VOYCE

Youth Transforming School and Community Safety Through a Holistic Approach

Voices of Youth in Chicago Education

Convened by Communities United, Voices of Youth in Chicago Education (VOYCE) is a youth organizing alliance led by students of color from across Chicago. Through VOYCE, young people have been leading a movement to transform what safety means in schools and communities, advancing a vision for healing-centered schools and communities.

Through organizing efforts and by lifting up their narratives, VOYCE youth leaders have made significant progress in shifting the narrative on what safety should look like for communities of color, making sweeping changes to end zero-tolerance practices and expand the use of restorative justice, and helped paved the way to the reinvestment over $3.2 million from police in schools into holistic approaches to school safety.

PROGRESS MADE

Created the nation’s most comprehensive statewide school discipline reform, SB100, ending zero tolerance at all publicly-funded schools in Illinois.
Youth-led research and organizing work led to key changes in Chicago Public Schools Student Code of Conduct to approach student drug and alcohol use through a public health approach.
Along with our allies: Community Organizing on Family Issues (COFI), The ARK of St. Sabina, BUILD Inc, and Mikva Challenge, VOYCE partnered with CPS to lead the district’s community engagement process leading to a reinvestment of over $3.8 million from police toward holistic approaches to school safety in the third-largest school district in the country.

MEET

Derion Smith

Derion Smith is a VOYCE youth leader and a recent graduate of Mather High School. Derion has been a part of the Whole School Safety Initiative which is leading the engagement of CPS schools to re-evaluate what it means for students to be safe in schools and use a holistic approach to the issue. In his work, he has felt powerful moments that have helped him advance his journey to heal and strives to lead his fellow young people in their own journey of healing. “I believe in the power of...

Derion Smith

Derion Smith is a VOYCE youth leader and a recent graduate of Mather High School. Derion has been a part of the Whole School Safety Initiative which is leading the engagement of CPS schools to re-evaluate what it means for students to be safe in schools and use a holistic approach to the issue. In his work, he has felt powerful moments that have helped him advance his journey to heal and strives to lead his fellow young people in their own journey of healing. “I believe in the power of...

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RESOURCES

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RECENT MEDIA COVERAGE

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

School resource officers are under scrutiny again in CPS as dozens of high schools reconsider the controversial police program

Forty-one high schools will once again evaluate their safety plans and decide by June 15 if they will continue in Chicago Public Schools’ controversial school resource officer program.

CPS Looking to Improve Transparency, Accountability as It Continues to Rethink School Safety

Chicago Public Schools said it expects to begin publishing student discipline and safety data in the coming weeks, a year after dozens of high schools voted to reduce or eliminate their school resource officer (SRO) programs.

CPS Agrees To Take 1 Officer Out Of Each Of 24 Schools That Voted For Removal

The decision to respect schools' wishes comes after the district's safety chief initially said two cops would temporarily remain at the high schools that voted to keep only one officer.