Facing Race: A National Conference in St. Louis, MO — November 20-22, 2024

Regional Youth Interns

Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion
Drawing on over 50 years of youth leadership development programming in Metro Detroit our regional youth interns and alumni are part of a paid 14 month social justice internship that brings youth ages 14-21 from across the Metro Detroit area together to develop the awareness, knowledge, and skills of youth – both locally and statewide – by supporting their passions around social justice to create transformational change in their communities as organizers and leaders.

Presentations from Facing Race 2018

Pipes and Ladders: The Impact of Mass Incarceration on Youth and the Community

An interactive workshop simulating the school to prison pipeline through a favorite childhood game of "Chutes (Pipes) and Ladders". Participants will explore the impact of racial spatial segregation on schools and those impacts on black and brown students through experiencing first hand how an individual life is impacted by institutional and systemic policies. The workshop will also include dialogue exploring the disparity between public, private, and charter schools and how race, location, and financial opportunities can affect student success. Finally, workshop leaders will share their action driven solutions to these large issues in local communities.

Many conversations occur nationwide around the topic of mass incarceration but few are youth led. This workshop is planned, researched, and executed entirely by youth, for youth who want to explore deeper the issues facilitated by the school to prison pipeline. The Regional Youth Interns of the Michigan Roundtable will facilitate this workshop shaping a new narrative for mass incarceration work reaching to alumni of the program and youth activists on the ground in Michigan fighting against mass incarceration in a fish bowl style discussion to round out the session.

Speakers: Yusef Shakur, Regional Youth Interns