Houston/Harris County
Redefining Youth Justice Coalition (RYJC) Internship Report
Summer 2021
Created by Mary Claire Neal
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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ABOUT THIS REPORT
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In the summer of 2020, the common goal of ending youth incarceration brought together the Redefining Youth Justice Coalition. However, it was adults, adult-led organizations, and Harris County departments that started the RYJC and drove its efforts in its first full year of working together.
As a coalition, we lacked structures and processes to be actively accountable to young people in the Houston area who themselves are being targeted and harmed by the juvenile justice system.
This report documents how we created a summer internship program as a strategy to begin transforming into an intergenerational coalition that centers youth leadership and participation.
THIS REPORT IS FOR…
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RYJC PARTICIPANTS to document a formative moment in our coalition’s history and build on what we learned.
JUSTICE-IMPACTED YOUNG PEOPLE & FAMILIES to explore how you can build community knowledge, leadership, and power that serves your needs and dreams.
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS & INSTITUTIONS to build new practices and processes that are accountable and empowering to young people.
FUNDERS & FOUNDATIONS to learn about this internship model in practice, see it’s impact, and inform your strategy for investing in youth leadership.
Background
About the Redefining Youth Justice Coalition (RYJC)
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Who is the RYJC?
The Redefining Youth Justice Coalition (RYJC) is made up of
Together, we are working to end youth detention and incarceration in Houston and Harris County.
These are the RYJC’s 3 Transformational Goals:
Connect
Connect local families, youth, and community stakeholders to national best practices and partners to expand and support transformation efforts
Expand
Expand the community-based continuum of services available to justice-impacted youth and families to reduce youth violence and safely keep young people out of custody
Reduce
Reduce and eliminate the need for detention or incarceration of youth
These are the coalition shared values that RYJC participants collaboratively identified:
• Love • Passion
• Empathy • Hope
• Open mindedness
• Authenticity
Timeline of the RYJC’s History
RYJC Foundations
Adapting to Crisis
RYJC Formation, Engagement, and Growth
Internship - youth interns lay foundation for a RYJC Youth Caucus
RYJC works to establish, shape, and monitor the first Harris County Youth Justice Community Reinvestment Fund
Spring 2020
COVID-19 Pandemic halts the Task Force
Harris County convenes research & community engagement organizations to plan a Youth Justice Task Force
Former task-force collaborators form the RYJC to build community power and engagement
Summer 2020
RYJC Youth Engagement and Leadership Work Group designs Youth Internship
Summer 2021
2017
May 2021
Summer 2021 Youth Internship
Purpose, Planning/Recruitment, and Activities
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PLANNING
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The idea to create the youth internship came from the RYJC’s Youth Engagement and Leadership Workgroup.
This team of 12 included
PURPOSE
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The Youth Engagement and Leadership Work Group codesigned the internship with the goal to create a small focus group of young people who are justice-involved or live in communities impacted by youth incarceration to help the coalition build youth leadership and participation.
PURPOSE
The work group identified these 8 intentions to guide their purpose-driven approach to the internship.
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PLANNING
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Building the purpose-driven approach was the first step in developing the internship.
Next, the work group set eligibility criteria, a recruitment strategy, and a time-frame for the internship.
Finally, the work group dedicated funding from Columbia Justice Lab to compensate interns $25 per hour of activity
RECRUITMENT
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Work group members recruited 14-21 year-olds who are justice-involved and/or live in a community disproportionately impacted by the youth justice system by asking RYJC coalition members for referrals from their communities or organizations.
RECRUITMENT
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Step 1: Interest Meeting (1 hour)
11 candidates
- Work group/candidate meet and greet
- Overview of the RYJC and internship
- Guided discussion about youth leadership and activism.
- Invitation to attend group interview
Step 2: Group Interview (2 hours)
10 applicants
- Welcome and applicant introductions
- Internship overview
- Discussion prompts: risk and protective factors; “What would be your starting place to empower young people in your community?”
- Exit survey to gauge availability
- Applicants were compensated $25 per hour for participating in the interview
Step 3: Selections and Offers
8 interns
- The Youth Engagement Work Group evaluated and selected the interns by consensus.
ACTIVITIES
Small-group Sessions
The 8-intern cohort was split into two small groups of 4. Each group met once a week for 2 hours. These sessions were facilitated by 1-3 work group members.
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RYJC Participation (Optional)
Interns were encouraged to get involved in RYJC work groups and general coalition meetings.
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End-of-Summer Presentation
The interns closed out the summer with a group presentation to the RYJC. They discussed the impacts of youth incarceration, the position of young people in society, and recommendations for the coalition.
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The internship experience included these 3 activities. Interns were compensated $25 per each hour of participation.
SMALL GROUP SESSIONS
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A typical small group session began with Introductions and Check-ins meant to build familiarity, friendship, and share social and emotional support with one another.
We used questions and prompts - like the ones to the right - to start them off, then allowed the conversation to flow as the interns and facilitators brought their own questions, thoughts, and stories.
What is your Name / What do you go by?
What is your favorite thing about your personality?
Are there any thoughts, prayers, or celebrations the group can send you?
SMALL GROUP SESSIONS
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Early on in the internship, each small group developed Norms and Agreements for themselves and each other - like these to the right. The interns revisited, reflected on, and modified them throughout the summer.
