Foundation in 2011. We wanted to address the disproportionate rates of suspension, expulsion, and harsh school discipline that young men of color were facing in Los Angeles and Long Beach. The BSS coalition formed to address key needs and ignite a movement for boys and young men of color.

Mission Statement

The Brothers, Sons, Selves (BSS) coalition is an alliance of nine community-based organizations across Los Angeles and Long Beach. Our mission is to end the criminalization of young bois/boys and men of color by creating and influencing public policy that invests in young people and their future.

Youth Organizing Model

BSS is youth driven space and decision-making is shared among staff and youth leaders.

Coalition Partners

The Brothers Sons Selves Coalition (BSS) is a strategic alliance of nine community based organizations across Boyle Heights and the Eastside, South Central, Inglewood, and Long Beach, that work to decriminalize youth in communities of color and end the school-to-prison pipeline.

Our organizational partners include InnerCity Struggle, the Weingart East Los Angeles YMCA, California Native Vote Project, Community Coalition, Brotherhood Crusade, the Youth Justice Coalition, Social Justice Learning Institute, and Khmer Girls in Action.

Roapmap / Timeline

1

January 1, 2011 - February 2, 2011

LISTENING TO L.A.'S BOYS & YOUNG MEN OF COLOR

Liberty Hill gathers testimony about conditions for Black, Latinx and API males in Los Angeles.

2

October 1, 2011

BSS COALITION IS BORN

Urgent Need: Liberty Hill and the California Endowment partner with nine grassroots organizations.

3

November 1, 2011 - January 1, 2012

FIRST STEPS

Focus: Youth leaders identify need for positive alternatives in school discipline.

4

March 2, 2012

GOING PUBLIC

BSS members testify at the L.A. hearing of the recently-formed California Assembly Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color.

5

June 21, 2012

POLICY DISCUSSION

BSS youth meet with staff members of local elected officials to discuss policy issues.

6

May 14, 2013

BSS WINS SCHOOL CLIMATE BILL OF RIGHTS IN LAUSD

Landmark package of policy changes eliminated racialized “Willful Defiance” suspensions, implemented Restorative Justice, and redefined the roles of school police in LAUSD

7

October 7, 2013

LONG BEACH WIN

BSS advocates successfully for Long Beach Schools' "Resolution on School Discipline."

8

November 15, 2013

STATEWIDE IMPACT

Brothers, Sons, Selves Coalition youth leaders work with state legislators on a hearing panel.

9

May 14, 2014

WHITE HOUSE LISTENING TOUR

Administration officials working on President Obama's My Brother's Keeper initiative fact-find in L.A.

10

May 30, 2014

REACHING OUT TO STUDENTS THROUGHOUT L.A.

Youth leaders from Brothers, Sons, Selves Coalition bring together students for political education at Rise Up!

11

June 25, 2014

INSPIRATIONAL MEETINGS

President Obama and Assembly member Bass greet youth leaders in South L.A.

12

August 1, 2014

ANGER AND SORROW

The shootings of Michael Brown and Ezell Ford move Brothers, Sons, Selves youth to rally in South L.A.

13

November 28, 2014- January 1, 2015

STRONGER TOGETHER

At retreats in November 2014 and January 2015, Brothers, Sons, Selves members grappled with ongoing police violence and a new Black Lives Matter movement.

14

June 10. 2015

FOLLOW THE MONEY

Youth leaders campaign for $60 Million for more counselors, not school police.

15

September 12, 2015- September 14, 2015

SAC DAY OF ACTION

Sisterhood Rising & Brothers, Sons, Selves members meet legislators and advocate in the state capitol.

16

January 9-10, 2016

STRATEGIC PLAN FOR STATEWIDE ACTION

Members of Brother, Sons, Selves participate in strategy sessions to advance implementation of the School Climate Bill of Rights in their schools.

17

April 5, 2016

MEETING WITH GOVERNOR JERRY BROWN

Youth Leaders hold signs in the senate for the Keep Kids in School Act.

18

August 3-7, 2016

SONS AND BROTHERS CAMP

BSS Member organizations participated on a regular basis in the statewide Sons and Brothers Camp, an initiative of the California Endowment to bring masculine-identifying youth leaders from across 14 building healthy communities sites to learn, grow, and heal together.

19

October 6, 2016

BROTHER, SONS, SELVES CO. TOWN HALL

BSS youth plan and host a Town Hall for dialogue and education.

20

April 4-5, 2017

BSS ADVANCES RESTORATIVE JUSTICE AT LAUSD

Following four years of persistent work and partnership to improve local schools, LAUSD School Board members thank Brothers, Sons, Selves for helping to increase graduation rates and decrease suspensions.

