Real Safety Starts with Support: Fund the Youth Justice Innovation Fund!

New York State has failed to fully deliver on its promise to fund community-based services and programs that provide alternatives to incarceration and reentry programs for young people. From 2019-2023, only a third of the money appropriated for youth justice under Raise the Age has been spent.

Please use this action alert to call on your elected representatives to dedicate $50 million of existing Raise the Age funding to the Youth Justice Innovation Fund to support community-based organizations serving system-impacted youth in all counties across New York State.

Young people in New York have made clear that their vision of community safety requires access to housing, behavioral health care, afterschool programs, year-round employment opportunities and holistic support – not further criminalization.

Please use this one-minute Take Action tool to urge state leaders to adopt a State Budget that supports families, expands funding for critical services, and delivers real safety to young people and communities.