Justice for DC Youth History

JDCY advocates for a fair and more effective juvenile justice system in the District of Columbia. Our mission is to shift the city's priorities from incarceration to education. As our name implies, JDCY's target population is DC youth - particularly those who are disproportionately affected by crime and the criminal justice system.

Detailed below is a timeline of our accomplishments over the years:

2000

In August of 2000, Mayor Anthony Williams establishes the District of Columbia Blue Ribbon Commission on Youth Safety and Juvenile Justice Reform ("BRC") to investigate the state of youth crime in the district, the effectiveness of the rehabilitative services and programs that were in place, and to make recommendations for reform.

2001

As the Blue Ribbon Commission began holding meetings, a small group of individuals began to attend these BRC meetings and from those initial meetings, the Justice 4 DC Youth! Coalition (JDCY) is formed. JDCY advocates against the transfer of more youth to adult court, for the closure of Oak Hill and redirection of resources to community-based alternatives to incarceration.

Throughout 2001, JDCY manages the "Close Oak Hill" campaign to encourage community members to weigh in on the BRC's deliberation and push for the closure of Oak Hill as one of the key recommendations of the BRC.

In November, the Mayor's Blue Ribbon Commission issues its final report that includes many of JDCY's key recommendations such as closing Oak Hill, replacing it with a smaller facility, redirecting resources to community-based alternatives to incarceration, and reducing the transfer of youth to adult court by proposing that all juvenile transfers be through judicial waiver.

2002

As there was no real response from Mayor Williams to the BRC recommendations issued in November of 2001, the Mayor's Blue Ribbon Commission issues the report again and holds a press conference with Mayor Williams. Unfortunately, Mayor Williams makes no public endorsement of the recommendations. At the press conference, the Mayor announces an "implementation" committee which met once and ultimately disappeared from public view.

Later that month, on February 26, JDCY hosts a film screening and organizing event at the Public Welfare Foundation, with a standing room only 300+ crowd!

2003

JDCY launches a series of direct actions to garner public attention to the conditions at Oak Hill by hosting "Un-Happy" Jerry M. birthday party events throughout the city. Jerry M. is an infamous lawsuit filed against the District in 1986 over the conditions of confinement for children at Oak Hill. JDCY's direct action events culminate in a press conference & birthday card delivery on the steps of the Wilson Building, home to the DC Council and the Mayor's Office.

On October 7, Mayor Williams, Councilmembers Kevin Chavous and Jim Graham introduce punitive, anti-youth legislation to transfer more youth to adult court, fine parents if their youth were adjudicated delinquent and to remove youth and families from public housing. Both bills ignore the recommendations from the Mayor's own Blue Ribbon Commission Report.

In November, JDCY launches a massive organizing effort to stop punitive legislation, including hosting a citywide faith breakfast to engage faith community in campaign efforts. On December 10, JDCY hosts the first-ever "Youth Justice Advocacy Day" at the Wilson Building to publicly launch "Stop the War on DC Youth" campaign, led by the city's youth. Concerned about the effect this legislation would have on youth rehabilitation, Councilmember Adrian Fenty contacts local advocates and asks for more information on transfer. Local advocates present him with the Blue Ribbon Commission Report of 2000. Based on these findings, he introduces the Blue Ribbon Act, which would codify the major recommendations of the commission's report, including the closure of the Oak Hill Youth Center; its replacement by a smaller facility, and a redirection of resources to more community-based alternatives to incarceration. JDCY works with then Councilmember Fenty to draft BRC alternative reform bill.

2004

JDCY organizes hundreds of youth and adults to attend and speak out at DC Council hearings in January and March. In addition, JDCY organizes 40+ organization letters to support the Fenty bill.

In May, JDCY launches a postcard campaign with Critical Resistance DC to garner support for the Fenty proposal.

In June, Councilmembers Brazil and Catania introduce more punitive bills that include mandatory minimums for youth. In response, JDCY coordinates phone call & email campaign to stop these bills.

In July, the DC City Council Judiciary Committee votes out of Committee a compromise Omnibus bill, including key provisions from Council member Fenty's Blue Ribbon Act, and deletes provisions to make the transfer of youth easier!

During the summer, JDCY launches the summer youth political education institute, FIRE (Freedom Involves a Revolutionary Education).

In October- November, JDCY sends out "Educate Don't Incarcerate" wristbands, delivers an organizational sign on letter in support of the legislation and organizes DC City Council visits to push for final passage of the bill.

