Peacebuilding Brownbag:

School Safety Collaboratives

School Safety Collaboratives usually target a specific campus and can be comprised of school administrators, school police, government human relations and related department representatives, and community-based organizations. They work on community solutions for helping students feel safe during school hours and those immediately before and after, and help build human relations on campus. For instance, safe passages programs consist of community adults who volunteer to be outside in areas where youth walk to and from school in order to show a watchful presence so that youth can feel safe. Similar youth safety collaboratives can work on helping youth feel safe in other aspects of their lives. 

The objectives of the Training on August 14th were to provide examples of best practices in school and youth safety collaboratives, including on prorgrams such as safe passages; discuss how school and youth safety collaboratives might work in Pasadena, Altadena, and surrounding communities; and provide resources for building school and youth safety collaboratives.

Please click on the links below to access the panelist presentations, as well as resources from the training.

Panelist Presentations:

Cherylynn Hoff

Currently a Senior Intergroup Relations Specialist, she began her work with the Commission in 1999 on a pilot L.A County collaborative that was part of a California State initiative (SB1095) to transition juvenile offenders back into their communities. Ms. Hoff coordinated the implementation of a human relations curriculum, including sensitivity and identity development workshops, to youth in probation camps and community schools. Ms. Hoff also was also responsible for coordinating the Commission's Human Relations Mutual Assistance Consortium that assists L.A. County cities in implementing strategies to prevent intergroup conflict by providing trainings in community building, community conflict resolution, and the development of citywide intergroup relations plans. She also coordinated the Media Image Coalition, the first of its kind uniting media advocacy groups to impact more accurate, respectful and balanced images and hiring of underrepresented groups in the media. She currently coordinates Youth ACT, a youth advisory council comprised of diverse youth who advise the development of the Commission's youth initiatives, including its Zerhohour anti-discrimination youth campaign developed with Rock the Vote. Ms. Hoff organized a youth conference on non-violence that won a County Productivity & Quality Award. She holds a B.A. in Humanities from U.C. Berkeley and will receive her M.A. in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in June 2004.

Aisha Martin-Walton

Currently Ms. Martin-Walton is Chief of the California Community Relations Service (CCRS), a mediation and community conflict resolution service within the California Attorney General’s Office. As Chief, Ms. Martin-Walton and her staff respond to conflict situations throughout California that threaten peaceful relations between communities, law enforcement, schools and local governments. Tensions can rise from allegations of excessive force, hate crimes, violence in schools or whenever civil rights are thought to be violated. In addition to conducting statewide conflict mediation, since 2003, the CCRS has facilitated school-based safe passage strategy dialogues within the Los Angeles Unified School District, local law enforcement agencies and other first responder agencies, in response to the victimization of high school students by gang members as they walk to and from school or wait at bus stops. Ms. Martin-Walton is a graduate of the U.C. Davis, with a degree in psychology. 

Michael Hopwood

Mr. Hopwood currently serves as the Coordinator of Operations and Safety for Los Angeles Unified School District, Local District 7, where he provides operational leadership, training and staff development to principals in the areas of school operations, including school safety, school emergencies, and school safety plans. Mr. Hopwood oversees the establishment of School Community Safety Collaboratives in Local District 7 focusing on Safe Passages, Human Relations, Gang and Violence Prevention. These collaboratives serve as a model for LAUSD. As a school administrator, he has coordinated successful anti-violence programs including: L.A. Bridges Program, Young Negotiators Conflict Resolution, Gang Risk Intervention Program (GRIP), 21st Century Program, and the After School/Safe School Program. Mr. Hopwood is a graduate of the Association of California School Administrators Principals Academy and the State of California School Leadership Academy. He serves on the Watts Gang Task Force, Assembly Member Karen Bass 47th Assembly District Education Commission, The County Wide Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, the Los Angeles County Inter-Agency Gang Task Force, and the Education is a Civil Right Steering Committee. He has over 23 years as an educator. 

Additional Resources:

Michael Hopwood's PowerPoint Presentation

Resource List for School Safety Collaboratives

Pasadena Now Article Making Schools Safe