CJNY Connections
CJNY Collaborations

This section outlines the various ways in which CJNY member organizations are connecting and beginning the process of collaboration and sharing best practices.

CJNY Connections [back to top of page]

• Juan Sanchez of the Southwest Key merged with Voices Of Youth out of New York.
• Clinton Lacey of the Friends Of Island Academy in New York spent four hours of his time providing Ruben Austria of the Bronx Connect with Peer-To-Peer Technical Assistance on how to develop a job placement initiative for the Bronx Connect. They discussed program design, staff structure, budgeting and how to partner with the local Department of Corrections (Riker's Island in New York).
• Melissa Mitchell of the Building Blocks for Youth connected with Christi Ketchum of Project South and Blu from PMP to organize a conference in Washington DC.
• Yuseff Omowale of the Multicultural Collaborative coordinated a local CJNY committee in Los Angeles, CA.
• James Bell of the Haywood Burns Institute arranged speaking arrangements for both Lateefah Simon of the Center for Young Women's Development and Rachel Jackson of the Ella Baker Center - Books Not Bars.
• Juan Sanchez brought Rachel Jackson to Houston, TX for the Southwest Key Olympics/Youth Leadership conference to do a workshop.
• Shundrea Trotty of the Des Moines Citizens for Community Improvement is bringing Wenona Thompson of Girl Talk in Chicago to speak at their conference.
• Rachel Lloyd of Girls Educational and Mentoring Services in New York spent close to three hours with Ruben Austria of Bronx Connect talking him through organizational growth, staff supervision and program design for a girls program.
• Bernadine Dorhn of the Northwestern Law school gave a signed autographed copy of her book on Zero Tolerance to Shundrea Trotty and she passed it on to her developmental director who made good use of the information.
• Des Moines Citizens for Community Improvement and Prison Moratorium Project has been exchanging organizing and campaign strategies.
• Ruben Austria spent a large chunk of his time writing Rachel Lloyd of Girls Educational and Mentoring Services a nomination for the Leadership for a Changing World Foundation. He spent two hours with Rachel gathering information about her to write the nomination.

CJNY Collaborations [back to top of page]

Currently the CJNY functions within a variety of collaborations.

• CJNY sits on the steering committee for the Youth Force Coalition (YFC) located in Oakland California to assist in the growth and expansion of this organization. YFC effectively works with young people to empower them to organize and take direct action against political oppression. The YFC organizing is done primarily through community teach-ins, campaigns, voter registration drives and other tools that lead to youth empowerment.
• CJNY is assisting the Ella Baker Center with the launching of their new state-wide action called "The Sane Budget Campaign" that will bring the community and policy makers together to stop California's insane budget decisions regarding education cuts vs. prison expansion. The CJNY offers space for the Ella Baker Center staff to come and educate the public about the California state budget crisis.
• The CJNY is apart of an International Planning Committee, which currently consists of CONGO (Conference Of Non-Governmental Organizations), Community Transitions, and the Youth Justice Coalition. This committee is trying to create an International Juvenile Justice Platform within the UN. This platform will hopefully open a line of communication for international exchange amongst local community based groups both in the US and in other countries.