In July, a group of advocates from across California met in Sacramento, just blocks from the State Capitol, for the Next Generation Fellowship, a six-day leadership development and policy advocacy training for emerging community leaders. Amid differences in age, race/ethnicity and gender, each of the 15 fellows share a powerful connection: They have been directly impacted by the justice system.
The Next Generation Fellowship recognizes that the true costs of incarceration are felt by those who have lived it. For some, this experience lies in their own incarceration; for others, the impacts of incarceration are woven into their family or community. All too often, individuals have faced the backlash of the justice system through all these layers.
Thus, the key solutions for effective justice reforms are rooted in the communities most impacted. Leaders of these communities are equipped to build change from the ground up through cultural healing and policy training, as well as a developed supportive network. The Next Generation Fellowship, which is a collaboration between two California-based advocacy organizations, Motivating Individual Leadership for Public Advancement(MILPA) and the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, supports fellows by fostering effective storytelling, strategic advocacy and civic participation to bridge the gap between their communities and the capitol.
[For more on this story by Renee Menart, go to https://jjie.org/2018/08/22/ca...ce-involved-leaders/]
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