National Youth Justice Network - NYJN

09/10/2026

09/01/2026

Youth Justice Action Month is coming up in October - check out this post to learn how to submit events for our calendar!

YJAM 2026 is approaching!!

This year’s theme is Building a Future Where Youth Thrive, with weekly sub-themes focused on:
Week 1: Education and Empowerment
Week 2: Youth Leading the Movement (during the week of CJJ’s 2026 Youth Justice in Action Conference in Pittsburgh, PA)
Week 3: Health, Hope, and Healing
Week 4: Strength in Community

Are you hosting a community event, training, youth-led activity, panel discussion, awareness campaign, or other YJAM event this October? We want to hear about it! If you need ideas or want to see and hear from past participants, please check out the Activation Planning Guide. https://ow.ly/Q1pr50ZHt4g

Submit your event through our YJAM Event Submission Form so we can help showcase how communities are taking action and creating opportunities for youth to thrive.

👉 Submit Your YJAM Event https://ow.ly/rc1o50ZHt4o

08/31/2026

08/12/2026

Our August featured member organization is ALAS: Educational Access for Immigrant & Court-Involved Youth, located in New Orleans! ALAS is one of the co-hosts for our upcoming 2026 Annual Forum: We Free Us.

ALAS started in a New Orleans classroom with a teacher who kept watching the same thing happen: a student would get arrested or picked up by immigration, and the adults who knew that kid best, their teachers, had no idea how to help. So ALAS started teaching them.

Today ALAS trains educators across a dozen New Orleans schools to stand with students facing immigration and criminal courts. They connect young people to attorneys who will actually take their cases. They help teachers write to judges so a kid can finish the school year instead of waiting it out in jail. In immigration court, a young person who walks in alone wins their case 8% of the time. With a lawyer beside them, 88%. ALAS exists to help close that gap.

More than 600 students have come through the doors of ALAS since its founding. That's over 600 students that have opportunities and resources that they wouldn't have if ALAS didn't exist.

08/11/2026

We are very excited to be hosting this webinar tomorrow in preparation for our Annual Forum next week! Register here to attend: https://bit.ly/4yLm1XW

Join us on 8/12 for a special workshop on restorative justice facilitated by DayOneNotDayTwo! Guided by the commitment to developing self-determined communities, this webinar will explore how restorative justice can help people stay connected through healing, relationship building, and the fight for liberation. This workshop is a lead-up for a restorative justice circle that DayOneNotDayTwo will be facilitating at our upcoming Annual Forum.

Register here: https://bit.ly/4yLm1XW

DayOneNotDayTwo is a nationally recognized, youth-led and intergenerational movement based in Philadephia, PA, that advances community-based alternatives to youth incarceration. Rooted in healing, creativity, cultural organizing, and collective power, the organization supports young people—especially those facing serious charges—through participatory defense, restorative justice, and emotional intelligence education. By combining arts, workforce development, entrepreneurship, and community organizing, they empower local communities to develop sustainable and self-determined futures.

08/06/2026

We are excited to be partnering with Operation Stop CPS, DayOneNotDayTwo, Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights, JMACforFamilies, and ALAS on co-hosting our 2026 Annual Forum: We Free Us. This Forum is invitation to members of each movement across intersecting ecosystems that are impacted by systemic harm to youth, their families and communities, to unite in our fight for abolition and safe communities.

These organizations have been integral to planning this year’s Forum, including expanding the forum across movement ecosystems that uplift our theme of intersectionality. Thank you to our co-hosts and to everyone else working to make our Forum an amazing event!

08/06/2026

Youth with physical, learning, or intellectual disabilities are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system. Last month was disability pride month, and MCYJ Intern Amanda Acey looked at ways we can better support youth with disabilities, starting in schools. Read it in full here: https://www.miyouthjustice.org/post/for-youth-with-disabilities-justice-advocacy-starts-in-school?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_content=ap_5jeyikyvxr

08/03/2026

Join us on 8/12 for a special workshop on restorative justice facilitated by DayOneNotDayTwo! Guided by the commitment to developing self-determined communities, this webinar will explore how restorative justice can help people stay connected through healing, relationship building, and the fight for liberation. This workshop is a lead-up for a restorative justice circle that DayOneNotDayTwo will be facilitating at our upcoming Annual Forum.

Register here: https://bit.ly/4yLm1XW

DayOneNotDayTwo is a nationally recognized, youth-led and intergenerational movement based in Philadephia, PA, that advances community-based alternatives to youth incarceration. Rooted in healing, creativity, cultural organizing, and collective power, the organization supports young people—especially those facing serious charges—through participatory defense, restorative justice, and emotional intelligence education. By combining arts, workforce development, entrepreneurship, and community organizing, they empower local communities to develop sustainable and self-determined futures.

07/30/2026

We are excited to welcome Missouri Justice Coalition and DayOneNotDayTwo into our network!

MoJustice is dedicated to serving as a unifying force across the state of Missouri, bringing together individuals impacted by the criminal punishment system. Our mission is to educate, empower, and unite community members, transforming them into a powerful advocacy base.

DayOneNotDayTwo is a nationally recognized, youth-led and intergenerational movement based in Philadephia, PA, that advances community-based alternatives to youth incarceration. Rooted in healing, creativity, cultural organizing, and collective power, the organization supports young people—especially those facing serious charges—through participatory defense, restorative justice, and emotional intelligence education.

Learn more about NYJN membership and nyjn.org/membership

07/30/2026