The San Francisco Youth Justice Initiative draws upon Huckleberry's 25 years of experience in working in juvenile justice reform.
Funded by a grant from the Crankstart Foundation, the Initiative aims to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline by working with San Francisco middle school youth who are struggling with behavioral and/or truancy concerns.
Data shows that a major risk factor for criminal activity is school failure, and the highest rate of school failure occurs during the transition from middle to high school. Accordingly, Huckleberry works with students in 8th grade through the transition to high school to increase academic achievement, attendance, and wellbeing, as well as decrease absenteeism, school failure, and contact with the juvenile justice system. Huckleberry’s approach to this programming is to provide restorative, youth/family and school-centered services through a trauma-informed and strengths-based framework.
San Francisco Youth Justice Initiative Components Include:
- Academic Support
- Social Emotional Learning/Development (SEL/D) Activities
- Counseling
- Case Management
- Regular Family Engagement
- Field Trips for Program-Intensive Participants.
Huckleberry will also provide lower-touch support to a wider range of middle school students, including tabling and prevention education workshops to increase student wellbeing.
All activities are designed using restorative and transformative justice best practices to help youth build and strengthen the knowledge, tools, and skills they need to feel a sense of belonging, reconnect to school and community support, boost academics, and reduce instances of disciplinary action at school.