By doing so, they practiced actively and iteratively co-creating their own space to be respected, valued, and safe.
The interns also reflected on the intentions set by the work group’s purpose-driven approach. They developed their own perspective on the importance of each intention.
Prioritize consent, consensus, and choice
Be open-minded.
Make space for everyone to share, talk, explain their ideas.
Use charitable thinking. No one is inferior.
Remember that “There’s always enough time for the right work.” -adrienne maree brown
SMALL GROUP SESSIONS
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Throughout the internship, the small groups held Recaps and Debriefs on ongoing RYJC activities - like the one to the right.
These not only helped the interns grow familiar with the RYJC, but importantly, helped them identify priorities, challenges, and opportunities for young people’s participation and leadership in the coalition.
What we learned in the coalition meeting and this week’s working groups:
- Ending youth incarceration is the goal, and the reinvestment fund is a strategy to reach that goal
- Something we need to change is: using more accessible communication, language, background info, and visuals in coalition meetings
SMALL GROUP SESSIONS
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Sex education and teen pregnancy
Education system structure and funding
Government, charity, and mutual aid funding structures
Each week, the facilitators led educational activities on topics that helped the group explore root causes of youth incarceration and how these causes relate to multiple aspects of our lives.
The interns helped select these topics. They picked the topics most interesting to them from a list drafted by the work group, and they added additional topic ideas of their own.
The selected topics that did not fit into the calendar are opportunities for future discussion and action in the RYJC youth caucus.
Policing
School to prison pipeline
Activism and organizing
Mental and emotional health
Racism and economic inequality
END-OF-SUMMER PRESENTATION
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The interns’ presentation was the main event of the August 2021 RYJC Monthly Coalition Meeting.
END-OF-SUMMER PRESENTATION
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The interns created norms of engagement for the audience - putting into practice the intentions of “intergenerational learning and collaboration” and “co-creating spaces to grow together and build community.”
END-OF-SUMMER PRESENTATION
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They discussed their own analysis of the youth justice system’s impacts.
END-OF-SUMMER PRESENTATION
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They also included reflections from their own participation in the RYJC…
…and insight it gave them on the process of organizing and co-creating community.
Participant Reflections, Lessons Learned, and Forward Motion
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WORK GROUP REFLECTIONS
Youth Leadership and Engagement Work Group members met to discuss their reflections both during and after the internship.
Internship facilitators were encouraged by…
Facilitators saw challenges and opportunities with creating space to grow into - not rush - full participation and integration of young people into the RYJC. The RYJC needed to grow concrete infrastructure and structural processes that invite and empower young people, from vocabulary to meeting schedules to decision-making methods. The interns needed a quality orientation to the RYJC as well as clarity and agency on how they can choose to engage. The summer internship made a solid foundation and powerful spark for the long transformation ahead.
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YOUNG MINDS MATTER
PANEL DISCUSSION
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Immediately after the internship concluded, the cohort was invited to give a panel discussion at the November 2021 Young Minds Matter Conference.
Their discussion, titled “Seeds of the Social Wheelhouse” is an honest and insightful exploration of young people’s position in society as well as the panelists’ needs and dreams.
INTERNS’ EVALUATION OF PURPOSE-DRIVEN APPROACH
In December 2021, three of the interns evaluated each intention of the purpose-driven approach according to
The RYJC is using this data to guide their future directions for structure, programming, and prioritization of resources.
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INTERNS’ EVALUATION OF PURPOSE-DRIVEN APPROACH
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This internship experience… | Accuracy Level (1-10) | Importance Level (1-10) |
Supported us in defining the problem through our eyes, voicing our needs, and advocating for ourselves. | 10 | 10 |
Co-created a space for us so that we grew together and built community. | 10 | 9 |
Provided us with access to mentoring relationships, ignited by us. | 5 | 5 |
Prioritized us understanding data and utilizing research to tell our story, authentically. | 8 | 10 |
Developed an intergenerational learning and collaboration framework. | 8 | 5 |
Ensured our engagement in the decision-making process of the coalition and the larger youth justice system. | 8 | 8 |
Supported us as advocates and spokespersons for coalition. | 7 | 8 |
Protected our mental health and emotional well-being. | 9 | 7 |
Table: Average responses to the nearest whole number. Key: Bold = Highest importance. Green = most accurate. Red = least accurate
INTERNS’ EVALUATION OF PURPOSE-DRIVEN APPROACH
The intentions most reflected in the interns’ experience were…
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INTERNS’ EVALUATION OF PURPOSE-DRIVEN APPROACH
The intentions least reflected in the interns’ experience were…
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INTERNS’ EVALUATION OF PURPOSE-DRIVEN APPROACH
The intentions most important to the interns centered on…
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CONCLUSION:
FORWARD MOTION
The RYJC Youth Internship was fruitful: the interns came away with new bonds, sharpened understandings, renewed curiosities, impactful exposure to community leadership, and for some, a lasting sense of belonging, initiative, and shared ownership within the coalition.
Throughout the Fall of 2021, 4 of the summer interns have continued to regularly participate in the RYJC and founded the coalition’s Youth Caucus, with plans to expand the caucus amongst their peers.
As a result, the RYJC ends the year of 2021 with a promising foundation on which to grow towards a truly intergenerational coalition centered on youth leadership and participation.
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