On November 9, DC City Council unanimously approves the Omnibus Juvenile Justice Act of 2004, which includes provisions to close Oak Hill & redirect resources to community based alternatives to incarceration; in separate legislation, the Council also establishes a new Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) to replace the Youth Services Administration (YSA) that will report directly to the Mayor.

On November 29, Mayor Williams, who never supported the legislation, signs the Omnibus Juvenile Justice Act into law. This legislation is a milestone in the District's movement towards a rehabilitation-focused juvenile justice system.

2005

In January, Mayor Williams hires Vinny Schiraldi to run the newly formed Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, and Marc Schindler becomes General Counsel, both of whom were founding members of JDCY.

During the summer, JDCY launches the second year of FIRE. In the fall, JDCY launches a nine month, intensive youth organizing fellowship for 4 graduates for the Teach Justice! FIRE training.

In September, JDCY co-hosts a fundraising event raising $3,000 for programs serving incarcerated youth in Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

In October, JDCY launches a nine month, intensive youth organizing fellowship for 4 graduates for the Teach Justice! FIRE training;

Throughout 2005, JDCY attends, testifies and/or submits written testimony at several hearings (May, June, July, and November) on the status of closing Oak Hill, and the conditions of confinement at the Oak Hill Facility.

2006

In April, JDCY worked with DYRS to organize community members to participate in a service project at Oak Hill, "Spring Makeover Day", where 75 community volunteers worked throughout the day to beautify the campus for the youth.

In July, JDCY hosts the first-ever Mayoral candidate forum at Oak Hill with 7 of the 13 mayoral candidates attending - including future Mayor Adrian Fenty -- and compiles a "Voter's Guide on Juvenile Justice" with responses from 2 of the leading candidates for Mayor.

In July, Mayor Williams introduced "Emergency Crime Legislation" that includes more cops, youth curfews, and would result in incarceration of more youth. In response, JDCY relaunches the "Stop the War on DC Youth" (SWOY) campaign, holds a press conference on the steps of the DC Council building and makes the rounds to council members' offices.

Throughout the summer, JDCY implements FIRE youth organizing program that reaches over 35 youth.

In August, JDCY organizes a citywide rally, conducts press outreach and hosts a rally with SWOY wristbands, tee-shirts and flyers.

In September, DC City Council approves emergency crime legislation.

In November, Adrian Fenty is elected Mayor, the only member of the DC Council to vote against the emergency crime legislation.

2007

JDCY initiates a pilot program called the "Prison to College" Pipeline project (P2C) at Oak Hill. The program collaborates with students and staff from the University of Maryland College Park (UMCP) to provide mentoring, leadership development skills and political education to incarcerated youth.

In May, JDCY graduates its final class of youth fellows.

In July, JDCY hosts "Check the Rhyme," its first annual summer community fundraising event. The evening features a progressive hip hop concert, live performance painting, an art auction and a film screening.

Due to the success of the pilot program, the first full year long iteration of the P2C program is launched in September.

2008

From January-May JDCY organizes a series of political education workshops for youth at the Evening Reporting Center. This work is done in collaboration with the Visions to Peace project.

JDCY organizes a standing room only panel discussion and film screening entitled "Bridging the Gap Between Incarcerated and Collegiate Youth" on the UMCP campus in April 2008. In August, JDCY hosts an arts activism showcase at Busboys and Poets to raise funds for the organization.

JDCY testifies before the DC City Council in support of the reform effort in February. We also deliver testimony about race and the juvenile justice system to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Race, Racism, Xenophobia and Related Intolerances during his fact finding mission to the United States in June.

In September, JDCY launches the 3rd full year of P2C program. The program has now reached 100 youth and 65 volunteers. Our volunteers are primarily African-American student leaders involved in campus organizations that focus on socio-political issues facing communities of color.

2009

January-May, JDCY staff and advisory board engage in a strategic planning process. We decide to reflect the structural changes to the organization in by changing the name from "Justice 4 DC Youth! Coalition" to "Justice for DC Youth."

JDCY continues its support of the reform effort with DC City Council members, testifying in March and June.

In April JDCY organizes a talent showcase on the UMCP campus that attracts dozens of young people. We also hold our second annual forum on community based alternatives to incarceration that features an array of experts from the juvenile justice community.

On May 29th, Oak Hill closes! This historic closure signals the end of a failed experiment on children in our nation's capitol. In its place, we now have the New Beginnings Youth Development Center- a smaller, state of the art facility designed to positively impact the lives of troubled youth as they prepare for their eventual transition back into our community. This is a major victory for JDCY and the other community based organizations that fought for its closure.

