Investment Strategies To Support the Well-Being and Equity of Youth and Young Adults
Featured Speaker:
Arthur Longworth
Arthur Longworth is an award-winning writer and is the author of two books: Zek: An American Prison Story and The Prison Diary of Arthur Longworth #299180.
But Arthur hasn’t always written. He became a ward of the state at 12 years old where the state cycled him through its network of notorious boys’ homes, including one that Seattle Times dubbed “the house of horrors”. The state turned Arthur out onto the streets without a family, home, money, education, or job training at the age of 16. Just after he turned 20, he was arrested for an attempted robbery and murder for which he became the youngest person at the time to receive a mandatory Life Without Parole sentence.
In prison, Arthur set to work trying to educate himself. He studied Mandarin Chinese and taught himself to be a skilled Spanish language interpreter. He worked as an instructor for classes in prison and he also began to write.
Day 1 - Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Dismantling the Foster Care to Prison Pipeline
Arthur Longworth, Policy Specialist, Dual-System-Involved Youth; Treehouse; and members of the Lived-Expert Council shared their efforts to derail the pipeline from child welfare to youth justice systems, including the evolving understanding, growth and role of the Lived-Expert Council.
Washington State’s Success in Reducing Homelessness
Washington State reduced the rate of homelessness among unaccompanied youth and youth adults by 40% between 2016 and 2022. Key public and private sector leaders of this multifaceted and cross systems effort shared the strategies and investments that propelled this significant result.
Moderator: Casey Trupin, Director, Youth Homelessness Strategy, Raikes Foundation
Kim Justice, Executive Director, Washington State Office of Homeless Youth Prevention and Protection
Kiki Serantes, Training and Engagement Director, A Way Home Washington
Paula Carvalho, Program Officer, Youth Homelessness Strategy, Raikes Foundation
King County’s Goal of Zero Youth Detention
Care & Closure, King County’s strategic planning project to expand community-based alternatives to secure detention and close the youth detention center, has brought together community and public system stakeholders to co-create a plan for “youth healing, accountability, and community safety.” Local leaders discussed the reality of the work on the ground & the constellation of strategies necessary to support decarceration, system transformation and community reinvestment.
Moderator: Aazia-Marie Ross, YTFG Fellow
Dr. Ben Danielson, Center Director, AHSHAY
Katie Hurley, Special Counsel Criminal Policy and Practice, King County Public Defense Department
Day 2 - Thursday, April 11, 2024
Opening Performance by Elane Jones
Arnold Chandler: Toward Striving and Thriving / Closing Multidimensional Racial Mobility Gaps through Meaning-Based Interventions
Arnold shared strategies proven to enhance mobility outcomes for young people of color and, in specific situations, to diminish racial disparities in outcomes through “meaning-based interventions.”
Project Education Impact – Eliminating Disparities in Educational Outcomes in Washington State
Speakers shared the key components of this dedicated structure to developing recommendations (and the related implementation strategies) to eliminate disparities in educational outcomes for young people who have experienced systems
Moderator: Farid Rasuli, YTFG Fellow
Eileen Davidson, Chief of Staff, Treehouse
Daniel Narváez Zavala, Executive Director, Building Changes
Building Community Infrastructure to Support Well-Being and Prevent Systems Involvement and Harm
Local leaders of organizations shard their work to provide critical community infrastructure to support well-being and equity.
Moderator: Jennifer Miller, YTFG Consultant
Annie Chung, Supervising Attorney, Legal Counsel for Youth and Children
Shaun Frazier, Senior Director of Community Programming, Housing & Homeless Services, Seattle YMCA
Matthew Kama’aina, Restorative Dialogue Director, Collective Justice
Devon Adams, Fundraising Director, Collective Justice