YOUTH FORWARD 2022 BDOG

Youth Forward seeks to develop youth leadership and to build people power to increase opportunities for youth of color and vulnerable youth in the Sacramento region and in California. In Sacramento, our youth organizers are leading mental well being efforts in our local high schools with a focus on creating safe spaces for youth of color and LGBTQ youth. We coordinate a training series in youth mental health for the youth development field in Sacramento. We also serve as the coordinating entity of Sac Kids First, the region’s largest youth coalition which advocates for increased investments in youth and prevention in the city budget and for reform of the juvenile justice system at the county level. 

We are bringing forward proposals to have the County invest more in community-based youth services and less in law enforcement so that fewer young people enter the justice system and so those leaving the system are supported with healing, trauma-informed care. 

At the state level, we are a leading voice in cannabis policy and racial justice. For the last four years, we have been working with the Governor’s Office and with state agencies to develop grant programs that this year, will invest about $150 million in black and brown communities that were heavily impacted by the War on Drugs. These grant programs are funded by state cannabis tax revenues and support youth development, legal services for the formerly incarcerated, mental health services and job training in high-poverty neighborhoods.