Reimagining Youth Justice: Investing in Young People, Building Community Trust

Across Louisiana, communities are facing a defining moment for youth justice. In a time of local policy shifts, our community leaders are reminding us that community and solidarity can help support youth and our entire region. 

The GNOFN Criminal Justice Action Table hosted a recent webinar titled, “Reimagining Youth Justice: Investing in Young People, Building Community Trust.” This conversation featured Kristen Rome, Executive Director of the Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights (LCCR); Ernest Johnson, Founder and Executive Director of Ubuntu Village; and Cameron Dumas, Youth Lead Organizer at Families and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children (FFLIC). Each offered an unflinching look at how Louisiana’s justice system impacts its young people, and how communities are creating their own models of safety, leadership, and healing.

Kristen Rome of LCCR spoke about the urgent need for defensive advocacy as Louisiana rolls back youth protections like the “Raise the Age” law, making it one of only four states in the nation that still prosecutes 17-year-olds as adults. “We are in a season where progressive wins feel out of reach, but that doesn’t mean we’re standing still,” said Rome. “It means we’re planting deeper roots. We’re building coalitions. And we’re investing in narrative work that reminds us: all justice is youth justice.”

Rome emphasized that in this climate, pushing for new policy isn’t enough. The focus must shift toward strengthening community coalitions and changing the narrative through campaigns like It Takes a Village NOLA, which reclaims the stories of youth and families too often vilified in public discourse.

Ernest Johnson of Ubuntu Village shared that real safety isn’t something delivered by systems, but rather it’s built by communities. “Safety isn’t a system we wait for. It’s a commitment we show up for on every block, every day,” Johnson said. “From trauma recovery to storytelling to Six Flags road trips, we are building joy-based prevention ecosystems that keep our kids whole.”

Ubuntu Village’s work includes hospital partnerships, peace ambassador programs, and cultural healing trips rooted in empathy, presence, and trust. Johnson reminded participants that joy and prevention are not separate goals: they are the foundation of long-term safety and wellbeing.

Cameron Dumas, a youth leader from FFLIC, reflected on her journey through the organization’s Black Girls Rising program and into youth organizing. “FFLIC saw something in me before I even believed in myself,” Dumas shared. “That’s the power of intergenerational organizing. We don’t just fight systems. We raise up the leaders who will outlive them.”

Dumas highlighted FFLIC’s “village model” of leadership development, where young people, parents, and elders share space, decisions, and accountability. This intergenerational approach not only nurtures new leaders but ensures that lived experience remains at the heart of every campaign.

Throughout the conversation, speakers underscored the need for accountability from both government and philanthropy. Rome and Dumas pointed to the opportunities in implementing existing laws like Acts 555 and 1225. These laws are designed to create coordinated systems of youth care, but remain under-resourced.

“Our leaders don’t need new laws,” said Dumas. “They need the courage to implement the ones we already fought for.”

Panelists also called for increased alignment in public budgets and philanthropic priorities. As Johnson noted, “If New Orleans is investing more in cages than in kids, then we don’t have a public safety strategy. We have a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

The speakers shared that lasting change depends on weaving together advocacy, direct services, and deep relationships. “When advocacy and direct service live under one roof,” Johnson said, “communities don’t fall through the cracks.”

Dumas added that emotional support, housing, and education are the infrastructure of community safety. “Families shouldn’t have to cross three parishes to find a mental health counselor, a housing form, and a public defender,” she said. “Youth justice isn’t a service, it’s a system. And systems must be whole to keep people whole.”

This youth justice discussion was the first in learning series hosted by GNOFN’s Criminal Justice Action Table (CJAT), which brings together funders, advocates, and community leaders to explore root causes and pathways toward community-defined safety.

Future sessions will examine critical topics including policing, clean slate policies, the death penalty, prosecutorial power, and bail and fees reform. Each conversation will center the voices of those directly impacted,  affirming that justice cannot be achieved without the insight, leadership, and lived experience of community members.

GNOFN aims to inform, inspire, and amplify to help funders and partners understand the systemic challenges while spotlighting the community-led solutions already working to keep youth safe and supported. As Marisa Arrona, GNOFN’s CJAT facilitator shared, “The state of youth justice is just one piece of a larger truth: community safety cannot be siloed. Our webinar series will explore what it means to build a future rooted in dignity, not detention, across courts, communities, and coalitions.”