As a teenager growing up in South Central, my lived experiences were more than enough for me to be aware there were different systems set in place to keep our community struggling. I knew I didn’t particularly appreciate how the police and school staff saw the people in my neighborhood. When my older brother got funneled through the School to Prison Pipeline, I knew that I wanted to be part of the people making a collective change in our community. I was told that I had to go to college to help my community, so I went away for a couple of years. After graduating from university, I was determined to reconnect with my community and join some of the community organizations advocating or organizing for change. I moved back to Los Angeles and began my search for community-led organizations. In 2018, I applied for the Public Allies Los Angeles program, a 10-month program that connected individuals with local organizations. I was matched with the amazing parent-led organization that CADRE is.

When I first walked into the office, I saw staff members who were people of color who grew up in the surrounding zip codes of CADRE or similar conditions across Los Angeles and felt welcomed at ease. As I sat on the couch waiting for my interview, I read the timeline on the wall. I read that CADRE parents were a leading voice in ending ‘suspension by willful defiance’ in LAUSD, and I felt proud that parents from our area showed up to LAUSD board meetings and demanded change.

Having been raised in South Central, I recognized the value of the invisible work of CADRE and the Black and Brown solidarity it fosters. CADRE provides parents access to knowledge and skills to support their development as community leaders, something unlikely and rare in our community. When CADRE parents advocate for other people’s children or the collective of Black and Brown students, they are doing the work to actively stop our children and youth from being funneled to the School-To-Prison Pipeline and the Migrant Detention Industrial Complex.