Disrupting the Cradle to Prison Pipeline

The goal of this conference is to increase the awareness of the impact of trauma on learning and life outcomes; map the impact and influence of various systems and programs on the Cradle to Success path of Hartford children and youth; and launch a citywide “get to mission” effort to mitigate trauma, its effects in the classroom, and improve the overall life outcomes of Hartford children, youth, and families. Specifically, A Life Course Framework for Improving Disadvantaged Populations (including the Lives of Boys and Young Men of Color), developed by Forward Change Consulting, provides a holistic analytic framework and a strategic canvas for improving the life outcomes for children and youth. Through a survey of research charting economic, criminal justice, family and socio-ecological changes in the U.S. over the past forty years, the framework articulates how race, gender and place intersect in ways that drive disparate life outcomes for disadvantaged children and young adults. Also, an in-depth a presentation of the School-to-Prison will apply the concepts and principles of the Life Course Framework to the pattern of destructive feedback loops that comprise the pipeline from preschool to prison. Throughout the presentations, key challenges and opportunities of the early childhood workforce will be highlighted with an emphasis to further support the delivery of high-quality education in our classrooms.