We’re building power with the people whose future is at stake.
Our impact at a glance
We work in four fundamental ways.
Youth First Justice Collaborative:
- Provides training and capacity building to a network of nationwide decarceration and reinvestment campaigns
- Develops and strengthens the leadership of youth organizers directly impacted by incarceration via the Youth Hub @ YFJCo
- Acts as an intermediary funder for campaigns in our network
- Builds community power, shifts narratives and drives lasting social change through cultural organizing
We break it all down in more detail below. At its core, our vision is simple: No kids in prison. This is how we get there.
How we work
Section 1.
Training & Capacity Building
Groups of people are organizing all across the country to end youth incarceration and orient people to their own power. We offer these campaigns resources, helping improve their systems and strengthening their abilities.
We are also consistently learning and evaluating: How well are our efforts working and what can we do better—as a united movement—to reach our shared goal?
Some examples of this work:
- The annual Grassroots Assembly brings movement leaders together to create and coordinate strategic campaigns and align on our long-term goals for abolition
- Communities of Practice connect people from across our network so they can learn from one another, sharpen their strategies and build stronger intergenerational organizing campaigns
Partnerships that facilitate skill-building, organizing training, political education and base-building skills, such as our partnership with the George Jackson Organizing School
The technical assistance we provide includes coalition-building, strategic communications and training for youth and adult organizers. Some examples include annual organizing and base-building trainings with George Jackson Organizing School and state-level budget and policy analysis to strategically assist states in using data to strengthen their advocacy campaigns through Civilytics.
What’s so powerful about [the Grassroots Assembly] is the young people, and how we’re passing the baton on to the new faces of the movement.
Section 2.
The Youth Hub @ YFJCo
Young people are the heart of our mission. There is no abolition without their leadership. Through the Youth Hub, young people gain access to a variety of hands-on training, political education, gatherings and more. It is truly the core of our work, because this is where young people come together to learn, grow, share and shape the movement.
Here are the opportunities young people tap into through the Hub:
- The Youth Huddle: A quarterly call that brings youth leaders together to connect, build and grow. This is a casual space to learn about leadership opportunities, gain access to unique training and build community with youth from 15+ states across the US.
- The Block x Block Fellowship: A hybrid, 12-month, paid fellowship for eight young leaders who have been directly impacted by the legal system and are affiliated with YFJCo. This Fellowship invests in the process of orienting young leaders with their own power through learning, assessment and practice.
- Youth Leadership Advisory Board (YLAB): A group of system-impacted young leaders from the YFJCo network volunteer for a two-year commitment as YLAB members. These leaders strengthen and guide the opportunities offered and impact created through the Youth Hub @ YFJCo.
- Liberation Summer: An annual, curated experience for young people in the movement. Each summer, we offer a focused opportunity, from training series to in-person intensives, designed to deepen skills, strengthen relationships and develop young leaders as organizers.
Section 3
Funding to develop campaigns
We act as an intermediary funder, funneling resources to intergenerational basebuilding organizations leading youth decarceration campaigns across the country.
Section 4.
Culture & Community Power Building
We integrate art, culture and community power-building to enact durable social change by and for communities most impacted by youth incarceration. Using culture as a strategy, we partner with artists to amplify campaigns and build collective power.
- The No Kids in Prison Magazine is a groundbreaking platform by and for directly-impacted youth reshaping the national narrative around justice
- The Youth Prison Watch broadside brings information about the state of youth prisons to readers in ten states
- The Youth Curatorial Apprenticeship engages two young people in the year-long, hands-on process of grassroots publishing. Apprentices conceptualize and plan the No Kids in Prison Magazine, manage and support an open community call for original writing and artwork, select submissions, edit commissioned work and collaborate on the magazine’s final layout, design and distribution.
- Freedom Constellations is a multi-city immersive art experience that includes art installations, poetry readings, and more, all created in the interest of envisioning a future where all youth are free, safe and thriving
