Western Justice Center Empowers Inglewood High School Students Through Dialogue with Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke
Summary
WJC provides an antidote to the divisions gripping our nation by equipping young people with the tools to manage conflict, reduce violence, navigate complexity and embrace their differences in order to positively affect their future - and ours. The Dream Centers provide wraparound conflict resolution education, mental health counseling, and access to resources (food, housing, transportation) that are critical for students facing challenges of living in communities with high levels of violence and poverty. Faced with decreasing enrollment, increasing gentrification and the continuing academic and mental health impacts of the pandemic on already vulnerable student populations, our schools need all the help they can get – help that we can provide," said WJC Executive Director, Elissa Barrett. This gives us a powerful platform to create sustainable and replicable models for unlocking our collective potential to be free of violence – something that all young people deserve to have, regardless of the zip code where they live," said Shaune Gatlin, Director of Conflict Resolution Education Programs for WJC. Furthermore, Clarke shared her experiences as a professional Black woman navigating predominantly white, male-dominated spaces, offering insights on overcoming challenges and advocating for equity and inclusion.