The Youth Law Center Is Unwavering in Our Mission
The Youth Law Center’s work has always required keeping one foot in the present day realities and the other foot squarely focused on the future we want to create for our children and youth. Today requires the action we need to achieve the hope of tomorrow.
This has already been a challenging year for our children and youth- full of anxiety, displacement, loss, and threats of danger and harm. We strongly believe that when times are hard, we need to focus even more on the places where we find the sparks of change and hope for our youth – they are in the collective community of advocates, including youth, families, lawyers, agency leaders and staff, working to prioritize love and opportunity for children and youth across the country.
Love and opportunity are important for all children and youth, but have particular significance and protection for some of the most vulnerable children and youth who are also the majority and overrepresented in foster care and juvenile justice systems- Black, Native, and Latino, LGBTQIA+ and Two-spirit, youth with disabilities, all of whom face increasing challenges in a world that is increasingly polarized and challenging to navigate. Families and loving communities can provide what no other system does- protection, love, acceptance, hope and affirmation of children’s worth- all the most powerful interventions and protections we can offer in navigating the challenges of today and tomorrow.
The Youth Law Center is unwavering in our mission to protect and uplift our children and youth, and we hope you are as well.
Whether our role is investing in the leadership of youth, families, and other local leaders to act as powerful agents of change in leading advocacy in their own communities, leading local and national movements, leading policy reform, movement lawyering, or identifying and implementing solutions to our youth’s most challenging issues, we stand ready in 2025 to do the work our children and youth require. We believe in the power of law and advocacy to create change- both in helping to correct the obstacles that impede justice, love and opportunity for children and youth, and in building the new futures that youth and their loved ones are designing. Despite all the challenges, our community continues to do meaningful advocacy to uphold and nurture the humanity and childhoods of our youth.
Our advocacy is important now, more than ever, and we hope you are also inspired by the following examples of work where we can see the promise of the future our children and youth deserve taking hold in the present.
November 2024: Uplifting Youth Justice Advocates in Tennessee
In November, we worked with our Tennessee partners, Stand for Children and Disability Rights Tennessee, to convene advocates interested in youth justice issues from across the state, and we were delighted to be with more than fifty advocates from Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Nashville, and other parts of Tennessee to share in wisdom and community. We were inspired not only by the geographic range we were able to cover, but also by the many different types of state and local strategies being used by organizations to both vision and create a more just and equitable youth justice system. Attendees included restorative justice practitioners, community organizers, youth defenders, civil legal attorneys, policy advocates, and community based organizations who are all pushing for change; we look forward to what can be accomplished when we all push together.
As WEB Du Bois said, “As the South goes, so goes the nation.” Our Tennessee work, while challenging at times, provides us an opportunity to work for and with dedicated community members drawing on the historic legacy of Black-led movements for social change. Tennessee communities are rooted, resourceful, and resilient–we are excited to build capacity and innovate in Tennessee, so that this work can lead the nation.
December 2024: Chafee Foster Care Independence Program 25th Anniversary Celebration
Bottom Left: Youth Law Center’s Jennifer Rodriguez with Representative Judy Chu (D-CA, 28th District)
Right: Group photo at the Journey to Success Chafee Foster Care Independence Program 25th Anniversary Celebration; from left to right: Lisa Dickson, Shaquita Ogletree, Dr. Alfred Perez, Eshawn Peterson, April Curtis, Shalita O’Neale, Jamole Callahan, Ruthie White, Terry Harrak, Jennifer Rodriguez
Youth Law Center joined over 35 changemakers and lived experts from 13 national organizations in Washington, D.C. for a special event celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Chafee Foster Care Independence Program and honoring the legacy of the youth leaders who have led the movement over the past decades to improve the transition to adulthood of youth for themselves and their peers. Members of Congress, staff, advocates and others celebrated the young people who have translated their own experiences in foster care into significant policy change throughout the states and federally, not for fame or personal agenda, but to transform the lives of future generations. Youth Law Center staff were proud to be presenters, and to support with preparing and amplifying the voices of young people who have experienced foster care and those who’ve transitioned to adulthood. We also left inspired and motivated to continue working to build the youth movement and fight for the changes still needed to ensure young people exiting foster care have all the supports they need.
“When I went in 1999 and testified, and the Chafee bill got stuck in the Senate Finance Committee, the Senators in their beautiful mahogany room asked me, ‘Terry what’s more important for youth- is it health care, is it housing, is it education?’ So I pointed at the pictures of them with their kids having happy moments, and said, ‘We want what they have. And there’s no reason not to give that to us.’ Now, looking back on Chafee, 25 years ago, I realize now, what I didn’t know how to advocate for then- love and relationships. I knew how to say I needed housing and health care, but I didn’t know how to ask for love. I got lucky that the advocates in my life loved me, and they changed the trajectory of my life. Now I want that for every young person. “ – Terry Harrak, Manager, Youth Law Center Quality Parenting Initiative
“Together we have worked to develop and advance a vision co-created by youth of the future we deserve- filled with joy, love, community, opportunity- the supports needed to be resilient however dramatically the world changes. We are celebrating youth power and leadership, new allies and champions, new funding and resources for youth, new policy reforms, and new hope for a vision that truly positions youth to thrive by 2035.” – Jennifer Rodriguez, Executive Director, Youth Law Center
“Now, looking back on Chafee, 25 years ago, I realize now, what I didn’t know how to advocate for then- love and relationships. I knew how to say I needed housing and health care, but I didn’t know how to ask for love. I got lucky that the advocates in my life loved me, and they changed the trajectory of my life. Now I want that for every young person. “ – Terry Harrak, Youth Law Center Quality Parenting Initiative