“Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it.” – Marian Wright Edelman
June is graduation month. In this month’s newsletter you will read about three amazing young people – Yefry, Jasmine, and Edgar, who, against all odds – are receiving their college degrees. There is no dispute that an education helps one to realize their dreams. Many of the adolescents who we serve in the youth justice system do not see themselves as college material, or even that they would live past their 18th birthday prior to their system involvement. Repeatedly we hear from young people that they learned, for the first time while in our systems, that they could be college students because of what their teacher told them at a Juvenile Hall school, or because of what their supervising probation officer told them when they talked about who they would become as they got older. Credible Messengers who go into custodial settings and share their own stories of college success with incarcerated youth are inspiring our adolescents to imagine a future on a college campus after they are released. All these coaches, along with the Rising Scholars programs rolling out college education access in many of the Juvenile detention centers across the state, has created inspiration, access and opportunity that aligns with a Positive Youth Development theory of rehabilitation.
Opportunities combined with coaching and mentoring is a priceless, yet low-cost intervention. It costs nothing to believe in the power of a young person to learn from their mistakes and turn their life around. As we celebrate graduations in June for adolescents like Yefry, Jasmine, Edgar, and many more, I want to thank all of you who have your own story and who help others to realize their dreams of belonging, contributing, and becoming more than their worst decision in this lifetime, can come true.
Judge Katherine Lucero (ret.) Director
Office of Youth and Community Restoration California Health & Human Services Agency
2026 California Youth Justice Summit
Registration now open!
Heal the Past, Pave the Future: Watering the Seed from Youth Voice to Vision
San Diego Marriott La Jolla - October 5-7, 2026
The 2026 California Youth Justice Summit brings together leaders, practitioners, community organizations, and multidisciplinary partners committed to improving outcomes for youth across California. Register now.
Youth Spotlight
Graduation Spotlight: Meet Yefry
It’s Yefryfrom youth law center! I graduated recently from Cal State Monterey Bay with my Bachelors of Science in collaborative health and human services with a concentration on public administration and nonprofit management. This fall I will be attending the University of Southern California for my Masters in Public Administration at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy.
My journey stared at Cabrillo College with the Rising Scholars program, where I graduated with two associates degree, served as student trustee for the
23-24 academic year, cofounded the Rising Scholars program, and was a major part of the programs success during my stay there. It was at Cabrillo College that I found my calling, strengthened my advocacy skills, and decided I was going to go to graduate school. I’m grateful for the program staff, dean of student services, and my associated students advisor. This would not be possible without their support. Additionally, I want to thank Project Rebound program director, Valarie Maestas, for always believing in me, creating opportunities for me, and investing in my success. Her support, leadership, and passion for serving students like me transcends beyond the campus. She is someone I aspire to be like when I get to a director role.
In July and August, OYCR will highlight two more recent graduates.
Probation Spotlight
Hugs and Heartfelt Moments at Los Angeles County Probation Mother's Day Events
This May, Los Angeles County Probation hosted Mother's Day events at facilities across the county. These events gave youth the opportunity to celebrate their mothers with handmade gifts, cards, roses, food, and games. Families were able to come together at these events to meaningfully connect with their youth in a warm and welcoming environment. Importantly, these events were contact visits, meaning that youth could hold, hug, and kiss their visiting loved ones. Family members were invited to share feedback via a survey, and had an overwhelmingly positive reaction to the event.
Unsurprisingly, the highlight of the event for many mothers was the opportunity to hug, kiss, and connect with their children, with one parent commenting that "the close interactions and hugging" allowed these visits to feel more like "the real world," and another simply requesting that future events and visits "keep the hugs." Allowing youth to connect with their families through meaningful visitation opportunities such as this can have a profoundly positive impact on both youth and visiting family members, and represents a powerful method of family engagement within juvenile justice facilities. To this end, a team of OYCR family engagement experts have been working closely with Los Angeles County Probation in a productive collaboration to optimize visitation practices.
LRP Spotlight
People Working Together: Creating Opportunity Through Workforce Development and Support
People Working Together (PWT) is committed to creating second chances and expanding opportunities for justice-involved youth facing barriers to success. Through workforce training, mentorship, supportive services, and career development, PWT helps individuals build the skills and confidence needed to achieve long-term stability.
PWT offers pathways into high-demand industries, including construction, commercial driving, technology, and other career fields. Participants have access to hands-on training, industry-recognized certifications, and employment opportunities that support economic mobility and family stability.
