Workshop offers fresh look at issues of race

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

A decade ago, Marilyn A. Moores, then a presiding judge of the Marion County Juvenile Court, was concerned about the disproportionate number of children of color coming before her.

She wasn't the only one. Cindy Booth, the chief executive officer of Child Advocates, felt the same way. She recognized that the percentage of African American children served by her agency was nearly double to that of the overall African American population in Marion County. 

At the time, the same concerns were being expressed on the state and national levels. In Indiana, a disproportionality summit was commissioned by General Assembly, and nationally, the Annie E. Casey Foundation was championing court-based training, research and reform initiatives to combat the problem. 

At the direction of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court judges, Moores opted to go a step further and formed the Courts Catalyzing Change Committee, and charged it with a simple agenda - to do something. Read more.