Youth & Measure 11 Reforms

Prison Pipeline’s 1-hour Membership Drive Special focuses on the historic passage of SB 1008 by the 2019 Oregon Legislature.  Host Karen James is joined by Babak Zolfaghari-Azar, a Community Healing Initiative Family Care Manager for PortlandOIC + Rosemary Anderson High School.  Babak explains Oregon’s Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Law, Measure 11, and gives firsthand accounts of its devastating effects on youth, their families and communities.  He discusses SB 1008 and what it means for youth who are at risk, currently incarcerated or recently released from prison.

 

Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center and Rosemary Anderson High School are committed to the future success of at-risk youth through the age of 25, providing the highest quality services in education, mentoring, family outreach, employment training and placement.

 

Babak Zolfaghari-Azar is a first generation Iranian-American and grew up in Beaverton, Oregon. After graduating from Portland State University with a Masters Degree in Criminology, he has been dedicated to serving youth and families both in treatment centers and the community. Policy reform and community education, especially as it relates to Measure 11 and youth justice, is a major area of focus for Babak. Outside of social activism, Babak coaches a boys’ basketball team at Grant High School and spends his free time hiking, playing sports, and traveling the world with his wife.