2020 Youth Advocate Project Share Series: Road Map to Reform
Join Juvenile Law Center's youth advocates from Youth Fostering Change and Juveniles for Justice (learn more about these advocacy groups below!) for a lunch time share of their 2020 projects. In this series of three 12 pm EST events, advocates will discuss the lack of mental health support available to them, the policy recommendations they've developed and an innovative new tool they created for youth to reflect on their own system-interactions and find creative solutions to help them move forward.
October 16: Youth advocates from Youth Fostering Change address the lack of mental health support available to youth in foster care. Juveniles for Justice will talk about putting kids in prison. Both groups will examine the intersections of these issues, emphasizing the need for community-based support and the importance of addressing racial biases when building sustainable solutions.
October 23: Youth advocates have developed recommendations for reform focused on the importance of community-based solutions. They've envisioned reformation that centers mental health support as a tool for both supporting youth with system involvement and preventing system involvement.
October 30: Youth advocates from Juveniles for Justice and Youth Fostering Change have built an innovative tool for system-involved youth. The Road Map allows youth to reflect on their interaction with the juvenile justice and child welfare systems, providing insight to youth on their experiences and helping them identify prevention points and serving as a starting point for them to build a new and healthier trajectory.
Learn more about our advocacy program:
Since 2008, Juvenile Law Center’s Youth Advocacy Program, which is comprised of Youth Fostering Change and Juveniles for Justice, has prepared young people to lead advocacy and policy reform efforts in their local communities and beyond. Learn how you can help them grow. Our youth advocates have led many critical policy changes, from improving access to record expungement to empowering youth in foster care in dependency court. They speak directly to lawmakers and make national media appearances; their resources and tool kits have been used across the country. They have testified at Congressional briefings and met with White House staff.
Juveniles for Justice: Juveniles for Justice, one of our advocacy programs for youth, engages young people who have been involved in the juvenile justice system, offering them an opportunity to assess the system's strengths and weaknesses, and then develop and implement advocacy projects to improve the system.
Youth Fostering Change: Youth Fostering Change, one of our advocacy programs for youth, offers youth who are currently or formerly involved in the child welfare system the opportunity to evaluate the system and develop and implement a campaign that works toward reform.