We use legal services, policy advocacy, peer education, and other tools to build power and opportunity for Black, Latiné, and other youth of color who the criminal legal system and other systems of oppression harm the most.
Vision
We envision a world where the racist legal system has been dismantled and BIack, Latiné, Indigenous, and other youth of color have the freedom and power to live their full lives.
Values
Youth-Driven
Young people are experts in their lives and best positioned to create solutions and goals for themselves and their communities. Therefore, we take the time needed to listen deeply, think boldly, and act thoughtfully. Our deliberate, youth-driven approach ensures we minimize the harm the criminal legal system—and other systems of oppression—may cause.
Courageous
We take on the fight for our clients. We recognize that the broader conditions youth experience in their homes, cities, country, and world are inextricable from their quality of life and our mission. Racism and anti-Blackness permeate every aspect of society, especially the legal system, and so bold action is required to dismantle it. We are committed to challenging this injustice by leading and effecting transformative, systemic change through our interdisciplinary practice.
Creative
We are resourceful and flexible, strategically using the law and other tools to achieve our clients’ goals. We acknowledge our strengths, and we value the power and abundance to be found through solidarity with our community. As individuals and as an organization, we are always learning—from each other, from our clients, and from our community.
Authentic
We actively cultivate a supportive, healthy community where people are treated fairly and with compassion, and where all our staff and clients can show up as their full selves. We strive for this culture to be seen and felt by our young clients and to empower us to be a strong and dynamic force for change.
History
Youth Represent was founded in 2006. While representing youth facing job discrimination, we saw that clients’ legal problems went far beyond employment. Youth Represent was created from a recognition that young people need comprehensive representation to address their diverse and unique legal issues. What began as a single attorney working from a borrowed desk is now a citywide organization that provides free legal services to more than one thousand youth annually.
