Onward Blog

I Consider All of the Children Who Are Living in Detention Facilities, Group Homes, and Foster Care to Be My Siblings

By Jennifer Rodriguez, #LwC2018

September 13, 2018

The Leading with Conviction training has been a life-changing experience.

I am the National Youth Partnership Strategist for the Youth First Initiative.

By Hernán Carvente, #LwC2018

August 30, 2018

We are committed to ending youth incarceration, closing youth prisons, and investing in community-based programs, services and opportunities.

I was committed to being an asset to my community instead of a liability.

By Donald Perry, #LwC2018

I have worked in human services for many years with the hungry, homeless and formerly incarcerated.

I want to leave a legacy of humanizing this thing called justice.

By Steven “Humble” Mangual

I served 14 years in New York State prisons, and it was while I was incarcerated in the Woodbourne Correctional Facility that I discovered my passion

I Have a Real Sense Each Day That the Things I’m Working on are Actually Going to Result in Meaningful Policy Change

By Douglas Smith, #LwC2018

August 9, 2018

The Leading with Conviction training is reinforcing the importance of building strong partnerships with grassroots leadership.

I Believe in Approaching Things from a Place of Possibility. If We Lose Hope, Then We Have Nothing.

By Quintin Williams, #LwC2018

JustLeadershipUSA and LwC keep me hopeful as well.

Vidal’s Corner Episode 2: Voting in New York while on Parole

August 8, 2018

JLUSA Community Organizer Vidal Guzman discusses voting on parole in New York State.

A New Normal in Philadelphia: A Dispatch from the Field

By Reuben Jones

July 11, 2018

Reuben Jones charts the enormous progress of the #CLOSEthecreek campaign.

#CLOSEmsdf: A Dispatch from the Field

By Sharyl McFarland, JLUSA Milwaukee Community Organizer

June 26, 2018

The #CLOSEmsdf Campaign is going strong, and we’ve only just begun.

Vidal’s Corner Episode 1: Ending the Gang Database in New York City

By Vidal Guzman

May 24, 2018

Vidal Guzman breaks down why the NYPD gang database must end

The Sleeping Giant

By Megan French-Marcelin

May 22, 2018

JLUSA Fair Hiring Project Coordinator Megan French-Marcelin sits down with Norris Henderson, founder and Executive director of VOTE.

I am the Policy Coordinator for the Anti-Recidivism Coalition in Los Angeles.

By Kent Mendoza #LwC2018

May 17, 2018

We provide hundreds of formerly incarcerated people with mentorship, mental health services, supportive housing, access to jobs and education.