The proceeds raised with this GoFundMe campaign will go towards funding E-SToPP’s 2015 Freedom School Summer Program at Miami Northwestern Senior High School. For every donation there will be a dollar for dollar match up to $25,000. About one third of the budget has been funded and with this completed campaign we expect to fully fund the summer program supporting education, community, and leadership.      

E-SToPP is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization  dedicated to eradicating the school-to-prison pipeline throughout southeastern Florida’s most economically disadvantaged communities by building a grass-roots network of transformative schools and educational opportunities for underserved and unserved youth. E-SToPP’s “safe haven” model provides youth, who are involved in or at risk of being involved in suspension,
expulsion, serious school failure, dropping out, and/or
incarceration, with hope for a new life through holistic care, empowering education, sustainability, and social
entrepreneurship. E-SToPP’s “safe haven” model empowers and prepares youth with sophisticated academic, vocational, social, health and wellness, and critical thinking tools and skills they need for successful high school graduation, college, work, and a healthy life as leaders in their community and society. E-SToPP ultimately provides open access, collaboration, and accountability through transformative research, education, and practice for the purpose of transforming public school and juvenile justice education systems. By advancing education for distressed, underprivileged, and disenfranchised youth and their families and communities, E-SToPP helps mitigate community violence, deterioration, prejudice, discrimination, and juvenile delinquency in the long-term. 

E-SToPP'S Freedom School 2015 Summer Program will be held July 6, 2015 through August 14, 2015 at Miami Northwestern Senior High School. The Freedom School brings students, parents, and community members together to participate in literacy rich activities and practice learning strategies built on community support. 

E-SToPP'S Freedom School 2015 Summer Program will run for 6 weeks, 7 hours a day, for 50 incoming 9th graders. After a successful summer program, E-SToPP plans to continue with a Freedom Schools 2015-2016 After-School Program. In following years, E-SToPP plans to bring Freedom Schools Summer and After-School Program to schools throughout Miami-Dade      E-SToPP sponsors the cost of the program, including staff, training (provided by E-SToPP) breakfast, lunch, and snacks, field trips, parent education workshops, and educational materials. 

Currently E-SToPP co-facilitates Miami-Dade Anti-Gang Strategy's Positive Peer Leadership Mentoring (PPLM) Program with the Miami-Dade County Juvenile Services Department at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center (TGK), and at the Miami-Dade Regional Juvenile Detention Center (JDC). The PPLM program at TGK and JDC is conducted weekly and brings incarcerated youth together in round table type discussions to address problems and negative circumstances that they have experienced and to work towards advocacy of positive actions.  The PPLM sessions at JDC are transcribed into the JDC Newsletter, a monthly publication written by the young men at JDC that details their thoughts on various topics discussed during PPLM. To receive the JDC Newsletter or find out more about E-SToPP, please see www.e-stopp.org.