Co-sponsored with California Funders for Boys and Men of Color

In September 2020, Governor Newsom signed SB 823, a historic bill that will lead to the closure of California’s Division of Juvenile Justice. Legislature is currently working on the development of the Office of Youth and Community Restoration (OYCR) which will be the agency responsible for overseeing local youth justice systems. OYCR will also be responsible for ensuring that each of California’s 58 counties develop rehabilitative and healing programs that keep youth in their communities while also allocating grants to each county to fund these services.

We want an end to youth imprisonment, however, the implementation of SB 823 poses many challenges. In order to ensure effective implementation of this legislation, each County is required to convene a subcommittee of system stakeholders and at least three community representatives. In many counties these subcommittees are far from being developed and in some, community representatives are being handpicked. Furthermore, the Chief Probation Officers of California, who were opposed to SB 823, are positioning themselves to control the plans for facilities and placement and funding. Meanwhile, prosecutors continue to transfer youth directly into the adult prison—a tactic that negates the intention of SB 823 and the years of organizing it took to get here.

Join us for a two-part series to learn more about SB 823 and what is happening right now to ensure that the community gains control of the transformation of California’s youth justice system and how philanthropy can support closing DJJ the right way.

Part One: Learn about what is happening right now to ensure that the community gains control of the transformation of California’s youth incarceration system. Come learn about the organizing leading up to SB 823, what the bill entails, and what organizers are experiencing as the implementation begins.

Speakers:

• Frankie Guzman, National Center for Youth Law
• Abraham Medina, California Alliance for Youth and Community Justice