Mission

To create opportunities for youth to heal and thrive in their own communities by ending state violence, criminalization, and incarceration and supporting youth, communities, and families to create their own solutions and alternatives.

Identity Statement

The California Alliance for Youth and Community Justice (CAYCJ) is the country’s largest coalition of organizations that unapologetically centers young people impacted by the various systems – including law enforcement, juvenile and adult criminal justice, immigrant enforcement, and child welfare - to fight back against systemic injustice, poverty and oppression. 

We believe in closing all youth prisons and repurposing the dollars to support youth development and healing generational trauma. 

Our coalition’s strategy will change hearts and minds through transforming a pervasive, insidious and implicit cultural narrative that youth of color are undeserving of healing, second chances, support, investment and love.

CAYCJ exists to lift up successful stories of our work and our young people as sacred. We stand as counter narratives and our presence humanizes us and asserts our right to live with dignity, humanity and support.

In our work, we embrace our culture as medicine. We call out white supremacy as the root cause of our community and young people’s trauma and woundedness.  Our healing work is built on generations of pedagogy and practice.

Values

  • We value bold strategic reforms in that lead us to fundamentally transform systems and communities impacted by structural racism, white supremacy, and economic inequality

  • We will ensure that the work of the alliance is anchored in the experiences of youth and families most directly affected by the public systems including criminal and juvenile justice, immigrant detention, law enforcement, child welfare, and social services

  • We love California's young people of all colors, gender identities, and sexual orientations

  • We value leadership among youth and communities of color and recognize that significant and powerful change is always led by people most impacted by the system

  • We value equitable representation, contribution, commitment, and participation across language, job titles, educational degree, criminal history, neighborhood, race, gender identity and expression, sexual orientations, and the amount of resources brought to the table.

  • We value communicating with authenticity, truth, compassion, and cultural competency to do the work with one another in a way that creates a microcosm of the world we seek to create

North Stars

  • Develop alternatives to youth incarceration and system involvement through making central the use of community-based, healing-focused, youth development responses to youth accused of crime

  • Reduce, and then end the use of incarceration for young people

  • Reduce, and then end the practice of sending youth to the adult system

  • Create a transformative, de-colonized narrative about us and our communities