We are excited to invite NYC parents impacted by the family policing system (ACS) to join Rise in building a Parents’ Platform!
If you have questions or want to get involved, email us at: organizing@risemagazine.org.
Participatory Action Research Project to Develop a Parents’ Platform
As parents impacted by the family policing system, we are developing a Parents’ Platform to amplify the experiences of families targeted, surveilled and separated by ACS and to advocate for real community-based support.
Through a Participatory Action Research (PAR) project, we are growing a shared understanding of what supports exist in communities — outside of ACS. We are beginning to imagine what real support for families looks like. The PAR project will inform and shape the Parents’ Platform.
Participatory Action Research is done by those most impacted by the issue they are doing research about. Our PAR team members are parents directly impacted by the family policing system.
As part of the PAR project, we are conducting a survey for NYC parents impacted by ACS to share your experiences and thoughts on the root causes of family stress and systems involvement in your communities. We are asking parents to identify common problems and share current solutions.
We are seeking to collectively reimagine how communities that are now under stress and vulnerable to family policing system involvement can become empowered with mechanisms of their own to prevent and address issues currently addressed by failing state interventions. Later this year, Rise plans to publish a report sharing data and recommendations from the PAR project.
>> Preview our initial recommendations: Target Conditions, Not Families
Complete the Survey and Join Us for a Poetry Workshop on May 13
This survey of NYC parents impacted by the family policing system is being conducted by Rise, in partnership with TakeRoot Justice as part of the PAR project. We want to hear from you about your experiences with the family policing system and about the ways you imagine community care can and should work.
>> Learn more and complete the survey.
On Thursday, May 13, from 4:00 to 5:30 pm, we invite parents impacted by ACS to join Rise for a poetry writing workshop. During this community event, we will create and share “Praise Poems” celebrating who we are, the gifts we offer and the journey we are on, and “Just Because Poems” that defy misconceptions and share who we truly are! You will also have an opportunity to complete the survey to share your experience and ideas about what real support should look like for families.
>> To RSVP for the poetry workshop, email: organizing@risemagazine.org
Community Conversations: Re-Imagining Community Support
Over the past eight months, Rise’s organizing team held nine community conversations led by and for parents impacted by ACS as part of the PAR Project to develop a Parents’ Platform for advocacy. In community conversations, parents shared their experiences and thoughts on root causes of family stress and systems involvement, identified problems and solutions and reimagined what real support for families looks like. In these discussions, parents called for peer support, information, resources and opportunities for their families and communities. These themes informed our proposed peer and community care model, which we view as one immediate strategy toward liberation, along with advocacy to fight for essential rights and resources.
Later this year, Rise plans to publish a report sharing recommendations and data from the PAR project’s community conversations and survey.
>> To learn more about community conversations, read Rise Community Conversations: A Space of Re-Imagining.
Meet the Rise PAR Team
- Halimah Washington, Community Coordinator
- Imani Worthy, Parent Leader
- Melissa Landrau, Contributor
- Naashia B, Contributor
- Shamara Kelly, Contributor
- Yvonne Smith, Contributor
- Bianca Shaw, Assistant Director for Programs and Culture