Open City Advocates

06/01/2026

Q***r and trans youth and adults are stopped, arrested, and incarcerated at higher rates, and face dramatically higher rates of violence inside jails, prisons, and juvenile facilities. This is especially true for Black and brown q***r and trans young people.

Open City Advocates honors the LGBTQ+ youth, clients, staff, volunteers, and movement partners who make our work possible, and recommits to an advocacy practice that sees them fully.

Happy Pride. 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

04/24/2026

We're partnering with CCE and many other organizations to support these candidate forums. Join us next Tuesday!

04/11/2026

On Thursday, a group of nearly 20 public safety organizations gathered on the steps of the Wilson Building to roll out what they call their DC Public Safety Agenda, a roadmap of priorities for the incoming mayor, council, and congressional delegate.

Among the issues discussed were investing in D.C.'s youth and the curfew.
"First of all, we are having incidents that occur outside of the curfew hours, or outside of the curfew zones. Things that are happening in the curfew zones are often times happening with just a small handful of people. I think we are exacerbating negative interactions between our police and our young people," said Penelope Spain, with Open City Advocates, who works with young people who have been incarcerated.

The DC Council is set to hold the first vote on permanent changes to DC's youth curfew on April 21.

04/09/2026

Today: A coalition of organizations will come together to release a community-driven vision for public safety in DC.

Join us as we unveil the 2026 DC Public Safety Policy Agenda, a roadmap shaped by those working directly with impacted communities across the District.

📍 Steps of the Wilson Building (1350 Pennsylvania Ave NW)
🕚 11:00 AM ET
📅 April 9

03/16/2026

Girls in DC's juvenile justice system are survivors of abuse and trafficking. Many are mothers. And DYRS wasn't designed for any of them.

Before these young women ever saw a courtroom, they were failed by child welfare, by foster care, by schools. The system that finally caught them doesn't serve them either.

Meanwhile, mothers, grandmothers, and caregivers are doing the work of holding families together with almost no support.

This Women's History Month, Open City Advocates is asking DC to do better. These girls and their families need resources, gender-responsive programming, and accountability from DYRS.

03/01/2026

Black youth make up 14% of the U.S. population ages 10–20. In 2019, they were 41% of youth in locked facilities.

That's not a reflection of who kids are. It's a reflection of systems built on structural racism.

As we close out Black History Month, we honor the young people and families fighting for something better: a city that invests in youth before it locks them away, and a system that sees potential before it sees a case number.

The work isn't finished. It's barely begun.

02/12/2026

Join us in welcoming new Board member Gunita Singh!

Gunita is a Staff Attorney at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, where she works on litigation, policy, and amicus work around state and federal freedom of information laws while helping reporters and news organizations with records requests. She has co-authored two publications on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to public records, published in the Journal of National Security Law & Policy and the Wake Forest Journal of Law & Policy. Gunita also serves on the Board of Directors at LION Publishers. She is licensed to practice law in California and Washington, DC.

Gunita's connection to Open City Advocates runs deep. As a law student at Georgetown, she participated in our post-disposition class, where she worked directly with system-involved youth as a student-mentor. "It's such a full circle moment to join the Board at Open City Advocates,” said Gunita. “From beginning my volunteer work with them ten years ago to following their work keenly over the past decade, I'm excited to do my part to help the team to maximize their impact and fulfill their extraordinarily important mission as a board member."

Open City Advocates CEO, Penelope Spain, recently reflected, "from the moment that I met Gunita as a student in our post-disposition class at Georgetown Law, it was clear that she was a creative thinker who deeply believes that law can and should be leveraged in a way that uplifts others, is grounded in human connection, and fosters community. Gunita’s compassionate heart coupled with her cutting intellect are what made her a stellar mentor and will surely make her a fabulous member of our Board."

We're delighted to have Gunita bring her expertise in transparency, open government, and the public interest to our work on behalf of DC's youth and families!

12/09/2025

“We are considering a world where the only people who have oversight over DYRS is the agency itself.”

When oversight disappears, children's lives are at stake.

DC has defunded the independent watchdog for its youth jail at the very moment reports show ongoing assaults, dangerous crowding, and worsening safety conditions for young people.

This isn’t just a policy choice; it’s a test of whether transparency and accountability matter in youth justice.

Our Research & Advocacy Director, Joshua Miller, spoke with NBC4 about these risks and why independent oversight remains essential:

“We are considering a world where the only people who have oversight over DYRS is the agency itself,” an advocate said.

09/26/2025

Tonight!

Join us tomorrow night at the Brookland Busboys and Poets!

09/25/2025

Join us tomorrow night at the Brookland Busboys and Poets!