MN Coalition for Youth Justice

03/16/2025

On Tuesday we’re headed to the Capitol! Join us to educate our policymakers on the importance of building a truly just legal system for youth in Minnesota. DM us if you’re able to attend at any point in the day and we’ll send details!

02/06/2025

In 2023, the MN legislature passed a law prohibiting life without release sentencing for children, and tasking a supervised release board to review the sentences of currently incarcerated people impacted by these extreme sentences. Join us next week for dinner and a conversation about the implementation of this law. We’ll be at AllSquare on Tuesday 2/11 from 6-8, led by partners at the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth. Register at the link in our bio!

11/12/2024

📣 Join us at TOMORROW NIGHT'S Town Hall, Approaching Youth Justice Justice with Urgency.

We're calling our state and local leaders to engage in real youth justice solution-making, and we invite you to be part of this community conversation.

📍Sabathani Community Center Banquet Room | 310 E 38th St, Minneapolis
🕕 Wednesday, 11/13 | 6pm-8pm
🍽️ Community meal, childcare, and interpreters offered
🗣️ Share widely!

10/25/2024

📣 TOWN HALL: Approaching Youth Justice with Urgency

Over the last couple of weeks we have been disappointed and alarmed by a number of news stories highlighting the dysfunction across the youth justice system in Hennepin County.

The MN Coalition for Youth Justice is calling for our state and local leaders to engage in real solution-making to support our youth. As a coalition of youth, advocates, and professionals who work with children, we believe in a Minnesota where our communities are empowered with the resources and support to provide culturally-affirming care and meaningful accountability to our kids, rooted in an understanding of human development.

We are approaching youth justice with urgency, and we invite you to join us at our upcoming town hall on Wednesday, November 13 from 6-8pm at Sabathani Community Center in South Minneapolis. No pre-registration required. Community meal, childcare, and interpreters offered.

🗣️Share widely with friends, family, and others in community. Your voice and perspectives matter, and we hope you will join us to imagine what is possible for the numerous urgent crises of our youth justice system.

10/25/2024

📢 TOWN HALL: Approaching Youth Justice with Urgency

Over the last couple of weeks we have been disappointed and alarmed by a number of news stories highlighting the dysfunction across the youth justice system in Hennepin County.

The MN Coalition for Youth Justice is calling our state and local leaders to engage in real solution-making to support our youth. As a coalition of youth, advocates, and professionals who work with children, we believe in a Minnesota where our communities are empowered with the resources and support to provide culturally-affirming care and meaningful accountability to our kids, rooted in an understanding of human development.

We are approaching youth justice with urgency, and we invite you to join us at our upcoming town hall on Wednesday, November 13 from 6-8pm at Sabathani Community Center in South Minneapolis. No pre-registration required. Community meal, childcare, and interpreters offered.

🗣️ Share widely with friends, family, and others in community. Your voice and perspectives matter, and we hope you will join us to imagine what is possible for the numerous urgent crises of our youth justice system.

09/26/2023

Are you excited?! The Freedom Constellations exhibit opens this Friday (September 29) and runs through October 8th at the Black Youth Healing Arts Center in St. Paul. Come by anytime the exhibit is open and checkout the calendar for some special events. Comment below with a friend you want to see the exhibit with! 💫

02/10/2023

Yesterday, coalition members David Starks and Malaika Eban testified at the House Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee regarding HF600. The bill, as currently written, proposes expanding the capacity of locked facilities in Ramsey County.

Our coalition does not support the creation of any new secure facilities in our communities. We want young people and our communities to be safe, but further investment in systems of incarceration fails to address these needs.

Hear more from David and Malaika by listening to clips of their testimonies included in this post, and visit https://www.house.mn.gov/hjvid/93/896313 to access a recording of the full committee hearing.

01/20/2023

As highlighted in a recent article published in the Star Tribune, it is time for ACTION on youth justice issues in Minnesota.

Swipe through this post to check out the coalition's legislative priorities. Leave a comment or DM us about a priority that excites you, and reach out for more information about our next coalition meeting!

12/13/2022

NEW APPLICATION DUE DATE - Monday, December 19th!

We are looking for youth leaders to join the Youth Action Squad fellowship! This opportunity is geared toward young people with a passion for youth justice who want to grow their organizing and leadership skills.

Fellows will attend workshops in three focus areas (policymaking, advocacy, and storytelling) and design their own youth justice-related vision, project or campaign.

The Youth Action Squad fellowship runs from January 2023 - May 2023 and includes a $1000 stipend for each fellow. Fill out the application form (linked in our Instagram bio) by Monday, December 19th to apply.

12/02/2022

We are looking for youth leaders to join the Youth Action Squad fellowship! This opportunity is geared towards young people with a passion for youth justice who want to grow their organizing and leadership skills.

Fellows will attend workshops in three focus areas (policymaking, advocacy, and storytelling) and design their own youth justice-related vision, project or campaign.

The fellowship runs from January 2023 - May 2023 and includes a $1000 stipend for each fellow. Apply before Wednesday, December 14th by filling out this Google Form: http://ow.ly/6rfB50LUecE

11/04/2022

Thanks to KARE 11 for highlighting the troubling conditions at the Hennepin County Juvenile Detention Center.

Juvenile detention centers, youth prisons, this entire system is not designed to provide the support and care that children need and deserve.

Instead, as the story shows, children are held in solitary confinement for weeks, punished for needing mental health support and for the failures of our systems to adequately invest in the wellbeing of families.

If detention and correctional facilities cannot adequately and safely keep our kids, then they shouldn't be allowed to operate. Who is going to be held accountable for the cruel treatment of this child and the impact it has on the rest of his life? This entire system needs transformation!

A Minnesota teen struggling with severe mental illness and charged with numerous crimes sat in juvenile detention, often isolated, because no treatment was available

08/26/2022

The Star Tribune is doing a multi-part series on the juvenile justice system in Minnesota. Part two came out earlier this week - about issues in how diversion opportunities are offered to youth across our state. If you haven't read it yet, check it out!
https://www.startribune.com/two-cousins-with-diverging-fates-show-promise-failure-of-youth-rehabilitation-in-minnesota/600199349/?refresh=true