On May 7, California Funders for Boys and Men of Color members–Chet Hewitt of The Center at Sierra Health Foundation and Shane Murphy Goldsmith of Liberty Hill Foundation– joined Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer and young people representing all three of CFBMoC’s targeted regions in calling for $100 million from the California State budget to establish the Youth Reinvestment Fund.

Watch the press conference here.

The Youth Reinvestment Fund is the first-ever state fund specifically dedicated to keeping young people out of the justice system and in the care of community organizations that are best able to provide guidance and support. The proposal would allocate $15 million to hire social workers to support cases involving minors in juvenile or criminal court, within the public defender office. Another $10 million would fund Tribal Diversion Programs for Native American youth, and $75 million would fund local diversion programs and community-based services for at risk youth over a 3-year grant period.

Communities are safer when young people are thriving. Arresting and incarcerating youth for minor offenses leaves them less likely to graduate, more likely to suffer negative health-outcomes, and more likely to re-offend. Today, there are 120 youth lockups in California, and the state continues to incarcerate thousands of children at a cost of $1 billion a year. Placing youth in the justice system costs local communities billions of dollars for police services, court costs, probation and youth detention facilities.

Youth of color make up 80% of the children in California’s youth prisons, and nearly all young people who end up in the justice system are survivors of trauma. More than 2/3 of California voters say education and health systems are better suited to respond to the needs of youth, not jails and the justice system.

Since 2015, CFBMoC members collectively have invested $149 annually to support better outcomes for boys of men color and remove barriers to opportunity, including reforms to the juvenile justice system. Earlier this year, our Southern California Regional Action Committee announced an initial investment of $200,000 to support the coordination of efforts to reduce youth incarceration and reform the youth justice system in Los Angeles County.