Gwinnett SToPP seeks to build and strengthen relationships within the community through public awareness, empowerment, and advocacy.

Advocacy Training Workshops

Our first goal is to increase public awareness of the injustice that children face within the educational system as it relates to the school to prison pipeline (STPP) and the judicial process.  To facilitate this both within and outside of Gwinnett’s borders, we developed three highly interactive workshops as well as an extensive education advocacy-training program for parents, community members and organizations.  Gwinnett SToPP has presented at Southern Education Foundation’s Southern Education Leadership Initiative, John Marshall Law School and Georgia PTA Convention and Leadership Training Conference, just to name a few.

Our specialized workshops have been very successful in providing parents with the necessary tools to be an informed partner in their students’ education.

Gwinnett SToPP partnered with the ACLU of Georgia, Atlanta Community Engagement Team (ACET), Interfaith Children’s Movement and Georgia State Conference NAACP to facilitate a successful series of statewide STPP forums designed to educate parents and community stakeholders. We also participate in the Dignity in Schools yearly Week of Action event to bring attention to school pushout.

Parent Leadership Institute

Secondly, we empower parents by offering the Parent Leadership Institute each year. PLI seeks to develop coordinated parent project teams to drive school discipline reform. We believe that caring adults who are informed and understand these specific links, will be the single most important driver in dismantling the school to prison pipeline that exists in our community as well as numerous others across the nation.

Finding New Directions

Lastly, Gwinnett SToPP advocates for policy changes through data accountability and fact-based incident reporting. These serve to support and strengthen educational equity while dismantling the school to prison pipeline in Gwinnett County.