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YOUTH EMPOWERMENT
Developing the next generation of organizers in communities most impacted.
The school-to-prison pipeline doesn't start in courtrooms. It starts in classrooms, in neighborhoods, in the moments when young people are pushed out rather than brought in. L2J works upstream, bringing civic education, mentorship, and grassroots organizing skills to young people in the communities most impacted by incarceration, so that young people have the knowledge, skills, and power to shape the systems that govern their lives.
Our programs are facilitated by formerly incarcerated credible messengers from the same communities as the youth. Not because young people need to be saved, but because when a young person sees someone who has lived through what they are living through standing at the front of the room as a skilled advocate and leader, something shifts in what they believe is possible for themselves.
We don't deliver content to young people. We develop organizers and leaders. Youth learn how laws are made, prepare real testimony, build coalitions, and write letters that enter the official legislative record. They leave not as recipients of a program but as participants in a movement. A movement that some of our youth will one day lead.
When we lead with those
most impacted, WE WIN.

EXPLORE YOUTH EMPOWERMENT

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CIVIC EDUCATION
FOR YOUTH

Equipping young people to engage and lead in civic life.

WASHINGTON YOUTH EMPOWERMENT COALITION

Developing the next generation of organizers in communities most impacted.

BREAKING THE CYCLE

Preventing violence through community-led youth mentorship, education, and restorative justice.

NEXT voice up! SUMMIT

Empowering young people to share their stories through creativity, healing, and community dialogue.

CIVIC
EDUCATION
FOR YOUTH

Our Advocacy 101 curriculum brings civic education to young people in schools, juvenile detention facilities, and system-impacted community spaces across Washington State.

Facilitated by formerly incarcerated credible messengers from the same communities as the youth, sessions cover how the legislative process works, how to write to legislators, and what makes impactful testimony.

Students analyze real bills, debate legislative considerations, and participate in mock legislative sessions, engaging directly with elected officials and leaving with the knowledge and confidence to participate in the civic processes that shape their lives. When young people see themselves as capable of shaping the systems that govern them, everything changes because leaders are developed.

WASHINGTON YOUTH EMPOWERMENT COALITION

The Washington Youth Empowerment Coalition is a statewide network for young people ages 13 to 19, meeting weekly via Zoom in three-month cohorts. Led by Antoine E. Davis, L2J's Incarcerated Director of Inside Organizing, alongside his wife Brittani and teenage daughter Ahlaysia from the outside.

The coalition is a clear example of how incarcerated people work with our commUNITY in partnership to build and lead in the development of our next generation. This is not a program that delivers content to young people. It develops leaders.
Youth learn legislative process works, practice preparing and giving testimony, how to organize coalitions and rally's, write letters to their legislators on real bills, and have those letters entered into the official record. Participants leave with a formal letter documenting their civic skills and leadership development for school and college portfolios. The coalition intentionally recruits youth with incarcerated parents through our inside newsletter, creating a rare and powerful connection between incarcerated parents and their children's civic development.

BREAKING THE CYCLE: YOUTH VIOLENCE PREVENTION & MENTORSHIP

Violence doesn't happen in a vacuum. It happens in communities that have been systematically under-resourced, over-policed, and left without pathways to opportunity. Breaking the Cycle brings monthly gatherings to youth and young adults most exposed to violence across Washington State. Each month includes two sessions that build on each other: a talking circle where youth process what they're living through and develop peer support, and an educational session using real, de-identified cases to examine how conflicts escalate, the legal consequences of violence, and restorative justice as an alternative to cycles of violence.
Facilitated by formerly incarcerated credible messengers, we believe these young people don't need another program brought in from the outside. They need trusted people from their own communities who can stay close in the hardest moments. This is how communities heal themselves and work towards an environment that is safe for all.

Next Voice Up! Youth Summit

Next Voice Up! is a yearly event for young people to communicate their own stories about how crime and the criminal legal system has impacted their lives. It is also a space for them to promote love, healing, and unity through their creative talents, while expressing ways they believe we can build better communities.

CONTACT US

We love to hear from our community, if you want to reach out with any thoughts or comments or to see how to get involved, we’d love to hear from you.
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Look2Justice is a network of system - impacted leaders transforming the criminal legal system through education, advocacy, and narrative change.
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ATTN: Look2Justice
32275 32nd Ave S
Federal Way, WA 98001
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