By Megan Sayles
AFRO Staff Writer
msayles@afro.com
Silver Spring, Md. native Danielle Blocker established Young People for Progress, a community organizing and social justice nonprofit for people under age 35 (YPP) in 2019. The organization, based in Montgomery County, works to increase political power among young adults and youth, leading grassroots campaigns on issues, like voter education, restorative justice and banning consent searches.
It was founded on the belief that young people can improve their lives and communities through collective action.
“Young people often are left out of the conversation, and there are narratives that young people are disengaged, but organizing spaces are not always hospitable to young people,” said Blocker. “As a young person myself, I saw a lack of other young people in organizing and a real need for us to have a seat at the table so our voices can influence the discussion of community problems and solutions.”
The 30-year-old got a taste for activism in college. While attending Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., she began advocating for better wages and working conditions and fighting against police brutality. At the time, the Ferguson community was reeling following the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, an unarmed Black man who was shot and killed by police in August 2014.
“I saw the St. Louis area erupt, and I saw how the residents and parents in Ferguson did not have the political power to protect their children and themselves,” said Blocker. “A lack of political power can really cost you your life.”
The experience showed Blocker the importance of being prepared to mobilize in the wake of community crises and to better yet, be prepared before they happen. A stint in union organizing brought her back to the Washington-Baltimore area. She started YPP to ensure her peers could sustain organizing around the issues they were passionate about.
In doing community surveying, a top concern was the criminalization of young people in Montgomery County. One of the organization’s first objectives was to secure two seats for youth and young adults on the county’s Policing Advisory Commission, which it achieved in 2020.
That same year, YPP began advocating for the removal of school resource officers in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) after high school students expressed their fear of the police presence. According to data from the Office of Legislative Oversight, 48 percent of school-based arrests involved Black students during the 2019 to 2020 school year, compared to 6 percent involving White students.
The organization was successful in 2021, marking the first time in 19 years that the school system opened without police stationed in schools. Today, MCPS has access to community engagement officers who are assigned to a cluster of schools and focus on building community relationships rather than day-to-day policing.
YPP was also able to get the county to fund positions for restorative justice coaches in every school.
“We are still organizing to make sure that MCPS can work with students, parents and families to create effective student safety and well-being policies that don’t criminalize them,” said Blocker. “Right now, restorative justice is being used in some schools more than others and for some students more than others. There’s more organizing to do there.”
Most recently, YPP has focused on ending consent searches in Montgomery County. These take place when a law enforcement officer conducts a search of your person, property or belongings after a person agrees to it. By consenting, a person waives their constitutional right to require a warrant or probable cause for a search. This decision cannot be reversed, and any evidence found can be used against them even if it is not relevant to the initial reason for the search.
Communities, like African Americans, who have been disproportionately harmed by law enforcement may feel as though they have no choice but to consent. They also may face coercion or pressure from police as there is a clear power imbalance.
Last year, YPP collaborated with Councilmember Will Jawando (D-At-large) to introduce a bill, the Freedom to Leave Act, that would prohibit consent searches of a person or vehicle. Though it did not move forward, the Montgomery County Police Department did implement a policy on Jan. 1 that limits its ability to conduct consent searches. It bans officers from asking to perform a consent search without reasonable suspicion and requires them to explain why they want to conduct a search and that a person can refuse. It also instructs that the scope of the consent search cannot exceed the scope of the consent that was given.
“We wanted a law, but a policy is still a partial success,” said Blocker. “We know that we never would have gotten this policy if we hadn’t pushed for a law to address this issue.”
Aside from creating YPP, Blocker also helped to launch the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. The organization draws inspiration from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders’ call for a “revolution of values.” The phrase spoke to the need for society to shift from materialism and racism to justice, compassion and equality.
Blocker resonates with this message in her daily mobilizing work. She’s currently reading his 1967 book, “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?” In it, King outlines his dreams for the future of America as the Civil Rights Movement began to wind down.
“He talks a lot about how we need a movement for human rights, particularly in making sure that people have the economic and material things they need to live full lives,” said Blocker. “He was certainly a steadfast organizer, and I see the organizing that we’re doing as a continuation of that legacy.”
