The summer of 2023 is our first “off season” where we will be completely back in person since the COVID-19 pandemic began. We are excited to be back in the community this summer season! We have already facilitated restorative trainings in Mendocino County for their Peer Court and with the summer staff of Camp Acta Non Verba, a youth urban farm program headquartered in Oakland. This past week a group of five YTJ staff and six youth interns headed to the 19th Annual California Association of Youth Court Summer Conference at Redlands University in Southern California. Our team presented seminars on How to Start a Youth Court and Strategies for Dealing with the Impacts of Trauma on Behavior in Education. We also have multiple middle school outings (both Venetia Valley & Davidson) scheduled for July and August. To continue building our community we are planning our first Youth Transforming Justice social of 2023 where we are taking a group of youth to the batting cages in McInnis Park and holding a family barbecue afterward.
YTJ is continuing to grow the list of youth volunteers interested in leadership positions throughout the program. In addition to launching our creative youth contributions program (above) we are offering Peer Solutions advocate training for passionate youth wanting to work more closely with respondents and staff. We will be offering a summer session July 27 and 28, a session in the fall on November 10 and 11 and another next spring on April 11 and 12. For more information contact Antonio Zavala at azavala@ytjustice.org.
After years of isolation, we are excited by these many opportunities to connect again as a community!