Youth & Transformative Justice

Over the past year, the Liberty Hill community has helped power lasting change and progress that has impacted the lives of community members throughout the region. Together, we’ve been able to Build the Good and our work has reached communities in every corner of L.A. Our 2024 Impact Report highlights this important work and spotlights some of our proudest moments from the past year. Click below to check out the full report.

This month, as many Angelenos paused to reflect on the election, members of the Liberation Fund did what they always do—stood up for justice. Read on to learn about the recent Free the Youth Rally and the work youth activists are leading to end incarceration of girls and gender expansive youth in LA County.

Liberty Hill is thrilled to join our partners at the California Community Foundation in announcing the newest cohort of Ready to Rise (R2R)—a public-private partnership designed to expand opportunities and resources for programs that provide youth development services focused on diversion and prevention rather than ineffective punitive measures. Read on to meet the new cohort!

Earlier this month, we hosted our very first LIVE studio audience recording of Liberty Hill’s hit podcast Conversations From The Frontlines! Read on to learn about our special Season 3 bonus episode as Liberty Hill President & CEO Shane Murphy Goldsmith dives into “Reparations and the Rebirth of a Nation” with renowned author Joel Goza and Black Equity Collective’s Kaci Patterson.

Liberty Hill is invested in building and strengthening a youth development ecosystem in L.A. County that expands opportunities for L.A. youth. To support this mission, we are thrilled to introduce our new Youth Ecosystem Strengthening (YES) Grant Program, which is specifically designed to help us reach this goal.

Lisa Small, Liberty Hill Senior Director of Youth & Transformative Justice, joined the Safe Space Convos podcast for a special episode exploring the work Liberty Hill and its community partners are doing to achieve Youth Justice through the foundation’s Liberation Fund. Tune in and listen!

May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander Heritage Month and at Liberty Hill we’re recognizing the remarkable role the diverse AANHPI community plays in our movement for change. Help us celebrate the great work being led here locally by frontline AANHPI organizers and advocates working towards a more just Los Angeles for all.

Our hit podcast Conversations from the Frontlines is coming back for another season! And this year, we’re kicking off the conversation with two very special Preseason Episodes—coming this week! Our “The Best of Season 2” episode is out May 1st and “Liberation & Progress: Ending Girls Incarceration” episode on May 15th.

Los Angeles Youth & Transformative Justice organizers and advocates joined the recent Free the Youth press conference to call upon the LA County Board of Supervisors to demand the closure of all youth detention facilities in L.A. County.

The Liberty Hill Community came out in full force at our 41st Annual Upton Sinclair Celebration to celebrate frontline organizers, community leaders, and donor activists who contribute to the progressive victories that power social change in Los Angeles!

Watch the world premiere of our “On the Road to Change” short film, detailing the extraordinary journey of L.A. organizers in the fight for social change and the progress we’ve made together to ensure a just future for all.

Over the past year, the Liberty Hill community has helped create lasting change and progress that has impacted the lives of community members throughout Los Angeles. From fighting for a roof over every head, to working to end youth incarceration as we know it, and eliminating toxic neighborhood oil drilling, our work has reached communities in every corner of L.A.

After two years in legal limbo, the California Courts of Appeal has upheld the constitutionality of Measure J (2020) mandating that 10% of locally generated unrestricted funds be allocated to community investments and alternatives to incarceration– a major victory for Youth & Transformative Justice in L.A.!

In this very personal blog piece, Liberty Hill’s Vice President of Programs Julio Marcial reflects on his 25 year career in philanthropy, his childhood dream to play for the LA Dodgers, and the immense responsibility we all share to address systemic injustices.

This past month, Liberty Hill hosted its latest Liberation Fund Convening—providing safe and collaborative space that fosters deep trust, relationship building, and strategy development that aims to intervene throughout the life course of a young person who has been trapped in avoidable and harmful system involvement.

Liberty Hill Foundation is proud to be a partner with Bold Vision, a multi-sector, multi-year initiative that aims to transform systems within L.A. County.

Liberty Hill Youth & Transformative Justice community partner Gente Organizada has been serving historically underrepresented, immigrant populations in the Pomona area since 2010.

Earlier this month, Liberty Hill partnered with the California Funders for Boys and Men of Color Southern California Regional Action Committee to host the “Building Bridges to Transformation” conversation on the future of youth justice and youth development in L.A. County.

Liberty Hill is proud to support the work of social justice organizations and their efforts to create a more just and equitable Los Angeles for all. From advocating for Racial Justice to advancing LGBTQ & Gender Justice, Liberty Hill grantees are making an impact!

