13th ANNUAL JUSTICE RALLY
Legislative Asks

YOUTH JOBS

$23 M for YouthWorks, a state-funded employment program administered by the Commonwealth Corporation to help teen and young adults get the skills and experiences they need to find and keep jobs. It targets youth in low-wage-earning or fixed-income families in cities across the  Commonwealth. The paid short-term work experiences are at public, private, and nonprofit employers, with 90% of funds going to summer jobs and 10% to a year-round jobs program. By expanding job opportunities for youth and supporting them in acquiring the skills they need in the workplace, YouthWorks is part of a system creating a pipeline of skilled workers for employers.

$6.4 M for School to Career and Connecting Activities. This funding allows youth from low-income families to be paid to work at private sector companies that typically would not hire young people. This gives youth without financial connections the hands-on job experience afforded to affluent youth able to do unpaid internships or apprentice under family friends. The  funding is to recruit, place, and support youth in these jobs. 

JUVENILE JUSTICE

The juvenile justice system refers to local, county & state agencies that are responsible for responding to children accused of breaking the law. In MA, children between 12-18 years old may be arrested, charged in court, removed from their homes, and confined in secure, locked facilities. This system often targets youth of marginalized identities, as research shows that youth of color are incarcerated, arrested and charged at higher rates than their white counterparts. Juvenile justice refers to tackling this issue of mass incarceration, targeting and creating a less punitive environment.

Police out of schools: Removing student resource officers from schools. Recently, the law was changed so that school districts are no longer required to have an officer. However, many schools (particularly those with students of color) do have a police officer present in their schools. This leads to over policing and unsafe environments. There are currently a few proposed bills to promote decreasing police presence in schools in the works. 

Expungement: Expungement (erasing) of juvenile records after years without re-offending, to give youth hope and second chances. Even if a case is dismissed, it will remain on a juvenile’s record. The current law only allows 2 incidents to be expunged, and only allows certain offenses to be expunged. IHAF is pushing to expand eligibility by reducing or eliminating limits on the number of cases and reducing the list of ineligible offenses to those that cause serious harm (as opposed to simple possession of pepper spray, for example).

HOUSING

Housing justice is an incredibly broad topic that the IHAF coalition has addressed in various ways, typically stemming from the needs of youth who do not have stable housing. This year, the main legislation as advocated for by La Colaborativa (Chelsea Collaborative), are:

Housing stability- no evictions. Majorly popularized during spring 2020 amidst the COVID-19 crisis, the eviction and foreclosure moratoriums have gone in and out at the federal and state levels. Preventing evictions means that landlords cannot kick people out of their homes during the specified timeframe, even if the tenants cannot pay rent. Major opponents are landlords and banks, who claim this hurts their own finances deeply. 

Eviction sealing is similar to sealing criminal records. Landlords can access your eviction records and deny you housing based on past evictions, which often makes it difficult to find housing in the future. It becomes a cycle that can start before birth. 

Right-to-counsel would give legal representation to folks in the eviction process, similar to the right to an attorney in criminal cases. 

Rent control limits the way landlords can increase rent. It has been blocked since the 1990s in MA. 

EDUCATION

Act Relative for Healthy Youth for accurate, inclusive, and consent-based sex education. It calls for a curriculum that’s research-informed, medically accurate, age-appropriate, and provides a comprehensive range of topics, including the benefits of delaying sex, healthy relationships, consent, gender identity and sexual  orientation, effective contraceptive use, and the prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections  (STIs). Led by MassNOW. 

I Am bill for menstrual product access in schools and other public locations. Led by MassNOW.

*Fulfilling Education PROMISE: Led by BSAC. Holding legislators accountable for money they promised to schools, but they have not distributed the funding yet. 

*Student loans: Calls for increasing student loan assistance, and eventually wiping student loan debt. No specific bill on this.