On June 17th, JDCY hosted "The Blue Party" at Hamiltonian Gallery to celebrate the closure of Oak Hill and raise funds for continued juvenile justice reform advocacy efforts. The organization also celebrated the launch of our fully redesigned website, www.jdcy.org, and the opening of our new satellite office at New Beginnings. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that a youth advocacy organization will have an office inside a correctional facility.

In August, JDCY re-launched the Freedom Involves a Revolutionary Education (FIRE) program. Housed in Southeast DC, this program was a pilot examination of what it would mean to work with youth who were receiving services in the community.

In September, the Prison to College Pipeline recruits a new corps of 25 volunteers to launch the fourth academic year of the program.

In October and November, JDCY co-hosts a city wide strategy meeting and report back session on juvenile justice reform.

2010

In January JDCY conducts a series of peer exchanges with several similarly aligned groups to share best practices.

March 10th JDCY hosts "An Evening With Iyanla Vanzant," a fundraiser that showcased the New York Times Best Selling Author. In addition, the program featured performance poetry from our student volunteers and heartfelt speeches from three of the youth who inspire our work.

On May 3rd the Prison to College Pipeline successfully concludes its fourth academic year of arts activism workshops and political education with the youth at New Beginnings. In its fifth academic year, the Pipeline will transition to a youth led program.

In July, the non profit arm of Justice for DC Youth concludes its work. The Prison to College Pipeline transitions to a youth led program under the stewardship of our collegiate chapter.

JDCY Vision

Our vision is to help build and sustain a political climate in DC that is youth friendly. We are seeking to enhance the quality of life for our young people and their families by ensuring that they have access to a fair and equitable juvenile justice system, as well as quality services- education, employment, aftercare, mental health, etc. We believe that it is our responsibility to educate, mobilize and organize our youth to serve as key constituents in our fight for justice.

Executive Board

Jannora Cooper, President

Dekunle Somade is a senior Finance major at the University of Maryland with dreams of pursuing a career as a Tech Entrepreneur. In his 3rd year as a member of Justice for D.C. Youth Dekunle has played an active role in helping the organization make progress towards a better juvenile incarceration system where the city's priorities are switched from incarceration to rehabilitation. As president Dekunle works with his executive board to insure that JDCY's impact is felt not only in the facilities where workshop sessions with the youth take place but also on campus and in the District as the organization hopes to educate others on the injustices facing the inner city youth in the nation's capital. Dekunle is a strong believer in the role technology will play in combating many of the societal problems facing D.C.'s youth as well as other at-risk sectors of society and hopes to continue tackling social issues with technology while attending Graduate School next fall

Beth Barkley, Vice President

Amirrah Peterson is a strong young woman who is solely committed to giving back to the community. She has been involved in various community services organizations such as the St. Mary's Food Bank, Bridges, Marist Youth, Black Student Union Community Service Committee, and the JDCY: Prison to College Pipeline. Her dedication to helping the community stems from her experiences as a child. She has seen first hand the effects that poverty and a failing school system have on a child. This is why she is dedicated to making a change. Her future aspirations are to become a juvenile defense attorney and become an effective aid to children and their families who cannot afford proper counsel. In the near future she hopes to become a teacher in a lower class community in which their is a failing school system.

"You do not have to be a product of your environment". This is a sentence you will hear her say multiple times in reference to the young men she has worked with through JDCY. "There is much more to these young scholars than what the media makes them out to be. They are victims of a failing community and school system and with the right guidance, direction, and resources their possibilities for achievement are LIMITLESS!" -Amirrah H. Peterson

Shanice Sandiford, Secretary

Shanice is a freshmen from Newark, Delaware. She fell in love with volunteering as a freshman in high school at nursing homes in her hometown. In 2009 she was named Bank of America Student Leader for the work she had done in her community. This opportunity allowed her to start her volunteer work in Washington D.C. Shanice hopes to continue this work over the next 4 years she will spend at the University of Maryland. While working with JDCY Shanice has learned the true meaning of not judging a book by its cover. In the future she hopes to earn a degree in Accounting and go on to work as a Certified Public Accountant. Dynesha Brooks is a 21 year old senior at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is double majoring in Psychology and Community Health. Over the years at UMD, Dynesha has managed to work as a Peer Career Educator at the University Career Center, a Research Assistant for a Psychology Lab, and a mentor to incoming freshmen with the hopes of maintaining the black student retention rates.Currently, Dynesha works at the National Center for Health Statistics where she is a Research Assistant in the Question Design Research Lab. In December, Dynesha will be a proud graduate of the University of Maryland. After graduation, Dynesha hopes to obtain her Masters degree in Public Health and Social Work. Hoping to be a woman of many hats, Dynesha hopes to one day work with the nation’s health policies, specifically pertaining to youth.

