Alas creates educational access for youth by training educators to connect undocumented students with legal representation and advocate for students to remain in schools instead of being in jail during the pre-trial period.
What We Do
ALAS trains educators with trauma-informed approaches to:
1) connect undocumented students with legal representation.
2) write mitigation letters to criminal court judges.
Legal Representation
Mitigation Letters
What We Do
Why We Do It
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Why We Do it
Educational Access
Students deserve educational access. The United States is the mass incarceration capital of the world. Our legal systems become barriers to education for students in both criminal court and immigration proceedings.
An Injustice
In New Orleans alone there are 1,100 student arrests. Those who cannot afford to post bail wait in jail for a minimum of 2 months and a maximum of 2 years before trial. This increases trauma, drop-out rates, and recidivism.
0% Advance
2,400 students in Orleans Parish are English Language Learners. In one Orleans Parish network of high achieving high schools 74% of all graduates continue to post-secondary learning options each year. Because undocumented students do not qualify for in-state tuition rates, 0% have advanced to higher education.
What We Do
Why We Do It
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How We Started
Starting in 2015, together with students, families and community partners, high school teacher and social worker Lisa Maria Rhodes developed a system of support for system impacted youth that were experiencing legal barriers to their education due to immigration or criminal court proceedings.
Over the next 5 years ALAS expanded to 9 more schools, training over 200 teachers in Louisiana. In 2019, ALAS became an official 501c3 non-profit organization.
What We Do
Why We Do It
DATA
STRATEGY
Founding
Wins
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The Injustice
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