0:00:00.140,0:00:01.750 - I am a youth advocate. 0:00:01.750,0:00:02.900 - I am a mentor. 0:00:02.900,0:00:04.300 - I am an Oakland native. 0:00:04.300,0:00:05.450 - I'm an attorney. 0:00:05.450,0:00:07.570 - I am formerly incarcerated. 0:00:07.570,0:00:10.820 - I am the father of[br]two wonderful children. 0:00:10.820,0:00:12.800 - I'm a policy analyst. 0:00:12.800,0:00:15.823 - I am an example of redemption. 0:00:17.040,0:00:17.930 - I'm hoping for change. 0:00:17.930,0:00:20.683 I'm hoping that what I went through, 0:00:22.650,0:00:24.789 this generation won't go through. 0:00:24.789,0:00:27.090 (rhythmic drum music) 0:00:27.090,0:00:29.250 - Our mission is to advance justice 0:00:29.250,0:00:31.640 by protecting the rights[br]of children and youth 0:00:31.640,0:00:34.610 and by improving the systems[br]that impact their lives. 0:00:34.610,0:00:37.610 - I was involved in a system,[br]the youth prison system, 0:00:37.610,0:00:42.070 that at the time had 11,000 kids 0:00:42.070,0:00:44.920 in a system designed to hold[br]only 6,000 young people. 0:00:44.920,0:00:48.370 But tremendous amounts of[br]violence, abuse, and neglect 0:00:48.370,0:00:51.029 at the hands of the state and the guards. 0:00:51.029,0:00:54.540 It made me much worse having gone there 0:00:54.540,0:00:55.860 than when I went in. 0:00:55.860,0:00:58.260 - Being in that frame[br]of mind where you think 0:00:58.260,0:01:00.180 that you aren't worth anything, 0:01:00.180,0:01:02.030 that you have no hope for the future, 0:01:02.940,0:01:04.433 it's a dark place to be. 0:01:05.880,0:01:08.280 I just didn't value[br]myself or my life at all 0:01:08.280,0:01:09.700 'cause I thought that, you know, 0:01:09.700,0:01:12.210 I had been told over and over[br]that I wasn't going anywhere. 0:01:12.210,0:01:13.630 - A lot of kids these days, 0:01:13.630,0:01:16.620 they don't feel loved,[br]so they put up a front. 0:01:16.620,0:01:18.270 So that's why they get in trouble a lot 0:01:18.270,0:01:21.830 and they want people to think[br]that they're all big and bad. 0:01:21.830,0:01:23.860 But like once you really get to them, 0:01:23.860,0:01:26.200 you know, they're still[br]kids and they need love too. 0:01:26.200,0:01:29.300 - There's essentially an[br]abuse-to-prison pipeline 0:01:29.300,0:01:32.480 where we're criminalizing foster youth, 0:01:32.480,0:01:34.900 we're criminalizing[br]girls who've experienced 0:01:34.900,0:01:36.990 sexual abuse and physical abuse. 0:01:36.990,0:01:38.910 And we need to disrupt that pipeline 0:01:38.910,0:01:42.170 and do everything we can[br]to actually help people 0:01:42.170,0:01:46.160 instead of just continually[br]pushing them away into prisons. 0:01:46.160,0:01:47.260 - People with imaginations 0:01:47.260,0:01:49.370 and ability to dream only goes so far. 0:01:49.370,0:01:50.837 And so we often say, you know, 0:01:50.837,0:01:54.600 "Well, we have to lock them up[br]because nothing else works." 0:01:54.600,0:01:57.510 Well, the truth is we haven't[br]tried very many other things. 0:01:57.510,0:02:00.370 And so unless we show and prove[br]that these things can work, 0:02:00.370,0:02:03.570 people won't really take[br]them as viable alternatives. 0:02:03.570,0:02:05.640 - The California Youth Justice Initiative 0:02:05.640,0:02:08.360 is really at the center of all 0:02:08.360,0:02:11.870 of the juvenile justice[br]reforms taking place right now. 0:02:11.870,0:02:13.130 - We are working on legislation. 0:02:13.130,0:02:15.500 We're working on a[br]communications campaign. 0:02:15.500,0:02:18.500 We're working on research[br]and civic engagement 0:02:18.500,0:02:21.020 and community capacity building 0:02:21.020,0:02:26.020 to essentially change[br]conditions on the ground 0:02:26.480,0:02:30.580 as well as policies[br]coming from the capitol. 0:02:30.580,0:02:33.420 And we never do that[br]without the participation 0:02:33.420,0:02:36.220 and leadership of directly[br]impacted communities. 