Our Programs

Policy Advocacy and Organizing

Policy Advocacy, Youth Leadership & Organizing

We change systems by organizing with the people most impacted by them.

Youth Represent advances policy change rooted in the lived experience of young people who have been impacted by the criminal legal system. From city legislation to statewide campaigns, we work to dismantle policies that criminalize youth and replace them with laws that create opportunity. Our Youth Committee members conduct community outreach and education, shape public actions and events, and serve on campaign steering committees to drive change. Through leadership development and youth-centered programming, young people build confidence, strengthen their voices, and develop the skills needed to advocate for themselves and their communities. Our advocacy is youth-driven, community-grounded, and built for lasting change.

young girl speaking at the podium with yjo banner behind

Youth Justice & Opportunities Act

The Youth Justice & Opportunities Act reimagines how New York treats young adults.

Every year, thousands of 18- to 25-year-olds are prosecuted in the adult criminal system. We know this approach fails young people and harms communities, especially Black and Latine youth.

The Youth Justice & Opportunities Act would expand alternatives to incarceration and allow for immediate record sealing for young people up to age 26. It reflects what research and lived experience already tell us: young people deserve pathways forward, not permanent punishment. We’re organizing to pass this bill and ensure young people are at the center of shaping it.

YJ&O One Pager
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If you would like a Youth led workshop about YJ&O, click here

group photo city dreamers graduation youth holding certificates smiling

Youth Leadership

Young people are experts in their own lives—and in what needs to change.

The YJ&O Youth Committee is a group of young people who came together in 2022 to fight for the Youth Justice & Opportunities Act. Hosted by Youth Represent, the Youth Committee has grown to include dozens of young people from around New York City advocating against youth arrests and incarceration and for resources and investments and in the things young people need to be safe and thrive. Youth Committee members organize advocacy days, rallies and other actions; meet directly with elected officials; testify at legislative hearings; and lead workshops and outreach days across the city to spread the word about YJ&O and other youth justice priorities.

If you would like a Youth led workshop about YJ&O, click here

group photo from youth justice symposium, youth holding youth justice signs

Campaigns to Stop Criminalization of Youth

Young people need investment, not incarceration.

Youth Represent partners with grassroots coalitions working to stop youth criminalization, advance decarceration, and shift public funding toward communities. We support campaigns that demand police accountability, protect youth during police interrogations, close harmful jail facilities, and expand record-sealing protections. Policy change happens when movements are aligned, and we’re proud to stand alongside organizations fighting for structural reform.

- G.A.N.G.S Coalition, fighting for NYPD transparency and accountability and for budget justice in NYC.
- Close Rikers, fighting to reduce the number of people entering New York City jails, defend the rights of incarcerated people, divest from the NYC Department of Correction and redistribute funds to communities.
- Right2Remain Silent, fighting to protect youth in police interrogations.
- Coalition to Protect Raise the Age - Since Raise the Age became law, we’ve worked to defend it from rollbacks, monitor its implementation, and ensure it delivers on its promise, including through advocacy for the Youth Justice Innovation Fund, which would direct $50million to community based organizations around the state to create a continuum of critical youth justice services.

We also work with partner organizations around New York to pass and enforce laws like Clean Slate the Fair Chance Act that level the playing field for young people with records.

Follow Our Advocacy Work

Publications and Testimony

Youth Justice Innovation Fund

The Youth Justice Innovation Fund would direct $50 million to community-based organizations to provide a continuum of services from prevention, early intervention, to alternatives to detention, placement and incarceration for youth aged 12 through 25.

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Youth Justice & Opportunities Act (YJ&O) One-Pager

A snapshot of how YJ&O would expand diversion, reduce youth incarceration, and protect young people up to age 25 from lifelong criminal record barriers.