
RACE + DISABILITY Recordings
RACE + DISABILITY recordings of past programs
FISA Foundation, The Heinz Endowments and The Pittsburgh Foundation are partnering to strengthen our work at the intersection of race and disability, and to better address the needs of people of color with disabilities.
We hosted a series of webinars between March-December, 2021 and the recordings and materials are posted below.
Jump to a recording:
- Panel Discussion: Race + Disability
- Early Childhood Suspensions and Expulsions: Pushing out kids of color and kids with disabilities
- Digging Deeper: School Policing in Allegheny County
- Race + Disability: The Student Experience of School Policing
- Race, Disability, Organizational Culture, and Social Change: Promising Practices from Centers for Independent Living
- Dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline for Students of Color and Students with Disabilities
- School-to-Prison Pipeline: Examining the Role of Police in Schools and the Impacts of Policing on Students of Color and Students with Disabilities.
- Fostering Cultural Humility in Disability Services
- Inside-out work: Embedding racial equity in organizational culture
- Meeting the Needs of Human Trafficking Victims with Disabilities
- From Classroom to Dorm Room: Serving Survivors with Disabilities on Campus
- Transformative Justice in the Lives of Survivors with Disabilities
Panel discussion: RACE + DISABILITY
Local advocates speak about the barriers and discrimination encountered by people of color with disabilities. Panelists include:
- Paula Davis, Associate Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Health Sciences, University of Pittsburgh
- Jamie Upshaw, Executive Director, Autism Urban Connections
- Tiffany Sizemore, Esq., Director, Youth Advocacy Clinic at Duquesne University
- Aurelia Carter, Executive Director, Multicultural Disability Leadership Center
- Chaz Kellem, Director, PittServes
Early Childhood Suspensions and Expulsions: Pushing out kids of color and kids with disabilities
The Race + Disability webinar series has explored various aspects of the school-to-prison pipeline, examining how children of color and children with disabilities are disproportionately excluded from school and referred to the justice system. This process of exclusion begins even before kindergarten.
- Child care center expulsion rates are 13 times more than K-12 rates.
- State-funded pre-k programs expel children at three times the rate of K-12 schools.
- Young children who are suspended or expelled are 10 times more likely to hold negative attitudes about school, drop out of high school, and face incarcerations.
These resources were shared during the program:
- Early Childhood Suspensions and Expulsions slides
- Infographic from Trying Together showing the range of what Early Childhood Programming includes
- U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
POLICY STATEMENT ON INCLUSION OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES IN EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAMS September 14, 2015 - Fact sheet on Early Intervention, produced by Education Law Center of PA
- US Department of Health and Human Services, Expulsion and Suspension Policy Statement
- Addressing Suspensions and Expulsions: A Guide for Families, produced by Trying Together
- Advocacy campaigns to address early childhood issues
- Early Learning Resource Centers (ELRCs) are one-stop hubs for early education and child care needs. This is the link to Pennsylvania’s ELRC.
- Child Care and Pre-K Voter Project
Inside-out work: Embedding racial equity in organizational culture
In recent years, many organizations have expressed a commitment to racial equity and justice and taken important first steps. Truly integrating this commitment into the fabric of a nonprofit’s mission takes leadership, intentionality, and tangible, practical work. The journey requires authenticity, vulnerability, and a willingness to make mistakes, learn and do better. Please join us for this conversation between Michelle McMurray, Vice President of Program and Community Engagement at The Pittsburgh Foundation, and Tricia Gadson, CEO of Macedonia FACE, about what it takes to embed equity into organizational culture. Speakers will share progress that organizations have made in this area and note challenges associated with this work.
Meeting the Needs of Human Trafficking Victims with Disabilities
People with disabilities (including autism and intellectual disabilities) are at high risk for both sex and labor trafficking, with many cases including an element that is unique to people with disabilities: traffickers stealing their government benefits, such as Supplemental Security Income or Social Security Disability Insurance. This session will explore the issues facing victims of trafficking who have disabilities, including the unique ways they are trafficked and implications for service providers.
Materials from the session:
From Classroom to Dorm Room: Serving Survivors with Disabilities on Campus
Undergraduate students who have disabilities are nearly twice as likely as those without to report sexual violence. However, survivors with disabilities have been historically excluded by campus programs designed to prevent abuse and support survivors. This session will provide an overview on the barriers that student survivors with disabilities face in seeking out and receiving services on campus as well as solutions that educational institutions can implement to meet the needs of all students who experience sexual assault.
Materials from the session:
Use this link to view the video full screen or share with others: https://vera.wistia.com/medias/5d9rowprwa?
Transformative Justice in the Lives of Survivors with Disabilities
With high rates of victimization and incarceration, people with disabilities have an elevated likelihood of having contact with the criminal legal system. This contact can be deadly, with 50% of people killed by police in the United States having a disability. This long history of being harmed by the state-sponsored justice system has led people with disabilities, and specifically people of color with disabilities, to seek alternative ways to heal and promote accountability. Transformative Justice (TJ) was created by and for people from marginalized communities to respond to violence when calling the police may not be a viable or safe option.
- Transformative Justice Webinar – Resources shared November 2021
- Transformative Justice PowerPoint Nov 18 2021 webinar
Use this link to view the video full screen or to share with others: https://vera.wistia.com/medias/semegxenhk