Aditi Rajendran receives a Vision Grant

Aditi Rajendran has earned a $75K Vision Grant from the Spencer Foundation for their involvement with Breaking Carceral Logics: Using Community Asset Mapping to Inform Alternatives to Punitive School Discipline in the Twin Cities. 

This project aims to support scholars, educators, and community members in identifying and leveraging existing community assets to develop restorative practices that reflect local strengths and aspirations. By building on community strengths and fostering a collaborative approach to school discipline reform, we seek to move away from carceral logics and towards restorative, community-based solutions.

"My research explores how leadership shifts policies and practices towards more racially just schools and systems. I employ community-engaged and participatory design research methods to build more authentic and equitable collaborations between universities, schools, and communities. I draw on critical and Indigenous theories to center the knowledges, histories, experiences, and agency of communities of color leading equity-focused organizational change."