As part of California's growing continuum of community-based supports for justice-involved youth and young adults, PWT partners with Sacramento County probation to serve as a residential Less Restrictive Program and provide mentorship, case management, supportive services, workforce development, and transitional housing assistance for system-impacted youth and young adults ages 18–25. By meeting participants where they are and providing individualized support, PWT helps young people navigate challenges, build positive connections, and access meaningful opportunities for growth.
Through strong partnerships with unions, employers, workforce agencies, and community-based organizations, PWT continues to strengthen communities by helping individuals move toward stable employment, self-sufficiency, and brighter futures.
Ending Girls' Incarceration Spotlight
In May, OYCR convened a cross-county learning exchange focused on strengthening community-based alternatives to detention for girls and gender-expansive youth. Representatives from the Los Angeles County and Imperial County Probation Departments joined OYCR for a peer learning exchange featuring two San Diego programs that provide safe, community-based responses for youth experiencing family violence, crisis, or commercial sexual exploitation without relying on secure confinement.
Participants visited San Diego Youth Services' Cool Beds program, which partners with trained resource families to provide safe, short-term alternatives to detention. The group also met with a resource parent to learn about supporting youth in crisis and building a network of resource families.
The group also visited Olive Crest's Drop-In Center, which provides a safe space where youth can access basic needs and supportive services. Participants learned about innovative housing and support models for youth impacted by commercial sexual exploitation, including transitional housing programs demonstrating success serving young people often viewed as difficult to place.
Together, the visits highlighted how communities can build a continuum of care that promotes safety, stability, and healing while reducing reliance on youth incarceration.
Voices of Youth Justice
Formerly Incarcerated Leaders Take the Helm of California’s Governor appointed State Advisory Group on Youth Justice
“My lens has been shaped by the places I have been and things I have seen. That allows me to analyze some of the gaps, the challenges, and the strengths [within the system].” —Cristian Franco, Vice Chair of the State Advisory Group on Youth Justice (SAG YJ)
In a historic first for California, the chair and vice chair of the SAG YJ—the Governor appointed advisory body that guides youth justice policy and programs and is overseen by OYCR—both bring lived experience navigating incarceration as young people, helping shape the state’s priorities and demonstrating why their insight is essential.
Find out more about how lived experience is influencing the future of youth justice in California on our Voices of Youth Justice blog.
News and Updates
Mental Health, Art, Narrative, and Film Media Challenge
The Mental Health, Art, Narrative, and Film Media Challenge invites current or formerly incarcerated youth ages 12-25 to create art in any form: a short film, visual art piece, poster, Instagram post or story, or spoken word piece that shares their stories of reflection and hope. Participants have a chance to win up to $500 and be recognized at the OYCR Youth Justice Summit in October 2026. Deadline to submit is August 31st.
In partnership with the nonprofit organization Youth Creating Change, the Office of Youth and Community Restoration is supporting this challenge for schools and organizations serving systems-involved youth to encourage young people to express their lived experience though art. The Youth Creating Change team is available to facilitate lessons for youth (virtually) that are interested in participating.
The challenge asks participants to reflect, via art (in any form), on how lived experience has shaped them into the person they are today and their hope for the future. Winning projects will explore how youth’s lived experiences have shaped the person they are today and who they hope to be in the future.
Read for Youth Justice, is a new resourcedesigned to support libraries and youth justice stakeholders in engaging communities through reading, learning, and dialogue about the experiences of young people in the justice system.
At the center of this initiative is a curated reading list developed in collaboration with youth justice stakeholders, including lived experience experts, parents, attorneys, advocates, youth justice practitioners, and justice system leaders. They identified books and stories that elevate the voices of young people, foster empathy and understanding, and encourage meaningful conversations about youth justice, opportunity, healing, and hope.
Two youth justice advocates, formerly with the Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention at the U.S. Department of Justice, created this resource to help libraries serve as community spaces for education, reflection, and engagement. Libraries have a unique ability to connect people through stories, and we hope this reading list will help inform the public about the realities young people face within the justice system while also highlighting pathways toward restoration, support, and positive youth development.
The creators hope organizations and leaders across the youth justice field will use this resource to build partnerships with libraries in their own communities, especially as part of Youth Justice Action Month (YJAM) in October. Sharing this reading list can expand awareness, encourage dialogue, and create opportunities for communities to better understand and support young people impacted by the justice system.
