CADRE Years in Review: 2010–2012

South LA parent organizing CADRE

Twelve Years of Parent Power and the Movement Still Rising

What This Report Is and Why It Matters

CADRE’s Years in Review: 2010–2012 is the organization’s first bi-annual impact report, a milestone document that steps back from individual campaigns to tell the larger story of what grassroots parent organizing in South Central Los Angeles has built, won, and set in motion over more than a decade.

Presented with the voices of CADRE parents, board members, and founding leaders, this report traces CADRE’s journey from its origins in co-founder Rosalinda Hill’s vision of a movement of thousands of parents, through to its emergence as a nationally recognized organization fighting the school-to-prison pipeline. It chronicles the courage of parents who turned personal stories of struggle, children suspended, pushed out, and failed by the system, into a force for systemic change.

At the heart of the report is a simple but radical belief that has guided CADRE since 2001: South LA parents are not the problem. They are the solution. Parents who were told it was too hard to reduce school suspensions became the people who helped change LAUSD policy for hundreds of thousands of students. Parents who were told to focus on being better parents became the people who helped build a national movement for dignity in schools.

The 2010 to 2012 period was a pivotal moment for CADRE. With the Discipline Foundation Policy in place and the first shadow report published, the organization was deepening its work on implementation, expanding its training and leadership development programs, and strengthening its role within the national Dignity in Schools Campaign. This report captures that phase: the wins, the ongoing challenges, and the expanding vision of what parent power can accomplish.

This report matters because it documents not just what CADRE achieved, but how: through relationships, trust, community knowledge, and the irreplaceable leadership of parents who refused to accept that their children’s schools would never change. It is an inspiring record of a community organization at its best: relentless, rooted, and transformative.

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Key Highlights

  • CADRE’s first bi-annual impact report, marking nearly twelve years of grassroots parent organizing in South Central Los Angeles
  • Celebrates the legacy of founding parent leader and co-founder Rosalinda Hill, whose vision of a parent-led movement shaped CADRE’s founding purpose
  • Documents CADRE’s core approach: transforming parents’ personal experiences advocating for their children into the capacity for systemic social change from the bottom up
  • Reflects on the victories of the 2007 Discipline Foundation Policy win and the 2010 shadow report while affirming the work is far from finished
  • Highlights CADRE’s role as a national leader in the movement to shift schools away from zero tolerance and toward positive, restorative, community-strengthening alternatives
  • Centers the voices of CADRE parents, core leaders, and board members in telling the story of the organization’s growth and impact
  • Captures CADRE’s deepening work on parent training, leadership development, and building statewide and national coalitions for education justice

Who This Resource Is For

  • Current and prospective CADRE members who want to understand the organization’s history, values, and impact
  • South LA families and community members who want to see the arc of parent organizing in their schools over time
  • Funders and movement partners interested in CADRE’s organizational model and track record
  • Organizers and nonprofit leaders studying grassroots parent organizing and leadership development models
  • Researchers and students studying community-based education advocacy, social movement building, and racial justice organizing in Los Angeles

Publication Details

Title: CADRE Years in Review: 2010–2012
Author: Community Asset Development Re-defining Education (CADRE)
Year: 2012
Executive Director and Co-Founder: Maisie Chin
Board Chair: Felicia Jones

This report is part of CADRE’s broader work to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline, outlined in our Theory of Change.

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