In California

BUILD A HEALTHY AND THRIVING STATE

Our statewide work promotes smart solutions in communities, the Capitol, and at the ballot box. We make sure that communities of color and low-income communities have strong political power throughout the state. 

We analyze the challenges facing California's communities, develop innovative strategies, and guide action with a focus on tangible results.  For example:

  • California's youth and adult prisons drain much-needed resources from schools and vital community programs. A key focus of our statewide work is to champion alternatives to California’s costly, broken prison system. 
  • We run state-wide coalitions and campaigns that promote solutions to pollution and climate change that create a new California where every person and community will experience prosperity.
  • Through voter mobilization and political education, we ensure that people of color across California are a part of the State's political process.  

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WHAT’S HAPPENING
A Mother's Nightmare- Act Now for SB 1363
Families for Books Not Bars member, Lina, needs your help to end the abusive use of solitary confinement against Californian youth.
A simple solution to the serious problem of prison overcrowding.
A joint Op-Ed explaining why SB 1506 is good common sense for California.
Incarcerated Youth Win Victory on the Road to Closure
On January 11, 2012, in an unprecedented action, a group of youth I've been working with at Ventura youth prison posted an online petition calling for the superintendent to fix decrepit and disgusting conditions, such as overflowing toilets, filthy showers, and floors stained with chemical agents sprayed at them.
Why the Millionaires Tax?
I have heard many people refer to the current times that we’re living in as a convergence of crisis.  I would like to re-think this moment in our country as a convergence of multiple opportunities.  This is an opportunity to reframe our economy as one that focuses on creating careers as opposed to jobs.  An opportunity to create an economy that cares for each person's well-being, and strives to me
Petition Launched by Youth inside Ventura Youth Prison Highlights Unlivable Conditions
TOILETS BROKEN, SEWAGE, CHEMICAL AGENTS ALL DOCUMENTED IN YOUTH-LED PETITION TO VENTURA YOUTH PRISON
Stand with Incarcerated Youth
The facilities at the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility are unacceptable. I know because I've experienced them first hand.
Fight brewing over historic California plan to close last three youth prisons
California, often a trendsetter, could make history if it approves Gov. Jerry Brown’s bid to close all state-run youth prisons and eliminate its state Division of Juvenile Justice.
Shut 'Em Down
Governor Brown has done it again. He has proposed in the state budget to close the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) once and for all. The DJJ drains much-needed funds from our schools and vital community programs that would help California thrive.
Citizens United Against Citizens United
Join us in Sacramento on Saturday, January 21, for a rally on the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling.
Why the California Reentry Program Matters
During my 12 years as a crime reporter for The Associated Press, I gravitated towards stories about criminal justice – and very often discovered that people really didn’t want to hear them. I talked to men and women accused and convicted of all kind of heinous crimes -- husbands who killed their wives, mothers who killed their children, rapists and child molesters.

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