Does all the stuff you read here make you mad?! Well, research has shown that keeping your anger inside is DEFINITELY Bad For You. So here is a list of organizations you can connect to in order to take action!
DIRECT-ACTION KID ORGANIZATIONS
NATIONAL YOUTH RIGHTS
A youth-led national non-profit group dedicated to defending the civil and human rights of young people which focuses on curfew laws, corporal punishment, restrictions on video games sales, the spread of the Mosquito, kids’ free speech, zero tolerance policies and lowering the voting age.
KIDSPEAK
Born out of kids fighting Harry Potter book bans in school, kidSPEAK now encompasses youths’ free speech battles across the country. These rights are not as broad as the rights of adults because they have been limited by courts in the United States and elsewhere. However, where these rights exist, kidSPEAK will help kids fight for them.
PEACE FIRE
Billing itself as Open Access for the Net Generation, Peace Fire is open to members of any age, as long as they are against censorship of students and people under 18. One of the first topics the group took on was censorware (because Peace Fire was also one of the first groups blocked by it!)
FREE CHILD PROJECT
The Freechild Project promotes kids leading their communities in activism for social change and envisions a society where every young person is engaged in powerful, purposeful, and positive social change.
THE YOUTH ACTIVISM PROJECT
This group strives to promotes youth civic engagement – especially in the areas of school policies, city ordinances, state laws, national legislation and international issues and provides a free advice hotline 1-800-KID-POWER to help young people’s proposals be taken seriously by the powers-that-be.
YOUTH SERVICE AMERICA
Connects young people, ages 5-25, to volunteer organizations to serve in substantive roles. YSA supports a global culture of engaged youth committed to a lifetime of service, learning, leadership, and achievement.
THE CENTER FOR TEEN EMPOWERMENT
Teen Empowerment hires and trains urban youth, including at-risk youth, to be community organizers, believing that urban youth represent a valuable, untapped resource that can help rejuvenate neighborhoods and local institutions.
YOUTH ACTION NET
Website is collection of stories of young people from around the world who are fighting for social justice, opportunity, and equality in their cities and nations, and globally.
WHAT KIDS CAN DO
This popular website features voices and work from the next generation in news stories from across the US, highlighting the ability of students to plan, deliver, and learn from serving their community.
TakingITGlobal
An international organization, led by youth, empowered by technology. TIG brings together young people in more than 190 countries within international networks to collaborate on concrete projects addressing global problems and creating positive change.
SUPPORT GROUPS
YOUTH RIGHTS:
CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS FOUNDATION
CRF is a non-profit, non-partisan, community-based organization dedicated to educating America’s young people about the importance of civic participation in a democratic society.
FREE SPEECH – CENSORSHIP:
STUDENT PRESS LAW CENTER
SPLC is an advocate for student free-press rights and provides information, advice, and legal assistance at no charge to students and the educators who work with them.
PROJECT CENSORED
The mission of Project Censored is to teach students and the public about the role of a free press in a free society – and to tell the News That Didn’t Make the News and Why. Most famous for its Top 25 Censored news stories each year.
FREE EXPRESSION POLICY PROJECT
www.fepproject.org/issues/
Section of site focuses on issues around censorship of youth.
COMIC LEGAL DEFENSE FUND
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of the First Amendment rights of the comics art form and its community of retailers, creators, publishers, librarians, and readers. The CBLDF provides legal referrals, representation, advice, assistance, and education in furtherance of these goals.
AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
ALA is one of the strongest groups working against kids’ book bans, and fighting censorship in libraries. The ALA also sponsors an annual event called Banned Book Week (www.bannedbooksweek.org). Another part of ALA’s site is called the Freedom to Read Foundation. They are the only organization in the US whose primary goal is to protect and promote the First Amendment in libraries.
NATIONAL COALITION AGAINST CENSORSHIP ALLIANCE
NCAC strives to create a climate of opinion hospitable to First Amendment freedoms in the broader community. They also support the KIDS’ RIGHT TO READ PROJECT which provides advice and assistance to students, teachers and others opposing book-banning in schools and communities nationwide as well as supplying educational materials to promote community awareness about the right to read,î and supports local activism by reaching out to students, teachers, booksellers, librarians, journalists, and other community members. Also tracks book censorship incidents across the country.
ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION
A kind of ACLU for the geek world, EFF is both a legal defense fund fighting for privacy and free speech online, as well as an activist organization that educates the public about the complicated intersection of cutting-edge tech and the legal issues it creates.
CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY
CDT works to promote democratic values and constitutional liberties in the digital age by monitoring and advocating on Internet-related policy issues, including free speech, privacy, copyright, and government surveillance.
GAME POLITICS
A website (often used by this book for research) covering a number of issues on gaming, including the latest news on game censorship and related legislation.
ENTERTAINMENT CONSUMERS ASSOCIATION
ECA is a non-profit founded to give gamers a collective voice with which to communicate their concerns, address their issues and focus their advocacy efforts.
THE ESCAPIST
Website devoted to the betterment of role-playing games and the education of the public and media of their benefits to society. Features an unofficial homepage for CAR-PG (The Committee for the Advancement of Role-Playing Games).
PLAY (PLAYGROUND, SKATEBOARD):
KABOOM
KaBOOM! is a national non-profit dedicated to saving play for America’s children. Their mission is to work with local communities to help create imaginitive playspaces for kids in a fixed time period of one day!
THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE CHILD’S RIGHT TO PLAY
This group is a necessary response to an unnecessary evil – the well-meaning, misinformed pundits who are trying to do away with childish things like recess and free play. This group is a part of The International Play Association (IPA), which provides a forum and advocacy for the promotion of play opportunities.
THE US PLAY COALITION
www.usplaycoalition.clemson.
US Play is a partnership to promote the value of play throughout one’s life. It consists of individuals and organizations that recognize play as a valuable and necessary part of a healthy and productive life.
UNDERGROUND MOMS
Not moms living in tunnels, but a website whose members call into question the fear and safety obsessed culture of parenting. Many links to similar-minded authors like founding member-mom Lenore Skenazy (Free-Range Kids) mentioned in this book.
SKATE PARK ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
SPAUSA is a group with experienced skaters as members. They have available on the site a good info packet, a skate park directory and an advisory board to consult if a community or group wants to try to build their own skate park.
TONY HAWK FOUNDATION
Skateboard extraordinaire Tony Hawk formed this Foundation to support and help fund recreational programs with a focus on the creation of public skateboard parks in low-income communities.
HOMEWORK – TESTING :
STOP HOMEWORK
Stop Homework is a resource loaded website with anti-homework info, created by Sara Bennett, co-author of The Case Against Homework: How Homework Is Hurting Our Children and What We Can Do About It.
THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR FAIR & OPEN TESTING
NCFFOT works to end the misuses and flaws of standardized testing and to ensure that evaluation of students, teachers and schools is fair, open, valid and educationally beneficial.
END THE RACE TO NOWHERE
End The Race is intended to be a resource for young people and the adults who impact their lives on the topic of education and its emphasis on high-stakes testing.
CHALLENGE SUCCESS
The Challenge Success program addresses the concern that children and adolescents often compromise their mental and physical health, integrity, and engagement in learning as they contend with performance pressure in and out of school. Challenge Success is an expanded version of the Stanford University School of Education Stressed Out Students Project
ZERO TOLERANCE (CORPORAL PUNISHMENT):
THE DIGNITY IN SCHOOLS CAMPAIGN
DSC unites parents, youth, advocates and educators to support alternatives to a culture of zero-tolerance, punishment and removal in our schools.
PARENTS AND TEACHERS AGAINST VIOLENCE IN EDUCATION
Nospank takes the position that children should no longer be excluded from the legal protections against assault and battery that apply to adults.
UNLIMITED JUSTICE
Unlimitedjustice.com
Campaigners against corporal punishment in the schools.
THE HITTING STOPS HERE
Goal of this group is to create national awareness of sanctioned school beatings and to provide info on the harm it produces in children and society.