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Free LA! Youth Justice Coalition WIA Program
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Free LA! Youth Justice Coalition WIA Partnership
1137 E Redondo Blvd., Inglewood, CA 90302
Tel: (323) 235-4243 Fax: (323) 846-9472
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Kruti Parekh
Program Coordinator
e-mail
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Christian Chavarria
School Coordinator
e-mail
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Stephanie Marchese
Teacher
e-mail
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Cheri Moriwaki
Teacher
e-mail
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In the fall of 2007, John Muir Charter School joined the YJC WIA Partnership (Youth Justice Coalition / Work Investment Act) to found Free L.A. High School, a program to build stronger leadership and support the youth development needs of YJC members.
The school serves as an organizing institute and alternative to detention and incarceration for 50 youth. Instead of the traditional vocational training in construction or conservation, the YJC WIA Partnership serves in the vocational training of community empowerment and community change through education, training, action and organizing. The academic training is in all core subjects with as much integration of the organizing tools as possible.
The YJC WIA Partnership is dedicated to assisting young people who have been impacted by the system in achieving their high school diploma. While we specify ages 18-24 for school admission, we have taken in students as young as 15, based on their probation requirements and difficulty getting into other schools.
The students are the voices and leaders of the YJC WIA Partnership because they have been the most impacted by the system and are in a position to create the best recommendations for the changes that need to happen. Using the life experiences and street knowledge of the students, YJC WIA Partnership builds on students' academic, vocational and life skills.
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Our Youth Organizers -- called LOBOS (Leading Our Brothers and sisters Out of the System) -- with the assistance of the staff, do outreache in the community to find young people who have been kicked out or pushed out of other schools and are interested in getting their high school diplomas.
At Free LA!, it does not matter what is on the student's "criminal record" -- it is about the individual's experience in life, interests in learning and dreams for the future. It is a space where the student's experience in the system is transformed from a stigma to a credential.
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The building of math, reading and writing skills is a priority for Free LA High School. We incorporate all areas into the work that we do. Currently, three days of the week are dedicated to core academic subjects:
Math: Monday and Tuesday mornings
English: Monday and Tuesday afternoons
Science: Thursdays.
Wednesday and Friday are for Street University and Troublemakers -- vocational instruction combined with Social Studies.
Tuesday and Thursday evenings are for tutoring and assisting some of our full-time working students with their school progress.
Additionally, we have special scheduled tutoring sessions that assist students to be open to math in ways that have never been possible.
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All the facts, disparity, injustice that have set YJC's context make up the foundation of the vocational education component of Free LA High School. The vocational training that students receive incorporates Street University, Troublemakers, Meetings and Actions.
Our curriculum stems from organizing materials from the YJC over the last five years and is being revised every day to meet the academic needs of the school.
Street University was developed to build student leadership. It helps develop youth skills and experience in public speaking, research, writing, budgeting, non-profit administration, power analysis, public policy development and advocacy, organizing tactics and direct action; as well as an understanding the build-up and workings of the prison industrial complex and an appreciation for social justice organizing as a theory and field of work.
Troublemakers introduces participants to US and international movement history through readings, music, films, guest speakers and discussion.
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- Environmental Justice Project to create a green house with organic gardening, solar home and water heating and water conservation which can train youth in green careers, conservation, family/organic vs. factory farming, sustainable living in a desert environment and the effects of global warming, while also providing transitional and emergency housing dorms for Free LA students.
- Activist Arts that students create in comics, children's books, tables and street murals will eventually be showcased in published books, art shows and on the YJC's website.
- Entrepreneur Opportunities for artists to work on business plans, sell their work online, at a local store, etc.
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