Policy and Advocacy: (Ages 18+)

Systems-change from the ground floor up 

Deep Center works from a root-cause and system-change framework to identify and change the barriers our young people, their families, and other members of our village face. In an inequitable ecosystem that is the product of an unjust history, the burden of change is often carried by young people and vulnerable populations. Deep works to dismantle these ceilings through data, evidence-driven public and internal policy, and legislative advocacy at all levels of government.

We’ve published over 15 policy briefs, countless memos, and consulted on legislation and administrative procedure to ensure that our laws and policies are ever continuing to be just and equitable. To see our policies, click through the policy and advocacy tab.

How We Got Here

In an inequitable ecosystem that is the product of an unjust history, placing the burden of change only on young people and vulnerable populations ignores their day-to-day realities, sets them up to fail, and, most importantly, misses the root causes of their challenges. Far too often Deep has lifted up youth, adults,  and families only to see them bump into ceilings they did not build. We have come to understand that, in order for us to truly support Savannah’s youth and families, we must lift them up while simultaneously working to dismantle these ceilings. In 2018, in a strategic planning session, it became evident that we could no longer in good conscious continue to hold up our young people in our programs  without confronting the systemic barriers that they would run into. We made the decision to work from a root-cause framework and begin incorporating legislative and administrative policy and advocacy into our work.

Just a few years later, we now have a public policy wing that works in tandem with our community organizing efforts. Our policy decisions are pulled from our young people in our spaces, the experiences in our communities, and the day in, day out work with our partners, fellow stakeholders, and identifying the many different needs in our city, our county, and in our state. As of 2022, we have published numerous policy briefs and memos, worked directly on city and county task forces, advocated at the state level, and provide nonpartisan policy development, technical assistance, and support to elected leaders, administrative officials, and think tanks across every level of legislation.

The Urgency of This Moment

Everyone outside of the South is talking about the South, but few outside intermediaries understand the context, the movements, the regional differences (we are not a monolith), and the existing and emerging models for systems change that will ultimately remove the barriers that keep people in poverty and caught in cycles of harm from racist systems and narratives. Deep Center’s work is a model for the South that is like no other. We focus on strategies that move hearts and minds, while challenging fractured thinking grounded in false binaries and old stories, making it possible to organize for change inside a deeply conservative context. By connecting the personal development and lived experiences of youth, citizens, and communities most affected by dehumanizing systems and policies, with movement-building work in concert with our village, Deep has developed an intersectional creative-placemaking (and placebreaking strategy) that can deliver sustainable policy and systems change in the South. 

Former Mayor Otis Johnson’s notes on the history of Savannah’s fight to desegregate public schools, a topic of Deep Center’s Policy Action Committee.

Institutional Partners

In addition to our local team, we partner with the following local, regional and national organizations to lend expertise, research, a framework for strategizing and networking, and training on the ground.