This summer also saw some major developments in the fight to end youth incarceration as we know it, as well as the continued work to ensure tenants know their rights and people stay housed amidst the homelessness crisis.

Progress is messy and inconstant, and it doesn’t happen without difficult moments and tough conversations. The work of justice goes on, through advances and setbacks. Our partners will never desist from it, and neither will we.

This past January, Liberty Hill announced its solicitation for applications for the new Liberation Fund Planning Grants—a new initiative that aims to end the incarceration of girls and gender-expansive youth in the Los Angeles County criminal legal system and build liberatory pathways for these young people.

Los Angeles has one of the highest youth incarceration rates in the country, disproportionately impacting black, brown, and indigenous people and their communities. Through a collaborative partnership, our Youth & Transformative Justice team worked with PDG Consulting to create an in-depth data visualization tool that could be used to find, collect, and curate LA police arrest data to tell data-driven stories about these marginalized communities.

A new multi-year, multi-sector initiative called Bold Vision is launching in Los Angeles County to address racial and social inequities in our public systems and create a more equitable Los Angeles for youth of color.

Don’t miss the social justice event of the year! Join the Liberty Hill community for the 40th Annual Upton Sinclair Celebration: Uniting Power & Purpose at the Skirball Cultural Center on Wednesday, April 19!

The newly released toolkit titled “Addressing Legal Issues in Youth Diversion,” was authored by the Criminal Justice Program at the UCLA School of Law and helps jurisdictions create and implement youth diversion programs — approaches that steer youth away from the legal system and into community-based, supportive services in lieu of formal court processing.

This past year’s election produced an historic crop of victories. The Los Angeles political landscape has seen changes big and small that will shape policy for years to come.

The Liberty Hill Community is devastated by the recent, tragic murders of Black men at the hands of police violence. It’s hard to find the right words to express the outrage and sadness we are feeling at this moment.

Thanks to the tireless work of our dedicated frontline partners and the support of our growing community of donor activists, we can and will continue to drive progress toward a just and equal L.A. County for all. We can’t wait to continue building on this momentum together in the new year!

Liberty Hill is proud to celebrate the rich history and heritage of Native American and Filipino American People. We acknowledge and honor the original inhabitants of our various regions and support the resilience and strength that all Indigenous people have shown worldwide.

In case you missed any of the engaging episodes, you can check out the very first season of our Podcast Conversations From The Frontlines: Real Talk, Real Change with Shane Murphy Goldsmith here or on your favorite podcast platforms.

Liberty Hill honors the Latinx/e-led organizations that continue the fight for justice in their local communities and beyond. We are proud to partner with organizations and leaders who have dedicated their work and missions to improving systemic conditions and bringing community-led solutions to life.

Organizers from CA Native Vote Project and Indigenious Education Now packed the house at a recent town hall with the Superintendent of LAUSD to advocate for funding to serve the needs of Native and Indigenous students. The Superintendent committed to working with the coalition to implement $10M in funding and will be drafting a compact this month.

Liberty Hill’s new podcast—"Conversations From The Frontlines: Real Talk, Real Change" hosted by our President and CEO Shane Murphy Goldsmith has established itself as one of the Top 100 Nonprofit Podcasts on Apple Podcasts!

Liberty Hill Community, is there a burning topic, issue, grassroots leader or local power player you’d like to hear from? Send us your ideas!

The latest incident of excessive use of force by police in Arkansas is a testament to the need for urgent reforms. The police violence against people of color that has plagued our country for so long must end. From Los Angeles to Arkansas, we must raise our voices across the country to make this a reality.

To challenge mass criminalization of Black, Brown, Native American and Indigenous peoples, Liberty Hill’s Youth & Transformative Justice focus seeks to shift power from punishment systems to people impacted by mass criminalization, dismantle these systems in Los Angeles County, and work toward reimagined approaches to justice that invest in communities rather than prisons and surveillance.

After nearly two decades of activism from local organizers, Los Angeles County has made history by launching a new Department of Youth Development!

Liberty Hill’s new podcast—"Conversations From The Frontlines: Real Talk, Real Change" hosted by our President and CEO Shane Murphy Goldsmith is now live and online!

This May, Liberty Hill honors the many contributions of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AA and NHPIs) and stands in solidarity with AA and NHPI organizers demanding an end to racial violence and fighting for systemic change.

We invited youth from Arts for Healing and Justice Network, Anti Recidivism Coalition, Youth Mentoring Connection, Amazing Grace Conservatory, and Share Fest to tell us what justice for all means to them. Their voices remind us why we’re in this fight and continue to leave us inspired. Watch this video mosaic to hear their visions for a just future.

