The Michelson 20MM Foundation welcomes four organizations to the 2024 Smart Justice Spark Grantees cohort. Their projects play a crucial role in reshaping the lives of vulnerable populations. By addressing systemic challenges, they will create pathways for healing, empowerment, and successful reentry.
Women, young people, tribal communities, and those entering college will directly benefit from the Spark Grantees’ projects. The efforts recognize the need to eradicate generational trauma, advocate for alternative sentencing for youth, offer culturally informed services, and provide access to resources for academic success. As a result, the grantees will help reduce recidivism and change the lives of individuals and their families.
The Healing & Justice Center sees the trauma experienced by those involved in the justice system. Through their Parenting Beyond Walls: Learning, Healing, and Building Resilience Together Project, they will support mothers preparing for reintegration. To do so, the Center will offer compassionate parenting strategies, support groups, and emotional wellness resources. In this year-long pilot program, they expect to help 40 mothers strengthen the bonds with their children. Learnings from this pilot will help scale the program.
Designed for young people in secure youth treatment facilities in California, Impact Justice’s California Justice Leaders Postsecondary Pathways Program (CJLP3) leverages the organization’s existing mentorship training program for system-impacted individuals (California Justice Leaders, or “CJL”) to help juveniles with serious criminal charges access higher education. Expanding on the Laney College “Restoring our Communities” (ROC) program, CJLP3 will equip current CJL members with training on the ROC model, enabling them to more directly support this specific youth population. At the same time, a landscape analysis of the judges, institutions for higher education, and detention facilities in the counties where CJL members currently operate will empower members to begin developing professional working relationships with these institutions, sharing academic success stories with the courts, and advocating for academic progress and opportunity to be taken into account in future detention decisions for youth involved in their programs. CJLP3 is designed to be scalable into new counties and locations as CJL welcomes new members, and has the potential to reach hundreds of young people seeking higher education during and after incarceration.
Indigenous Justice’s Returning Relatives program blends cultural practices with modern reentry support. It offers healing opportunities for entire families impacted by incarceration. Additionally, the initiative addresses the broad effects of incarceration in Indian Country. Indigenous Justice aims to prevent multi-generational recidivism through culturally specific support. During the grant period, they will assist 14 tribes. They also plan to train Indigenous leaders to advocate for alternatives to incarceration rooted in culture.
Torero Urban Scholar’s Transfer Coalition Initiative (TCI) will create one unified system connecting San Diego’s higher education institutions, correctional facilities, and community services to transform reentry education in Southern California. The project will provide comprehensive support, including housing and social services to students at the University of San Diego and create pathways for youth moving from juvenile incarceration to higher education by working with the Youth Transition Campus (YTC). As an open-setting campus that was intentionally designed to feel like a college campus, YTC is the first of its kind in the country.
“We could not be more excited to welcome the 2024 Smart Justice Spark Grantees,” Kenia Miranda Verdugo, Smart Justice Program Manager, shared. “We look forward to seeing how their focus on holistic support, education, and cultural practices empowers individuals and families.”
Michelson 20MM is a private, nonprofit foundation working toward equity for underserved and historically underrepresented communities by expanding access to educational and employment opportunities, increasing affordability of educational programs, and ensuring the necessary supports are in place for individuals to thrive. To do so, we work in the following verticals: Digital Equity, Intellectual Property, Smart Justice, Student Basic Needs, and Open Educational Resources (OER). Co-chaired and funded by Alya and Gary Michelson, Michelson 20MM is part of the Michelson Philanthropies network of foundations.
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