0:02:36.220,0:02:38.400 - Through the work we do, policy work, 0:02:38.400,0:02:40.820 we can impact thousands of kids at a time. 0:02:40.820,0:02:42.770 Hundreds of thousands of youth at a time. 0:02:42.770,0:02:45.500 - How healing it is to have[br]been disempowered for so long 0:02:45.500,0:02:47.830 and then to take your[br]power back and to speak 0:02:47.830,0:02:50.300 from your own experience[br]about what matters to you. 0:02:50.300,0:02:52.790 - When they know that I[br]share those experiences 0:02:52.790,0:02:54.120 of having an incarcerated parent, 0:02:54.120,0:02:56.484 of being incarcerated myself, 0:02:56.484,0:02:58.710 it allows 'em to let their guard down 0:02:58.710,0:03:00.691 and it allows them to reach them. 0:03:00.691,0:03:01.810 - My name's--[br]- So we bring young people 0:03:01.810,0:03:04.730 up to the capitol, we give them space 0:03:04.730,0:03:07.370 to tell their stories to[br]legislators and to staffers, 0:03:07.370,0:03:11.580 to testify at hearings, write[br]letters to the governor. 0:03:11.580,0:03:13.770 However they want to share their stories, 0:03:13.770,0:03:15.250 we give them the space to do so. 0:03:15.250,0:03:17.790 And we educate them[br]about the policy process 0:03:17.790,0:03:19.320 here in California. 0:03:19.320,0:03:22.220 - We recognize that the policies 0:03:22.220,0:03:24.270 that we're putting into place, 0:03:24.270,0:03:26.210 the movements that we're trying to build, 0:03:26.210,0:03:28.970 the campaigns that we[br]are putting together, 0:03:28.970,0:03:31.220 the people who are going[br]to be most impacted 0:03:31.220,0:03:32.270 are the people on the ground. 0:03:32.270,0:03:33.670 It's gonna be the communities, 0:03:33.670,0:03:36.167 it's gonna be the families,[br]and it's gonna be the youth. 0:03:36.167,0:03:38.950 - Our youth justice work is not just 0:03:38.950,0:03:40.410 some of our most important work, 0:03:40.410,0:03:44.450 it's a piece of the work that[br]we've grown significantly 0:03:44.450,0:03:47.770 over the past three years[br]because of the momentum 0:03:47.770,0:03:49.890 that we've generated here in California 0:03:49.890,0:03:52.370 and the moment for change being right now. 0:03:52.370,0:03:53.590 - When you think about where 0:03:53.590,0:03:55.370 is some of most progressive change 0:03:55.370,0:03:57.630 regarding juvenile justice happening, 0:03:57.630,0:03:59.950 we need to look no[br]further than the Bay Area. 0:03:59.950,0:04:03.460 - Kids today are so much more engaged. 0:04:03.460,0:04:05.930 They are so much more[br]informed about the issues. 0:04:05.930,0:04:07.580 Kids are so much more tolerant 0:04:07.580,0:04:09.670 than older generations have been. 0:04:09.670,0:04:12.609 Like I really think that kids, that youth 0:04:12.609,0:04:17.608 are really ready to take the[br]reins and fight for themselves 0:04:18.529,0:04:20.760 in ways that we haven't seen before. 0:04:20.760,0:04:23.500 - This movement inspires[br]me because it's my people. 0:04:23.500,0:04:25.580 It's people from the streets 0:04:25.580,0:04:27.530 or from the jail cells, things like that. 0:04:27.530,0:04:29.380 People who turn their pain and experience 0:04:29.380,0:04:32.330 into inspiration, into[br]education, into power. 0:04:32.330,0:04:34.660 - [Frankie] Right now is the[br]time to be really aggressive 0:04:34.660,0:04:38.070 and aspirational about what we[br]expect out of our government, 0:04:38.070,0:04:40.530 out of our leaders, for our communities 0:04:40.530,0:04:42.330 and for our children and our future. 0:04:50.970,0:04:52.550 - [Man] We have to do more to acknowledge 0:04:52.550,0:04:54.660 not only the harm of incarceration, 0:04:54.660,0:04:56.670 but the promise that[br]the communities possess 0:04:56.670,0:04:58.420 in being able to deal[br]with our young people 0:04:58.420,0:05:00.810 in a much more responsible[br]and healthy fashion. 0:05:00.810,0:05:03.340 So that's what this[br]conversation here is about. 0:05:03.340,0:05:04.393 We're talking about.