Social Justice Collective
Available to students, faculty, and community partners, the Collective will be a hub of programs, people, and resources to advance scholarship, civic engagement, education, training, and other efforts to reduce inequality and improve the lives of black people and other marginalized groups.
Created to provide dynamic and flexible responses to social justice issues, it will focus on three principle areas:
(1) Criminal justice reform (i.e., over-policing, police violence, charging and sentencing disparities, access to justice and legal representation, the cultural of punishment, higher education in prison)
(2) Voting rights (i.e., voter suppression, voter turnout, especially in communities of color, laws regarding disfranchisement of felons, voter education, democratic engagement)
(3) Economic inequality (i.e., poverty, the racial wealth gap, place-based problems of inequality in Atlanta)
The Social Justice Collective is designed to engage students, faculty and community partners through
(1) the evaluation and assessment of community organizations;
(2) consultation with organizations to enhance their effectiveness;
(3) the production of accessible research and policy papers used to advance policy reform;
(4) the education of various community and academic partners;
(5) trainings for community organizers, community members, social-justice organizations, and academic partners;
(6) and serving as a resource to the broader community seeking information relevant to their concerns. This list is not meant to be exhaustive. Rather, as a dynamic hub of social justice activity, the Collective will continually evolve in response to new visions, data, contexts, partnerships, and opportunities.
The 1st annual Social Justice Collective Showcase was held on April 26, 2021. Presentations made during the Showcase featured Oprah Winfrey and Michael Lomax scholars examining and creating solutions to social justice challenges, including gentrification, voter suppression, sentencing disparities, and food insecurity.