The ACLU of Nebraska teamed up with I Be Black Girl to run an awareness campaign during the back-to-school season about the school-to-prison pipeline.

The campaign used billboards and bus stops to tell the community about the concept, which refers to funneling of children from classrooms into the juvenile and criminal justice system when they are met with a criminal response, according to a news release.

Nebraska’s Black students are roughly three times more likely to be arrested at school than their white peers. Similar disparities exist for Indigenous, Hispanic and Latino students. The billboards and bus stop ads urge local and state leaders to invest in children’s futures, not incarceration.

Rose Godinez, legal and policy counsel at the ACLU of Nebraska, said it’s vital that leaders at every level acknowledge the disparities and take action to address them.

“Right now, the numbers are clear and highlight the harm that many students of color face in what is supposed to be a safe space focused on education and advancement,” Godinez said in a news release. “It’s a multifaceted problem and one of the solutions is changing where we’re sending our hard-earned taxpayer dollars. After 20 years of growth in our prison budget outpacing education, it’s time for a new approach. That means prioritizing our kids’ futures, not mass incarceration.”

 The awareness campaign follows the ACLU of Nebraska’s 2018 report “From the Classroom to the Courtroom,” which investigated the state’s school-to-prison pipeline. The report found cases across the state where class disruptions that could have been handled by school staff were instead referred to law enforcement, such as a student throwing an apple and a spoon at a classmate or two elementary school brothers yelling at each other.

“We are at a crossroads in this moment and have the opportunity to choose the right path — a path that invests in our youth, their dreams and aspirations, not the path that will continue to destroy their futures and our communities,” said Ashlei Spivey, founder of I Be Black Girl and board president of the ACLU of Nebraska.

The awareness campaign is affiliated with the ACLU of Nebraska’s Smart Justice campaign, which seeks to reduce the number of people who are imprisoned, address racial disparities, and advance public safety. Learn more at aclunebraska.org/prison.