This marks Dynesha’s third year volunteering with JDCY. Throughout the years Dynesha has learned so much not only from the organization, but also the youth in the facilities. She strives hard to maintain relationships with the young men with the hopes of supporting them along their journeys. It may sound cliché, but the ultimate lesson learned at New Beginnings is to “Not judge a book by its cover”. Some of the most talented and respectful individuals are the ones she encounters during her visits to new beginnings. When given encouragement and the right tools necessary, these scholars are to create the most original poems, collages, arguments, and so forth. Needless to say, Dynesha thinks the world of every single one of these young men and hopes that they all use their time at New Beginnings as the foundation for their “New Beginning” in life.

Yinka Akingbade, Finance Chair

Noreen is currently a junior at the University of Maryland College Park. She is a psychology major with focus on pre-nursing with a 3.6 GPA. She is a very hard worker always keeping busy with multiple activities. These activities include working, participating in Terps boxing, volunteering at a hospital, and interning while fulfilling her position with JDCY. In the future, she hopes to complete her masters in Nursing by becoming a nurse anesthesiologist. Also in the future, she hopes to travel the world and go to culinary school.

Noreen has described JDCY has a memorable and wonderful experience which she enjoy greatly. It is something that she feels she has learned and grown a lot from. She loves her position and wants to continue to finish the program out strong.

Michellay Cole, Historian

Lauren Williams is a junior supply chain management and international business double major at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. Within the Smith School she is the Public Relations Chair for the Black Business Association and is responsible for the overall promotion of the organization. She is also a member of numerous honor societies including Primmanum Honor Society, The National Society of Collegiate Scholars and the University of Maryland Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Education Academic Excellence Society. Lauren will be studying abroad in Shanghai, China for the Spring 2011 semester and hopes to one day pursue a career in consulting.

Lauren became involved with Justice for D.C. Youth in the fall of 2009 and currently serves as the organizations Finance Chair. She began volunteering with the hope that JDCY would provide her with an opportunity to give back to the community, however the experience has become much more meaningful. Working with the young men in the New Beginnings facility has been touching and inspiring. Learning about them, their struggles, and their experiences has also helped Lauren to learn about herself. The experience has broadened her perspective on the discrepancies in the juvenile justice system and blessed her with the opportunity to directly make a difference.

Shanice A. Sandiford, Communications Chair

Advisors

Shani O'neal

Shani is the former Director of Justice for DC Youth (JDCY), a community based non profit that fights for a fair and more effective juvenile justice system in the District of Columbia. Prior to joining JDCY, she designed and directed The Art of Activism - a seminar series based at Howard University that utilized art to educate young people about organizing for progressive social change. An incisive essayist and editor, her writings on race, gender, diaspora and culture have been published in several collections and incorporated into university curricula. On Tuesday evenings her voice may be heard on the Pacifica Radio network (WPFW 89.3FM), as the host of the progressive hip hop strip Decipher.

Shani is a Fulbright Fellow and proud Spelman graduate, who has a Masters degree in Africana Cultural Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles. She also received certification from the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. Her work has received international recognition in publications such as the Trinidad Guardiannewspaper, the London based literary magazine Sable, andESSENCE - as "One of the 35 Most Remarkable Women in the World" (May 2005).

R. Daniel Okonkwo
Daniel is the Executive Director of DC Lawyers for Youth and runs DCLY’s Youth Justice Project. He also sits on the board of directors for the D.C. Alliance of Youth Advocates and is a community advisory panel member of the Washington, D.C. Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative.

Daniel also serves as a Senior Analyst in the Regulatory Practice Group at the EOP Group, Inc., a Washington, D.C. business and political consulting firm, where he represents green technology producers and manufacturers, investor-owned utilities, nuclear power generators, and oil/gas/chemical corporations. He has authored and edited the EOP Group publication Understanding the United States Government's Regulatory Policy and co-authored Understanding the Budget of the United States Government. Prior to joining the EOP Group, Daniel was employed at the Office of the Public Defender in Miami, FL where he represented clients in the County Court Division and Felony Drug Court.

Daniel received his J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center. Daniel has had extensive experience with youth in Washington D.C. While at Georgetown University Law Center, he was a student attorney in the Juvenile Justice Clinic and the head basketball coach, and tutor at the Maya Angelou Public Charter School. Daniel's experience with the law and youth dates back to his undergraduate days at Yale University, where he graduated with a B.A in African-American Studies. At Yale, he was the head of the Black Undergraduate Law Association and was heavily involved as a tutor at the Connecticut Youth Detention Center in New Haven.