Supporters of the juvenile justice status quo wrongly claim that community-based organizations are not yet strong enough to serve all youth who...
LEV RADIN/SHUTTERSTOCK Every day, I walk into school greeted with silencing stares from armed police officers. They’re not facing the windows or...
I was in foster care for 14 years. I was in 10 different foster homes and two different group homes. I represent...
More than 40,000 K–12 public school students in Washington experienced homelessness in 2017–18, a number that has nearly doubled in the past...
What is your normal? As a 9-year-old, emptiness and depression became my normal moving forward. We escaped Children’s Protective Services to squat...
MIA STUDIO/SHUTTERSTOCK Quarantine has a very isolating effect on the world. There is a lack of social interaction, many days in pajamas...
While our nation struggles to overcome systemic racism, one of the hidden roots of this issue lies within our school systems. The...
I was excited to work toward fulfilling the prerequisites for graduate school. My ultimate dream is to work as a physician assistant...
Language becomes its worst when medical terms and slurs are allowed to define a person's entire identity. But it doesn’t have to...
While COVID-19 has consumed almost every part of the lives of most Americans for more than two months, the uncertainties, anxieties and...
In Washington state, thousands of children and young adults like Patrick experience homelessness soon after exiting psychiatric and substance use disorder treatment.
Teens On Target (TNT) is a leadership development program at Youth ALIVE!, Oakland, Calif.’s anchor agency for violence prevention, intervention and healing....
I am 20 years old. I was a foster kid for the majority of my life. CYFD (New Mexico Children, Youth &...
In this past year as a student activist for gun safety, I’ve learned that America’s gun problem is a multifaceted issue. Gun...
Going through the foster care system isn’t easy, but what happens to youth as they begin to transition into life outside foster...
I live in a state of privilege. Wexford, Pa., and surrounding affluent suburbs are areas that run rampant with entitlement; mostly white...
Like most children, I never realized the tremendous impact my father’s values and culture would have on me. My mother was mainly...
Dayonn Davis was 15 when he committed a crime that would get him tried in court as an adult. A Facebook sale...
The Youth Today/InsideOUT Writers series these past two years has been a critical reflection on the impact of the American justice system...
I got released from the system about five years ago now, and my life has remained a consistent hustle. When I was...