Get ready to dive into some challenging conversations about how to make the real change we are fighting for possible! Liberty Hill is launching a new podcast called "Conversations From The Frontlines: Real Talk, Real Change" hosted by Liberty Hill President and CEO Shane Murphy Goldsmith.

Our Upton Sinclair Homecoming Celebration is around the corner and Spring Training is in full swing! We’re excited to announce our Upton Sinclair Visionary Award winners, the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation (LADF).

Liberty Hill’s Vice President of Public Partnerships, Julio Marcial, recently participated in a Social Innovation Summit on the topic of Criminal Justice, hosted by the USC Sol Price Center for Social Innovation. The panel was moderated by Dr. Brittany Friedman, and examined ways that the field of social innovation can be used to reverse the centuries-long history of racism and economic discrimination within the criminal legal system.

Black-led organizing is a powerful driver of social change in Los Angeles. Since its founding, Liberty Hill Foundation has directly invested in Black-led organizing to build power in communities most impacted by systemic oppression to achieve equity and justice.

More than 150 attendees joined Liberty Hill, our evaluation team from Imoyase Community Support Services and Destiny Consulting, and our partners at California Community Foundation for a virtual Town Hall to share the results of this multi-year $38 million public private partnership and provide support to our Ready to Rise partners offering culturally responsive community-based services to young people.

Four years ago, we set out to end youth incarceration as we know it. And four years later, arrest rates for youth under the age of 18 have declined by 53%; incarceration rates have declined by 66%; more than 50% of youth jails have been closed; and there’s been a reinvestment of more than $200 million from punishment to care.   There are now fewer youth in juvenile halls or courtrooms and far smaller probation caseloads. Yet, the implementation work continues to develop the nation’s largest Department of Youth Development.

​​Healing Justice is a movement that aims to address widespread generational trauma by responding with traditional holistic healing practices and building new, more inclusive ones. The peer convenings allow organizations to come together, build community, share their growing expertise, and support the healing and well-being of organizational leaders and their teams as they commit to long-term power-building and organizing work.

In honor of their 100 Years of Miramar celebrations, the Fairmont Miramar Hotel has partnered with iconic Los Angeles based Studio Number One—founded by artist and activist Shepard Fairey—to design a set of two limited-edition, hand numbered, silkscreen Centennial Posters, available for purchase for locals who hold a special place in their hearts for iconic hotel. In partnership with Liberty Hill, a portion of the proceeds will support arts organizations that provide restorative and healing justice opportunities for local youth.

Liberty Hill Foundation believes that we can end the incarceration of girls and young women by building stronger, safer, and more equitable communities where the distinct experience of girls —particularly youth of color — are no longer criminalized for the violence and discrimination they face.

This was truly a banner year for activism and progress! We have much work to do on the road ahead, but we couldn’t be prouder to take this journey with you—our Beloved Community.

The report looks at R2R’s strategies to transform the justice system and to reinvest in the health and well-being of historically excluded young people and their communities.

Liberty Hill Foundation’s Youth & Transformative Justice program seeks to shift power from punishment systems to people impacted by mass criminalization and work toward reimagined approaches to justice that invest in communities rather than prisons and surveillance.

The night before he spoke with Barack Obama at the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance Leadership Forum, Jacob “Blacc” Jackson was harassed by police. Again.

In a year that saw a rise in both anti-Asian hate and awareness around it, Liberty Hill stands in solidarity with the approximately 1.5 million Asian and Pacific Islanders in L.A. County.

Our hearts are with the Floyd family—who suffered an immeasurable loss with a loved one taken from them in violence and too soon—and with the family of Daunte Wright, who was murdered not ten days ago.

The tragic shootings that took place in Atlanta yesterday were shocking. The entire Liberty Hill Community denounces this senseless violence against the AAPI community and the tragic loss of life that took place as a result.

For more than 40 years, Liberty Hill has invested in activism in L.A. Our investments help build the power of grassroots community organizing groups to win significant social change.

For more than 15 years, The Bertha Wolf & Lance Miller Families Fund for Community Service has been uplifting young adults by providing relief from the cost of living as they embark on their journey as professionals or in service to the community.

American democracy has always been complicated. It was built on the enslavement of Black people, who won liberation for half a generation before Reconstruction was replaced with Jim Crow.

This year brought challenges the likes of which the world hasn’t faced in a century—with a pandemic raging around the globe and ineffective leadership from the White House here at home–COVID-19 took an immeasurable toll on all of us.