21

May 11-13, 2017

LEGISLATIVE VISITS AT SACRAMENTO

Youth leaders call for statewide ban on arbitrary suspensions.

22

June 19, 2017

INSIDE/OUTSIDE STRATEGY

Brothers, Sons, Selves apply pressure, prompting the LAUSD Board of Education to pass a resolution endorsing the Keep Kids in School Act.

23

October 11, 2017

COMMUNITY GROUPS TAKE LEAD

After winning several landmark policy changes, training dozens of leaders and building solidarity among youth across L.A. County, the Brothers, Sons, Selves Coalition is ready to transition to a new phase of community leadership, with Community Coalition, InnerCity Struggle and Khmer Girls in Action at the helm.

24

2017-2018

Increasing LAUSD’s Restorative Justice Investment to $11 million

BSS secures a unanimous School Board vote to increase the Restorative Justice budget allocation to $10.8 million for the 2017-2018 school year, and $11 million for the 2018-2019 school year.

25

2018-2019

BSS Survey

In 2018 BSS developed a sto capture how safety and justice is experienced by youth of color across multiple contexts. We were committed to grounding our work in data that directly reflects the current experiences of youth in Los Angeles County. The survey questions were finalized at the end of 2018, and the survey was administered from January to June of 2019 by our partner organizations, their youth, and a small civic engagement team. 3,733 total surveys were administered, and N = 3,378 surveys made it into the final analysis. Duplicate and incomplete surveys (20% or less of the survey completed) were removed from our final analysis. We partnered with Dr. Charles Davis at the USC Race and Equity Center to clean our data, and add new data fields. The themes covered in the survey ranged from perceptions of law enforcement, how youth experience criminalization, policing, and incarceration, what youth experience in Los Angeles County and their schools, and the ways that youth want to invest public funds. Those themes formed our campaign pillars and areas of focus.

26

2019

Passing SB 419

Existing law prohibits a pupil from being suspended from school or recommended for expulsion, unless the superintendent of the school district or the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil has committed a specified act, including, among other acts, disrupting school activities or otherwise willfully defying the valid authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators, school officials, or other school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties.

27

June 2020

Defunding LAUSD School Police

In June of 2020, BSS and our partner organizations worked in a broad based alliance with organizations such as Students Deserve, Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, and others to defund LA Unified’s School Police Force by $25 million, or roughly 35%. Funding from the cut is earmarked to support Black Student achievement.

28

2020

BSS Public Candidates Forum 2020

For our candidates forum, we had discussed issues of youth justice, youth development, equity in funding, and school climate! The forum featured candidates such as Tanya Ortiz Franklin and Patricia Castellanos, who are both running for the LAUSD Board District 7 Seat, and Holly Mitchell, who was running, and currently resides as LA County District 2 Supervisor.Due to the leadership of youth of color within the coalition, Holly Mitchell elected LA County District 2 Supervisor and Tanya Ortiz Franklin was elected to LAUSD Board District 7.

29

May 2021

YOUTH FREEDOM FORUMS

Young people, community members, stakeholders, and organizations from East LA, South Central, and Long Beach convened regionally to discuss and inform our Youth Bill of Rights platform.

30

September 2022

BSS YOUTH PODCAST

Youth leaders and community organizations collaborated to share their experiences and uplift the work they are doing in Los Angeles to an online audience. BSS youth spent months coordinating, learning public speaking skills, and learning how to work on a film set, and produce a podcast for an audience of their peers.

31

May 2023

School Climate Bill of Rights 10 Year Anniversary

In 2023, students, community, and Coalition members worked with LAUSD School Board Member Tanya Ortiz Franklin in developing a resolution that commemorates 10 years of the School Climate Bill of Rights. It honors the progress made thus far, and calls for the district to conduct a thorough quantitative and qualitative analysis of the implementation of the School Climate Bill of Rights.

32

August 2023

Brothers Sons Selves Coalition Summer Retreat

Youth from our partner organizations came together and participated in a 2 day retreat at Camp Bob Waldorf.

33

August 2023

BSS Youth Justice Fellowship Graduation

The 2023 Fellowship cohort graduated the 10 week youth justice fellowship and youth bonded with each other.

34

October 2023

SB274 Passing

The Coalition worked in partnership with the Alliance of Boys and Men of Color through lobbying efforts led by youth with elected officials in Sacramento. In a landmark achievement, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 274 (SB 274) into law which ensures that every student has the unequivocal right to a quality education regardless of their identity or appearance. It boldly eliminates suspension as a punitive response for minor misbehavior covered under the "disruption or willful defiance" category for California TK-12 students. This statewide win acts as a culminating result of a movement that first began in LAUSD 10 years ago. The Coalition continues to monitor for effective and accountable implementation.