Comments to the Forum on Minority Issues of the United Nations Human Rights Council Regarding: “Draft Recommendations on Minorities and the Right to Education” 18 November 2008 Submitted by: Maisie Chin, Director/Co-Founder, Community Asset Development Re-defining Education (CADRE), Los Angeles, California, United States December 2008 Contact Information: Mailing Address: 8510 ½ South Broadway, Los Angeles, California, 90003, U.S. Office Phone: +1-323-752-9997 Office Fax: +1-323-752-9993 Email: maisie@cadre-la.org Website: www.cadre-la.org Good afternoon. Madame Chair, Ms. McDougall, Distinguished Experts and Delegates, thank you for this opportunity to bring the voices of minority parents in Los Angeles, California to this inaugural Forum on Minority Issues. My name is Maisie Chin and I am from the United States. I am the Co-Founder and Director of an NGO in Los Angeles, California, called CADRE – which stands for Community Asset Development Re-defining Education. We are an independent, community-based, parent membership organization. Today I am representing our members, low-income and poor minority adults of color who are parents and/or caregivers of children who attend our local public schools, and whose capacity and leadership are being built through our model of facilitating empowerment from the ground up. However, our parents’ children, like those in many American cities, are also being systematically excluded and pushed out of school through substandard educational quality, hostile environments, degrading treatment, and abusive discipline within our public educational system, from which we expect opportunities and recognition of every child’s potential and self-determination. Beyond the low levels of academic achievement among minority children of color, few options then remain beyond gang