In light of Juneteenth this past week, CYS would like to highlight our commitment to Black Equity this month, all months, and in everything we do. Please read below to see how these commitments show up in all facets of our work. Read CYS' entire report on why we prioritize Black Equity and the achievements we have made thus far here.
CYS Black Equity Priorities
No work in the justice and school systems is complete without a deep commitment to dismantling long standing systemic inequities that disproportionately impact specific sub-populations. In order to ensure equity for all youth and families, we must prioritize solutions that resolve the most entrenched forms of inequity that impact Black people the most harshly. We believe this can be accomplished by focusing on the following areas:
Schools: A restorative and trauma-informed shift in beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors toward youth results in less contact with school police, a decrease in arrests, and more awareness around racial disparities within diversion referrals.
Advocacy/Policy: The CYS Transformation Team is dedicated to advocating on behalf of youth and families experiencing unfair treatment, whether that be due to their race, gender, sexuality, class, or learning needs. This team has and will continue to push for putting an end to outdated punitive practices like school expulsions and will continue fighting against unjust and unnecessary arrest charges.
Invest in the Black Community: The Black community experiences, most disproportionally, systemic disinvestment—disinvestment in healthcare, housing, education, and economic mobility. To combat this, and in addition to restorative justice services, we connect families to long-term and preventative community resources.
Law Enforcement: Through comprehensive training and technical assistance to alter beliefs, policies, and practices, CYS’s law enforcement partners increase diversion referrals as well as bring down the racial disparities within their referrals.
Data: We use data to inform ourselves and our partners, seeking transparency and accountability between organizations to make sure services reach youth that are experiencing the highest disparities.
Research: We utilize current research to inform our work, best practices, and to assess where disparities most heavily lie, both geographically and demographically.
Reform: CYS is part of the LA Youth Uprising Coalition, which is a network of community-based organizations committed to principles of black equity. Together, this network achieves substantial influence on massive juvenile justice reforms in LA, with reverberating impacts across CA.
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