Less policing more counseling that

demand from high school students

marching through essex county today as

they continue their push

for more investment in mental health

help and equity in education

as a means to reduce the prison pipeline

Leah Mishkin reports as part of our

ongoing series

chasing the dream looking at poverty

justice and economic opportunity in

america

these high school students are marching

because they've had enough they say they

have

outdated and old textbooks disinterested

unmotivated teachers and zero mental

health programming

i didn't have that support i need to be

able to speak to my emotions of how i

felt

18 year old francisco huega says she

lost her cousin

and a best friend during the pandemic

school was virtual and the newark

resident had

no access to a counselor most students

are going through

even more difficult challenges as i am

speaking

the incoming high school senior is here

calling on the state to

invest american rescue plan funds in

education

more guidance counselors and mental

health services

in schools across the state something

echoed by new jersey institute for

social justice

director of community engagement rita

onitiri

we also wanted to make sure that we put

a

put attention on the school the prison

pipeline

and that there should be less investment

in

cops in school right less investment and

incarceration

for example new jersey has the highest

racial disparity incarceration rate

in the country the black child for

instance is

20 times more likely to be locked up in

comparison to

a white child the youth incarceration

rate

has gone down in the state but just look

at a snapshot of the state's juvenile

justice commission data

and you'll see the racial disparities

that still persist

the most recent statistics available

from november 27

2020 shows 85 young boys were committed

57 were black 21 hispanic

and six white more than half of the

young girls committed

were black or hispanic dr jason williams

is associate professor of justice

studies

at montclair state university throughout

the 90s

you had to get tough movement instead of

approaching children through a

therapeutic lens which was supposed to

be the foundation of the juvenile

justice system

we began to sort of throw them away

unfortunately and so with that came

the also to throw in a way of resources

such as mental health

resources and school counselors but also

community-based counselors

dr williams explains if funds are

diverted back into those resources

there will be a shift in recidivism and

racial disparities a lot of youth of

color in particular

they are dealing with the ptsd of having

to live through

poverty racism and then the violence

that comes with livid and some of those

communities that

many of them come from unfortunately he

says the key is to have community-based

resources

invest in schools investing community

programming

to make sure that they stay out of the

system in the first place

i did have some friend who went to jail

it's not because

he did something wrong but it's because

he was

at the wrong place at the wrong time

francisca huega plans to study

architecture and graphic design when she

graduates high school

for now she's taking on the role of

activists fighting for new and updated

textbooks

better qualified teachers more college

access programs

and mental health services for all

students

in newark for NJ Spotlight News thank

you

I'm Leah Mishkin

major funding for chasing the dream

is provided by the JPB Foundation

with additional funding from the Peter G

Peterson and Joan Ganz Cooney fund