{"id":1515,"date":"2024-10-30T17:04:40","date_gmt":"2024-10-30T17:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/?p=1515"},"modified":"2024-10-30T17:13:09","modified_gmt":"2024-10-30T17:13:09","slug":"cfcc-2024-symposium-keeping-youth-in-community-policies-practices-and-programs-to-promote-youth-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/2024\/10\/30\/cfcc-2024-symposium-keeping-youth-in-community-policies-practices-and-programs-to-promote-youth-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"CFCC 2024 Symposium: \u201cKeeping Youth in Community: Policies, Practices, and Programs to \u200bPromote Youth Justice,\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"CFCC 2024 SYMPOSIUM - Welcoming Remarks and Keynote by Nate Balis\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/q_ncLbSikqk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The CFCC\u2019s 2024 Symposium, <a href=\"https:\/\/cfccsymposium2024.my.canva.site\/\">\u201cKeeping Youth in Community: Policies, Practices, and Programs to \u200bPromote Youth Justice,\u201d<\/a> aimed to center the conversation about youth justice around data, humanity and community.\u00a0 The courts have consistently affirmed that the goal of the youth justice system is rehabilitation. Reforms that advanced the rehabilitative goal have led to a long and steady decline in youth crime. Nevertheless, state legislatures across the nation (Maryland included) are considering substituting evidence-based youth-justice reforms with more punitive and carceral approaches.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Increased calls for more police surveillance, immediate court involvement, and longer Department of Juvenile Services supervision are clashing with efforts to ensure that youth justice system responses are developmentally appropriate, trauma-informed, and focused on equity and healing.\u00a0 In the midst of great disagreement, the symposium was an opportunity to give \u201ccommunity\u201d and \u201crelationship\u201d as much airtime as \u201caccountability\u201d and \u201csafety\u201d in the youth justice conversation. The symposium convened service providers, youth, lived experts, scholars, agency leadership, and advocates to consider how community-based responses can help youth at the prevention, diversion, and reentry stages.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">CFCC consistently hosts a pre-symposium event that sets the stage for the symposium by providing some grounding information. This year, thanks to funding from the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Coalition for Juvenile Justice, and the National Youth Justice Network, CFCC\u2019s Tackling Chronic Absenteeism Project (TCAP) mentor, Arion Alston, convened a group of Baltimore City Public School students and young adults who have experienced the youth justice system to plan and perform a youth poetry showcase. The performance, titled \u201cYour Voice Matters,\u201d\u00a0 was a chamber-style poetry show in which students interspersed poems written by detained youth into the personal narratives of the young adults, who are a part of the University of Maryland Baltimore County\u2019s CHOICE program.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The poetry showcase was packed (literally and figuratively), powerful, and it <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">challenged our desensitization to the fact that we cage children who make mistakes<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The audience, comprising law students, family members, youth advocates, community-based service providers and University of Baltimore faculty and staff, heard the pain, fear, confusion, and hopelessness that detention causes children and how care, connection and community helped them find\u00a0 a new path forward. <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/2024\/10\/30\/cfcc-2024-symposium-art-and-poetry-showcase\/\">Read more about \u201cYour Voice Matters.\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1516\" style=\"width: 306px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1516\" class=\"wp-image-1516 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1166\/2024\/10\/symposium.CFCC_.20242024-011-Enhanced-NR-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1166\/2024\/10\/symposium.CFCC_.20242024-011-Enhanced-NR-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1166\/2024\/10\/symposium.CFCC_.20242024-011-Enhanced-NR-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1166\/2024\/10\/symposium.CFCC_.20242024-011-Enhanced-NR-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1166\/2024\/10\/symposium.CFCC_.20242024-011-Enhanced-NR-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1166\/2024\/10\/symposium.CFCC_.20242024-011-Enhanced-NR-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1516\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/law.ubalt.edu\/faculty\/profiles\/Reed.cfm\">Dean Lavonda Reed, University of Baltimore School of Law<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The symposium began the next morning with welcoming remarks from UBalt School of Law\u2019s new dean, LaVonda Reed, who was introduced by CFCC\u2019s faculty director, Professor Shanta Trivedi. While the title of the symposium might lead one to anticipate the symposium was going to focus solely on diversion, CFCC Executive Director Aubrey Edwards-Luce explained that connecting kids to their community was about more than youths\u2019 release status or case disposition. Edwards-Luce pointed to how the CFCC\u2019s TCAP strengthens Baltimore City Public School students and their families\u2019 connections\u00a0 to community relationships and resources to effectively prevent youth justice-system involvement. She then used a tool to help the attendees identify important elements of community.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-1538\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1166\/2024\/10\/Image-10-18-24-at-8.57\u202fAM-300x166.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"705\" height=\"390\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1166\/2024\/10\/Image-10-18-24-at-8.57\u202fAM-300x166.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1166\/2024\/10\/Image-10-18-24-at-8.57\u202fAM-1024x566.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1166\/2024\/10\/Image-10-18-24-at-8.57\u202fAM-768x425.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1166\/2024\/10\/Image-10-18-24-at-8.57\u202fAM-1536x850.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1166\/2024\/10\/Image-10-18-24-at-8.57\u202fAM.jpeg 1884w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 705px) 100vw, 705px\" \/>Next,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aecf.org\/people\/nate-balis\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nate Balis<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, director of the Juvenile Justice Strategy Group at the Annie E. Casey \u200bFoundation, delivered a keynote address. Through a compelling presentation of data and lived experiences, Balis confronted the audience with the reality that our court system, which separates children from their communities when they make mistakes, is not giving us true justice or preventing youth offenses. His address highlighted how the systemic ignorance, disparate practices, and insufficient investments in community programs contribute to the overrepresentation of youths of color and youths with disabilities in the juvenile legal system. He named the media\u2019s excessive and unfounded association of youth with crime as a \u201cbad faith effort to demonize young people and those who are working hard to respond\u00a0 to youth crime.