"We want Baltimore to know that we feel misunderstood, unrepresented, and underestimated."

📖 A powerful must-read by Sela Powell, a youth advocate and board member at @youthasresources (YAR).

READ NOW: yrsh.substack.com/p/what-we-wa...

LISTEN NOW 🎧: State Sen. Will Smith joins WYPR to discuss the graveyard at Cheltenham and the need for youth justice reform in the upcoming legislative session. Link in thread.

Thank you to Sen. Will Smith for fighting for Maryland's youth today and rectifying past harms. Kids need #CareNotCages

Calling all Maryland libraries and bookstores 📣 It's Youth Justice Action Month! Help us spread the word this October. Find the YJAM reading list at bit.ly/YJAMReading.

Share this post with your favorite local library or bookstore!
#YJAM2025 #UnitedForAction #UnitedForUnderstanding

October is Youth Justice Action Month (YJAM)! We'll be spending the month raising awareness about the unique challenges young individuals face within the justice system and advocating for fair, effective, and developmentally appropriate responses.

Learn more: youthjusticeactionmonth.org

We’re #BaltimoreProud of the work our city has done to reduce crime through violence reduction strategies. We need to keep investing in what works to help our city thrive. #NoTroops

"Does the state really want future generations to look at Maryland’s current failings on Black children with the same disgust and judgment of its actions as I imagine many people do now at the site of the unmarked graves at Cheltenham?"

A must-read by Liz Ryan via Maryland Matters. Link in thread.

“Decades of experience and research have shown that there are almost always better, more effective and more humane alternatives to incarceration,” says Alice Wilkerson of the Maryland Youth Justice Coalition (MYJC), “as the latter leads to evident abuses and also greater recidivism.”

📰 More must read media coverage for the week: Interview with new Secretary of DJS Betsy Fox Tolentino, op-ed from former Secretary Vinny Schiraldi, and an op-ed from Maryland's Public Defender Natasha Dartigue. Links and more in thread ⬇️⬇️

We agree with this must-read: "We must be dissatisfied — dissatisfied by the status quo proposed by the state, and dissatisfied with the state’s refusal to protect its children."

www.baltimoresun.com/2025/06/23/j...

MUST WATCH: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Solitary confinement. Mass youth arrests. The crisis in youth justice is nationwide—and Maryland is no exception. While our state wasn’t named, the issues still hit close to home. Reform can’t wait. Kids deserve better.

youtu.be/Pya-kt5M7uY?...

🧵 Maryland is leading the country when it comes to our youth for all the wrong reasons. Our state has the highest number of violations of federal standards for youth kept in adult jails. 7x HIGHER than the allowable number of violations.