Help us cultivate young leaders who challenge racial disparities in Virginia, beginning with youth justice!

Ever since I was a youth, I have seen the detrimental effects of the prison industrial system on my family and friends. As a youth, my cousin was incarcerated as a youth, and since then he has been in and out of jail. This is a reality that disproportionately and purposefully affects Black and Brown youth. For migrants, there is the double punishment of incarceration and then deportation, which I have seen happen to my family and community members. Angela Davis said, "Prisons do not disappear social problems, they disappear human beings." Black and Brown youth deserve better. They deserve opportunities and access to resources. Please Rise For Youth in amplifying the humanity of our incarcerated youth and demanding justice. Enough is enough. We have to stop robbing our young people of their childhoods and start investing in their futures.