Young Women's Freedom Center - Beloved Youth CollectiveOverview
Young people of color are overrepresented in California’s youth incarceration system. For youth on probation, there is an excessive reliance on institutional care and a lack of dependency on family settings, such as foster families. The Beloved Youth Collective aims to reduce the use of institutional placements for girls and young women by providing stable housing alternatives and peer-led community support services. The collaborative is led by five partners, including the Alameda County Probation Department/Juvenile Services, Alameda County Public Defender, Beloved Community Housing, Alameda County District Attorney, and Youth Women’s Freedom Center. This pilot project focuses on providing successful re-entry to break the cycle of incarceration for impacted girls, young women, and trans youth, and supporting families through peer-led services and financial stipends. Read more about the Beloved Youth Collective below: The Beloved Youth Collective will pilot a youth decarceration program in Alameda County to serve girls, women, and trans youth ages 14-21 by referring system-involved youth to community-based and community-led alternatives like foster family placement instead of institutional placement (ie. group homes facilities, juvenile detention centers), in addition to providing these youth with universal basic income to support both the system involved youth and their families, the Collective hopes that this will result in a systems culture change to reduce recidivism and address proverty to ensure family stability and youth well-being. The Collective strategy includes co-creation of alternative to institutionalization by incorporating foster family funding into housing options, developing a family/community ecosystem designed for probation youth, enact culture change through reviewing of drivers of incarceration, policies, and practices to refine themand develop new strategies once evaluation of the pilot is complete and the data is disseminated amongst collaborative members and beyond. Simultaneously, the Collective will provide direct services to youth to meet their comprehensive needs. will hire case manager with lived experience to offer a range of community-supported services systems impacted youth and their families Led by Beloved Village and the Young Women's Freedom Center, the collaboration consists of key partners from Alameda County Probation Department/Juvenile Services, Alameda County Public Defender, Alameda County District Attorney, these partner are aligned on the goal of reducing or eliminating the incarceration of girls in Alameda County. The Collaboration |
The Problem
The disproportionate incarceration of young people of color is well known nationally and in CA: “According to the Sentencing Project, in 2019 Black youth were 9 times as likely as white youth to be incarcerated in California. Latinx youth were 2.4 times as likely to be incarcerated, and tribal youth were 4.4 times as likely” (from Youth Law Center). Post-pandemic, Alameda County average arrest rates in 2022 were up slightly, from 1.8/1000 youth ages 0-17 in 2021 to 2.0 in 2022, but are nearly 13 for Black youth 0-17, and nearly 19 for 18-19 year-olds (Healthy Alameda County). Additionally, in CA, there is an overreliance on institutional care and an under reliance on family settings such as foster families. State statistics (CMS/CWS) from 2023 reflect that only 26 of 1264 probation youth statewide live in a foster family setting; the vast majority of probation youth are in residential treatment or other congregate care institutional settings, or living “independently” in isolation from their community. Young Women’s Freedom Center’s (YWFC) 2019 report, “A Radical Model of Decriminalization,” found in interviews with more than 100 system-involved young people that they experienced significant housing instability, moving more than 20 times on average between ages 13-17 and 16 times between 18-21. Chronic disruption of their living situation, especially between institutional settings, puts youth at high risk for justice involvement; 73% of the foster youth surveyed were detained by the justice system. Moreover, youth of color are more likely than their white peers to be placed on probation, which is associated with a higher risk of future incarceration (The Crime Report). Following the pandemic, youth of color also face increased delays in being released from incarceration (Annie E. Casey Foundation). Lengthy probation sustains cycles of punishment and breeds risk of incarceration; incarceration itself separates families, traumatizes children, absents parents and wage earners, disrupts steady education and employment, and often results in generational incarceration or foster care involvement. For more information, contact:
Alexandra (Alex) Volpe Executive Director Beloved Village [email protected] |