Youth Initiatives

We invest in young people as leaders within their communities and beyond and support them to reach their self-defined goals.

The Center for Court Innovation works with youth to create paths to economic mobility, build community safety, and address the inequities and racist policies in the criminal legal system that have disproportionately harmed and criminalized BIPOC youth.

Transformative relationships among staff, young people, and the community are the foundation of the Center’s model. We invest in young people as leaders within their communities and beyond and support them to reach their self-defined goals.

Initiatives

Youth Impact

Youth can be transformative leaders, addressing inequity in their communities and the factors that lead to youth involvement in the criminal legal system.
Identity-Based Initiatives

We provide affirming space for young people to explore their identities, build community, pursue self-care, and access healing spaces with an intersectional lens.
Youth Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise

Social enterprise and entrepreneurship programs nurture young people’s skills to develop career pipelines and start businesses, solve local problems, and support economic development.
Youth-led Placemaking

Youth-led placemaking forges strong connections between individuals and their environments to create public spaces that foster community well-being.
Youth Arts

Art engages young people to build creativity, skills, and create networking opportunities to support educational and career trajectories.
Youth Justice Board

The Youth Justice Board is an after-school leadership development program that helps New York City teenagers study a public policy issue affecting young people.

Publications & Digital Media

Audio
Restorative Justice is Racial Justice

by Matt Watkins

Restorative justice is about repairing harm. But for Black Americans, what is there to be restored to? This special episode of New Thinking features a roundtable with eight members of our Restorative Justice in Schools team. They spent three years embedded in five Brooklyn high schools—all five schools are overwhelmingly Black, and all five had some of the highest suspension rates in New York City.

Addressing Racial Disparities, Restorative Justice, Youth Initiatives
Publication
All Eyes on Us: Youth Surveillance and Social Media

by Kianna Ortiz, Ananya Roy, Nia Cabassa, Aaliyah Daniels, Ella Dassin, Osvaldo Garcia, Evelyn Javier, Alexis Lanysse, Clyde Morgan, Melisa Ruiz, and Nicole Smith

The Youth Justice Board, teenagers from across New York City who investigate a current justice system or public safety issue, looked into social media and how police and schools use it for surveillance. Researching the actions and policies of the justice and school systems in New York City, the Board outline the serious consequences surveillance has on young people, identify opportunities to protect, educate, and support youth, and provide specific policy recommendations to address these concerns.

Youth Initiatives
Publication
Youth Involvement in the Sex Trade

With funding from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of the U.S. Department of Justice, the Center for Court Innovation conducted a multi-site study designed to increase scientific knowledge concerning youth involvement in the sex trade. Nearly 1,000 youth, ages 13-24, were interviewed across six sites on subjects including entry into the sex trade, earning a living, finding customers, involvement of pimps and market facilitators, health issues and service needs, interactions with law enforcement, and outlook for the future.

Human Trafficking, Parent Support, Supporting Child Victims, Youth Initiatives

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News

Changemakers in Action: Jennelle Ramdeen

As program associate of the Youth Justice Board, Jennelle Ramdeen helps young people acquire skills to research and make recommendations about public policy issues that affect their lives. She teaches participants “how to think critically, make connections, [and] have the tools to analyze and be responsible researchers."
5 Ways to Protect Your Digital Identity when Learning Remotely

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Initiatives

Publications & Digital Media

News

We work with reformers around the world.

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