The Los Angeles Chargers today announced an expanded partnership with Liberty Hill Foundation, a national leader in social justice. The partnership will feature several initiatives to continue growing Bolt Up for Justice – an overarching program within the Chargers organization that includes a player committee focused on social justice reform.

Victory! We are on our way to Ending Youth Incarceration As We Know It! On Tuesday, November 24, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to dismantle the largest youth justice system in the nation in favor of a care-first model that would emphasize emotional support, counseling, and treatment.

After sharing the stage with President Obama on MSNBC's Special Edition, Liberty Hill Youth Justice Intern, Jerron Hawkins looks back on his experience as a former White House Mentee and as a beneficiary of the My Brother's Keeper initiative.

The 2020 election was generation-defining in many respects—from the record-breaking turnout to the critical social justice issues on the ballot for millions of Americans—a coalition of diverse voters, led by Black and Brown organizers, showed up to flex their electoral power in major ways this year.

We were excited to recently host a lively discussion called Divest, Defund, Reform, Abolish? Next Steps for Justice and Policing After the 2020 Protests. This virtual event was an important discussion on the movements to reduce reliance on policing, along with the necessary steps to ensure the safety and future of our youth and communities.

Los Angeles County is transforming its approach to justice, especially in its approach to young people who come in contact with the law.

The Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation (LADF) announced a grant of $304,400 to Liberty Hill Foundation’s California Funders For Boys and Men of Color: Our Kids, Our Future Fund to support the thirteen Southern California community partners who are working with the County of Los Angeles to develop the most comprehensive approach to youth development in the nation.

Exclusive game-worn jerseys from your favorite Los Angeles Chargers players are now available for auction at chrg.rs/equality.

Mainor is a Youth Policy Advocate working to keep Brown and Black youth out of the system at The Arts for Incarcerated Youth Network (AIYN). After navigating his youth without proper guidance or mentorship, he found himself in jail as a teenager.

The movement to transform the criminal justice system in Los Angeles won a major victory in July when the Los Angeles Police Commission voted to permanently end the LAPD’s use of the CalGang database.

The heartbreaking and horrifying shooting of Jacob Blake—seven times in the back, at point-blank range, in front of his children—leaves us stunned. We are saddened, and we are angry, but unfortunately we are not surprised.

While we continue to support the push to make this recent national reckoning on racial justice more than just a moment in the crucial fight for Black Lives, our partners are also continuing the fight to ensure this movement makes lasting change in our society and in the lives of Black people in our country.

Since its founding in 1976, Liberty Hill has sought to build deep relationships with grassroots organizations and leaders in underserved communities and to support them and help them grow through good times and bad.

This summer, Liberty Hill hosted a series of virtual Youth Activist Op-ed Trainings designed to help our grantee partners expand their thought leadership and make their voices heard on a variety of topics through the medium of opinion pieces.

Organizing takes time and building true power sometimes takes years. As the late icon John Lewis once said, “Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime.”

The worlds of art, social justice, and youth activism have long worked together to drive social change within the community. Engaging youth in the arts can promote powerful change in countless ways, improving creativity and social skills, enhancing critical thinking, building confidence, and creating deep cultural and personal connections.

Liberty Hill is committed to ensuring we continue to use our financial resources to support Black-led organizing and the activists on the frontlines. We are committed to using our voice to promote anti-racist policies and amplify the voices of those screaming for justice.

The Liberty Hill Foundation encourages donors to make longterm commitments to a broad landscape of grassroots organizations fighting anti-Black racism and police violence. These recent Liberty Hill grantees and community partners organize for Black lives and advocate for criminal justice reforms throughout Los Angeles County.

Last week we witnessed a Black man, George Floyd, murdered in broad daylight in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We stand with Americans in communities across the country who are sharing pain, anguish, exhaustion and anger due to the senseless killing of yet another Black man by police. Our hearts are broken.

One of the rising stars of the Youth Justice movement, LeQuan Muhammed has emerged as a voice for his local community and a shining example of the power of positivity and the promise of youth.

As the global pandemic reshapes how we all live, youth organizers continue the fight for justice, especially after two youths in Los Angeles County’s juvenile halls tested positive for coronavirus this week.

In 2018, the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance (MBK), an initiative of the Obama Foundation, sought out organizations working to improve the lives of boys and young men of color. As one of 10 MBK selected sites, the Liberty Hill Foundation, along with 15 cross-sector partners, is now working to transform L.A. County’s youth justice system.

