PROTECTED CLASS NETWORK
The Protected Campaign’s second phase involves the creation of a Protected Class Network of Black-led groups that agree to push Protected Class Legislation in their own city councils. We are serving as the hub for this network. Our initial partners are:
Winnable Criminal Justice Reform!
For the first time in its annual guide, the Prison Policy Initiative, the anti-mass incarceration movement’s foremost research and policy organization, included “barring discrimination against people based on conviction history” as a “winnable criminal justice reform in 2023”—and referred organizers to both the Atlanta ordinance and Barred Business.
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Free Hearts (Nashville, Tennessee), an organization led by formerly incarcerated women that provides support, education, advocacy, and organizing families impacted by incarceration, with the ultimate goals of reuniting families and strengthening communities.
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The Black Collective (Miami, Florida), founded by two Black women, that centers the experiences of the African diaspora and is committed to promoting a shared agenda to elevate political consciousness and amplify the economic power of Black communities.
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Equity and Transformation (E.A.T.) Chicago is a non-profit, community-led organization founded by and for post-incarcerated people to uplift the voices and power of Black Chicagoans engaged in the informal economy.