For Scott Budnick, the producer behind the Hangover movies, it all started one Saturday morning, when he walked into a juvenile correctional facility in Sylmar, Calif. Sitting in on a creative writing course led by Inside Out Writers, Budnick decided to spend the rest of his life working towards juvenile justice reform. While initially intimidated, Budnick states "As soon as you engage [the kids] and as soon as I asked them about themselves and to tell me their stories it became real evident that they were stories of extreme victimization, extreme heartbreak..."
Today, Budnick's new non-profit the Anti Recidivism Coalition is aiming to create a support network around young people as they leave incarceration. WIth the goal of helping them achieve jobs, college degrees and "a moral lifestyle."
Watch JJIE's interview with Scott Budnick at the 2013 MacArthur Models for Change Conference:
Watch more JJIE video interviews from the 2013 Models for Change Conference:
Videography by David Kindler.