CJNY History

The Community Justice Network for Youth (CJNY) is a unique collection of community-based programs that serve primarily young people of color. We consist of a variety of programs - small and large, residential and non-residential - throughout the United States. Continue reading below for a description of how the CJNY started and has evolved to meet the challenges of 2004.

During the 90's there was a flurry of activity regarding policies and initiatives regarding children in trouble with the law. Often times public officials and foundations did not include in their deliberations about the voices of people impacted by their decisions. In order to address this deficiency, James Bell of the Haywood Burns Institute and Bart Lubow of the Annie E. Casey Foundation invited seven community-based programs representing a cross section of communities of color that specialized in delivering exemplary services to youth in their communities to the Alex Haley Farm to share ideas about best practices and determine the feasibility of an national network.

At Haley Farm, it was decided that there were other organizations, across the country, in similar situations and that we should explore growing a network. This network would be a national force of grass-roots organizations that serve young people of color, as well as, a place for organizations within the network to support each other around their unique needs. We decided to approach those organizations and invite them to a national organizing meeting to launch this effort. In November of 2000, we all came together and met in Austin, Texas. The host organization was the Southwest Key Program (an original program) and over one hundred people representing approximately 40 organizations, as well as, youth leaders and cultural artists were in attendance. It was from this meeting that the Community Justice Network for Youth was born.

Since then, we have secured full time staff (Mr. Tshaka Barrows, Mr. Atley Chock and Ms. Ophelia Williams) to assist us in this organizing endeavor, divided ourselves into regions to better facilitate our value-added services to the work of local organizations and are in the process of completing a series of activities that network members determined would assist them in serving their communities better.