The Core Blog

With the 85th Session of the Texas Legislature in full swing, we wanted to share the list of priorities that Texas Appleseed will be working on. You can stay updated on specific issues and bills here. We'll have blog posts covering each issue, which we'll update throughout session. Criminal Justice Reform End Jail Time for Unpaid Fines in Texas Too often, traffic tickets and fines in other low-level misdemeanor cases derail low-income Texans' lives, sending

Hear Board Chair Elizabeth Mack, Founding Board Chair Greg Huffman, and long-time board member David Sharp talk about why they think the work of Texas Appleseed is important. Bonus: if Texas Appleseed were an animal, what kind of animal would it be? If you agree with them on why what we do matters, please consider an end-of-year donation. Board Members on the Importance of Our Work Video of Board Members on the Importance of Our

We asked three of our board members, current Chair Elizabeth Mack, founding Chair, Greg Huffman, and long-time board member David Sharp, to reflect on their experiences and highlights with Texas Appleseed. We are proud to have such an amazing and involved board, and we're glad that the feeling is reciprocated, at least by these three board members. Board Member Reflections on Texas Appleseed Video of Board Member Reflections on Texas Appleseed

Note: this post is an edited and condensed version of a wide-ranging conversation held between Judge Byrne and Texas Appleseed staff. Judge Darlene Byrne was first elected to the 126th Civil District Court in Travis County in 2001. She took over all child welfare cases in 2007, and also has the crossover docket of all children who are involved in both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. She helped her court become a Model

This year, Texas Appleseed staff and volunteers traveled all over the state to interview over a hundred youth who were experiencing homelessness. They told us of devastating abuse that drove them onto the streets, the cold and hunger they faced, the complete absence of any adult they could trust. In spite of these stories, we were deeply moved by the openness, warmth, and resilience of the youth we met. You can hear their stories directly

Texas Appleseed’s youth justice reform work epitomizes what a relatively small but mighty advocacy organization can do to improve the treatment of youth who become ensnared in the juvenile justice system. Reforms advanced by Texas Appleseed in the juvenile justice arena have, over the years, helped to change the lives of thousands of youth – youth who otherwise would have been cast out of school, locked up, and denied the opportunities owed to all children

Jim Bethke, Executive Director of Texas' Indigent Defense Commission, discusses the passage of the Fair Defense Act of 2001 and its implications for all Texans. This video is part of Texas Appleseed's 20th anniversary. #TXAppleseedTurns20 Director of the Texas Indigent Defense Commission Discusses Groundbreaking Fair Defense Act Video of Director of the Texas Indigent Defense Commission Discusses Groundbreaking Fair Defense Act

In 2015, Texas Appleseed released Suspended Childhood: An Analysis of Exclusionary Discipline of Texas’ Pre-K and Elementary School Students. The first-of-its-kind report quantifies thousands of discretionary suspensions that are given to pre-K through second graders every year. It also points out the disparities in who receives these types of suspensions: Black children, boys, and students with special education needs are pushed out of class at unequal rates compared to their peers. We believe that these

On December 15th, 2016, Texas Appleseed and Texans Care for Children released Dangerous Discipline: How Texas schools are relying on law enforcement, courts, and juvenile probation to discipline students. Data in the report show that students in Texas schools are arrested, sent to adult criminal courts, referred to juvenile probation, and experience use of force incidents at alarming rates, often for relatively minor misbehaviors. Meanwhile, the budget for school security services is often many multiples

In 2010 Texas Appleseed released a groundbreaking report on policing in Texas schools. The report documented the explosive growth in the number of police in schools, prompted in part by the now-discredited narrative of a generation of “super-predators” entering schools and controversial “broken-windows” theories of policing. From the ‘90s to the present day, the number of school resource officers on campus in Texas grew by leaps and bounds. The report showed that school police in

When a loved one deteriorates in health or mental capacity and can no longer manage their own money, we, as family members, often are the ones to step in. But with limited experience, it can be a maze to figure out the right things to do. As part of an effort to prevent elder financial abuse, Texas Appleseed is partnering with AARP Texas to adapt the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Managing Someone Else’s Money series

One our taglines at Texas Appleseed is “Sowing the Seeds of Justice.” And, as any gardener knows, it can take a long time and a lot of work to see those seeds grow and bear fruit. The Michael Morton Act and criminal discovery reform is one example of the persistence we know it takes to achieve real reform. Michael Morton was convicted of the murder of his wife and sentenced to life in prison in