Overview Cameo House Community Options for Youth (COY) Detention Diversion Advocacy Program (DDAP) Expert Witness, Court Navigation, & Sentencing Mitigation Services Juvenile Collaborative Reentry Unit (JCRU) No Violence Alliance (NoVA) Overview Technical Assistance California Sentencing Institute Next Generation Fellowship Legislation Transparency & Accountability

Just days after the deadline, the Governor signed the $92 billion 2012 – 13 California budget into law on June 27th. The budget includes some of the most significant reforms in state juvenile justice policy since the passage of Senate Bill 81 in 2007. In his May 14th revised budget proposal, Governor Brown had retracted his plan to close the state’s youth correctional facilities, Division of Juvenile Facilities (DJF), under intense and well-coordinated law enforcement and county pressure. …

Douglas Blackmon’s best-selling book Slavery by Another Name dispels one myth after another as he reveals the continuing of a system of slavery under a different name: convict leasing. This was a system whereby former black slaves were routinely rounded up on minor charges (or no charges at all) like vagrancy, placed in local county or town jails, brought to court and fined a small amount ($25 or $50). Since they could not pay the money (as they were too poor and were traveling from town to…

New and exciting reform initiatives for you! 

The Sierra Health Foundation (SHF) in partnership with The California Wellness Foundation (TCWF) and The California Endowment (TCE) has launched the first of its kind statewide Positive Youth Justice Initiative (PYJI). SHF is offering various invited counties throughout California the opportunity to collaboratively improve upon or develop wraparound services for cross-over youth, utilizing strengths-based approaches with an emphasis on trauma-informed care. SHF will provide awarded counties…

Prison Crisis: Local Solution? Making Contact, June 282012