We launch the 2023 Under the Canopy season with a musical fundraiser for Seward Longfellow Restorative Justice featuring a concert by Maria Isa.

 

Maria Isa Perez-Hedges is a Boricua singer, songwriter, actress, rapper, activist, youth worker and international recording artist. She has performed alongside and opened for artists such as The Roots, Bad Bunny, Common, Moby, Bomba Estereo, Sheila E, Kendrick Lamar, Wu Tang Clan, Las Cafeteras, Atmosphere, Pedrito Martinez, and many more. She is the founder, producer, and co-host for Latina Theory: Spanglish Podcast.

 

Seward Longfellow Restorative Justice was created in 2004 in South Minneapolis to give youth cited by the police an opportunity to participate in a community restorative justice process instead of going to juvenile court. Over the years SLRJ has contributed to many important legal reforms to transform how mistakes by youth are treated, that is, to move away from a punishment model to one that treats “youthful behavior” as opportunities for learning and making amends.