BATTLE is a path-breaking program of the Center of Institutional and Social Change at Columbia Law School. We work collaboratively with formerly incarcerated community leaders and law students in the development of racial and social justice reform strategies anchored in the credibility and leadership of individuals and communities impacted by structural racism and mass incarceration.
Our goals for our Community Leaders are:Â
- To cultivate community-led responses through critical participatory action research practices with formerly incarcerated leaders in effort to transform impacted communities’ relationship to power
- Transform legal education through actionable community engagement initiatives around civic engagement, participatory organizing, and transformative learning exchange through the lens of those who have been through the criminal justice system
- Further professional skills development, including:
- Coalition building
- Participatory organizing
- Critical Participatory Action Research as a form of strategic analysis, project design and implementation, and knowledge generation
- Facilitation of large and small group workshops
- Leadership development
- Mentoring