\u201d Balis urged us to call out the bad faith portrayals of our young people.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1517\" style=\"width: 306px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1517\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1517\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1166\/2024\/10\/symposium.CFCC_.20242024-031-Enhanced-NR-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1166\/2024\/10\/symposium.CFCC_.20242024-031-Enhanced-NR-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1166\/2024\/10\/symposium.CFCC_.20242024-031-Enhanced-NR-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1166\/2024\/10\/symposium.CFCC_.20242024-031-Enhanced-NR-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1166\/2024\/10\/symposium.CFCC_.20242024-031-Enhanced-NR-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1166\/2024\/10\/symposium.CFCC_.20242024-031-Enhanced-NR-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1517\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nate Balis, director of the Juvenile Justice Strategy Group at the Annie E. Casey Foundation<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Balis shared three innovative youth justice models from across the country that are community-based and grounded in restorative practices and positive youth development. One of the programs highlighted was Baltimore\u2019s own <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/djs.maryland.gov\/Pages\/community\/Initiatives.aspx\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thrive Academy<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0 Balis praised Thrive Academy for flipping the concept of risk assessment on its head. Across the country, risk assessment is typically used to justify isolating children from opportunities and giving them the worst consequences and quality of care. But Thrive Academy is making sure that youth who are at the great risk for gun related violence get the best individualized support and services.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Balis urged community members to be brave enough to take responsibility for the negative outcomes that occur after youth have been detained.\u00a0 In one of the most notable moments from his address, Director Balis said, \u201cIt takes a lot more courage to feel accountable. When you read about young people involved with violence, I want us to think about the data. [\u2026] We know from the research that we are doing a lot of damage [when we lock kids up] and it take a lot more courage \u2013 courage like what is in all these communities\u2013 to really work with kids who are at the greatest risk in our community. \u201d . <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/q_ncLbSikqk?si=tdiWNq1NDn_4RApp&amp;t=980\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Watch Balis\u2019 keynote speech<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Each of the three symposium panels focused on community connection at distinct stages of the youth justice system: prevention, during an active case, and at reentry.\u00a0 The first panel was moderated by attorney and advocate Kimberly J. Martin, policy specialist at the Crime and Justice Institute. The panel discussed how community connection can\u00a0 prevent youth justice-system involvement and identified the increased opportunities, narrative shifts and deeper investments that are needed to make youth safety a reality. <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/?p=1519&amp;preview=true\">Read more about Panel One: The Community is the Key to Preventing Youth Legal System Involvement<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">After a lunch break, Alice Wilkerson, executive director at Advance Maryland, moderated a panel about the importance of community connections for youth who have active court cases. Panelists shared the success of diversion and the ways that families, friends and service providers can help give youth the hope and skills they need to optimize their well-being during their court case. <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/2024\/10\/30\/cfcc-2024-symposium-blog-series-promoting-community-bonds-during-legal-proceedings\/\">Read more about Panel Two: Promoting Community Bonds During Legal Proceedings<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The final panel of the symposium was moderated by Professor Eduardo Ferrer, associate professor of law and policy director of the Juvenile Justice Initiative at Georgetown University Law Center, and focused on the barriers youth experience when reconnecting to community after justice system involvement. Panelists took time to reflect on the harm that youth face in facilities, and they identified strategies the community can take to help make youths\u2019 experiences with confinement rare, brief, and nonrecurring. <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/?p=1529&amp;preview=true\">Read more about Panel Three: Fostering Youth Connection to Community During Re-Entry<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">CFCC Faculty Director Trivedi then closed out the day with her recollection of some of the most powerful quotes from the panelists and an invocation to fight for youth justice system transformations that treat all kids as if they were our kids. She expressed CFCC\u2019s commitment to using its expertise in collaboration with the expertise of youths and their families, to reduce reliance on the formal court system to address youth misbehavior, and to expand the community\u2019s capacity to be the warmth that children and families need. View <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Hd4CWgFpVjE?si=7gdPYUOeILNri1hp&amp;t=3973\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Trivedi\u2019s closing remarks<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The CFCC\u2019s 2024 Symposium, \u201cKeeping Youth in Community: Policies, Practices, and Programs to \u200bPromote Youth Justice,\u201d aimed to center the conversation about youth justice around data, humanity and community.\u00a0 The courts have consistently affirmed that the goal of the youth justice system is rehabilitation. Reforms that advanced the rehabilitative goal have led to a long&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2988,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2988"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1515"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1539,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515\/revisions\/1539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/cfcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}