At Morningside High, Dylan learned about “all the barriers that boys and men of color face in communities like Inglewood,” but in the Black Male Youth Academy on campus, he worked on college-prep projects and was invited to participate in the Brothers, Sons Selves Coalition, which is managed by Liberty Hill. With enthusiasm and hard work, Dylan advocated with school board members and state legislators for changes in school discipline policies that disproportionately impact young men of color and have been shown to increase dropout rates.

When I started their training I couldn't stand the thought of being on a commission. We just didn't get along with the people in power so much! But now, knowing what I know, and learning what I've learned, I can't stand the thought of missing the opportunity. Because when I'm outside a door waiting for it to open, today, that door is more likely outside the Governor's offic

Glen Dake seems to work on a vision of Los Angeles the way he works on a vision of a particular community garden or landscape—with lots of practical, hands-on effort. He supports nonprofit organizations, not only through Liberty Hill’s grantmaking, but also, with his sister Renee Dake Wilson and her husband Brian Wilson, through a donor advised fund housed at Liberty Hill. He has also served on Liberty Hill’s Environmental Justice Community Funding Board.

Esthefanie was born in Guadalajara and was brought to the U.S. when she was six years old. She’s now a community college student and a youth organizer at InnerCity Struggle, a community based education-focused organization that Liberty Hill has supported for many years. Esthefanie transformed her frustration and shame into a sense of pride and determination, standing up against injustices.

Patrisse spoke at Liberty Hill’s Uplifting Change luncheon earlier this year, bringing the voice of a new generation to donor-activists focused on strengthening Black Los Angeles through philanthropic investment in grassroots community organizing. She led the group in a moving refrain by Assata Shakur: “It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love and support one another. We have nothing to lose but our chains.”

It wasn't until she was 29 that Roslyn Broadnax learned she had a learning disability. She'd been a victim of "pushout," as her fellow members of CADRE call it. As a student in South Los Angeles, she'd been passed from grade to grade, eventually graduating high school without the ability even to fill out a job application.

This week, the Board of Supervisors took an unprecedented set of actions to shift away from punishment in large prison-like settings and toward a decentralized community safety strategy focused on expanded neighborhood health services and effective alternatives to lockups.

The public-private partnership between L.A. County Probation, Liberty Hill Foundation and the California Community Foundation has awarded $2.59 million to 20 L.A. based nonprofits providing community-based youth development services.

Although California is the fifth-largest economy in the world, our state ranks a whopping 44th in the United States in per-pupil funding for education. We can do better—for our kids and our communities.

Liberty Hill Foundation (Liberty Hill) and California Community Foundation (CCF) have launched a Public/Private Partnership (P/PP) with the Los Angeles County Probation Department. This collaboration will expand opportunities and resources for programs that keep vulnerable youth out of the criminal justice system and help those in the system transition back into the community.

In the fight to end neighborhood oil drilling across Los Angeles’ communities, every small victory is worth celebrating, and every campaign move is an opportunity to highlight the public health challenges that communities face.

Liberty Hill is pleased to announce that our 2018 Fund for Change grants will invest $975,800 in 39 grassroots organizations throughout Los Angeles County. Thanks to the generosity of our donor-activists and foundation partners, we have been able to increase our Fund for Change grantmaking by $256,800 since 2016.

In partnership with First 5 LA, and with contributions from our donor-activists, Liberty Hill has established a Rapid Response for Young Immigrant Children Fund.

Remember what it was like to be a kid? What would you have done, at 12 years old, if you couldn’t breathe because of the oil drilling site next door? What if, at 16 you were sent to jail for being late to school?

These days the news can be overwhelming. Stories of violence, injustice and oppression fill our feeds almost daily. Meanwhile, hateful ideas are being given an increasingly visible platform at the national level.

“Tell them they have to have hope, no matter what. If they get knocked down, they have to get back up.” That is what Congressman John Lewis—this year’s recipient of Liberty Hill’s Upton Sinclair Award—told me when I asked him what he would say to our youth leaders in L.A.

In February 2018, Liberty Hill partnered with the Genders and Sexualities Alliance (GSA) Network of Southern California—one of our grantees fighting to empower and train young LGBTQ leaders—to call on Los Angeles County elected officials to address issues of disproportionate criminalization and abusive treatment of LGBTQ youth of color.

If someone offered you $100,000 and two years to think deeply about how to solve a big problem, what problem would you tackle? As a recipient of the 2018 Stanton Fellowship, I have just that opportunity.

This week California made history by passing Proposition 47: The Safe Neighborhood and Schools Act. We are the first state to downgrade certain cases from felonies to misdemeanors.

Breaking news! Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) announced today that its School Police would no longer issue citations or subject students to arrest for most on-campus fights, petty theft and other minor offenses, but instead refer students to counseling and other services.