Cradle to Prison Pipeline Study Session

This Friday, the Council will hold a study session I've sponsored on the Cradle to Prison Pipeline.



The Cradle to Prison Pipeline campaign is a national effort of the Children’s Defense Fund to engage families, youth, community leaders, institutions and policy makers in the development of healthy, educated children. It promotes policies that put children on track to productive adulthood and opposes those that punish and criminalize children at younger and younger ages. The report, issued in 2007, served as a foundational document for Minneapolis’ Blueprint for Action: Preventing Youth Violence in Minneapolis.

At the study session we will be joined by Marian Wright Edelman, president and founder of the Children's Defense Fund. She is on town from Washington DC and we are inviting her to share her thoughts on the progress of the campaign, how our Youth Violence Prevention Plan supports it and how we, as local policymakers, can work better together to focus more attention on the crucial points in a child's development where risks and disadvantages converge to disrupt the successful path to adulthood.

Judge Pamela Alexander from the Council on Crime and Justice will also make a shorter presentation about how the Pipeline affects the children of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. There will be some time for questions and a brief discussion about possible policies and strategies we could use to dismantle the “Pipeline” at the local level.

In addition to Minneapolis Council Members and Mayor, we have invited the City Council Members and Mayor of Saint Paul, as well as Minneapolis School Board Members and Park and Recreation Board Members, and some of them have confirmed that they will be attending. The session will be broadcast and recorded, and you can watch it online here.