Woman’s hand touches hand of husband to prison with a cloud sky background. Tags: freedom, love, sacrifice

These Four Faces Free Me From My Prison Walls

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I thought that I’d grown into a man knowing exactly what it meant to love someone from your heart. I thought that saying the words “I love you,” like the rest of the world, would be enough to exchange those core emotions with another human being that you’d become attracted to. But what do you think? What is it to love if there’s no deeper significance in just the three words I love you, alone? Does loving someone or something enough set you internally and physically free?

post-traumatic growth: brave boy walking on a wire above the metropolis

Post-Traumatic Growth: Hope Is a Strategy, Not a Feeling

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When a young person experiences trauma, there is no single answer regarding how that experience may impact them in their later years. Two 12-year-olds experiencing the exact same kind of trauma, for example, may have two very different responses — one crumbles and the other rises. One processes it deeply and the other suppresses it. One becomes a powerful force for change in the community and the other struggles to make their place in the world.

California: 4 women, one man sit around round table covered with white tablecloth, notepads, paper

California Program Trains Much-needed Justice-involved Leaders

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In July, a group of advocates from across California met in Sacramento, just blocks from the State Capitol, for the Next Generation Fellowship, a six-day leadership development and policy advocacy training for emerging community leaders. Amid differences in age, race/ethnicity and gender, each of the 15 fellows share a powerful connection: They have been directly impacted by the justice system.

Demonizing the Free Press Puts President on Wrong Side of History

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Criticism is nothing new to people in the news business.
If you have spent more than a day gathering it, writing it, reporting it, printing it or posting it, you have experienced it. Readers need the news, but they don’t always like what they read. When they don’t like it, they let you know.

fundraising: Smiling businessman on the phone while reading a document in his office

Amp Up Your Attitude to Fundraise From Individual Givers for Your Nonprofit

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People often talk about the art and science of fundraising. And they’re right. Raising money, especially gifts from individuals, takes a strategic mix of savvy relationship building and effective implementation of the right processes, plans and metrics. But there’s a third piece of the puzzle that we don’t talk as much about … attitude. Attitude dictates our level of confidence to engage donors, it impacts whether we approach our work with an abundance mentality or a scarcity mentality, and it infuses all the training and tools we’ve been given over the years with the organizational will to finally put them to use.

California Accomplices to a Felony Shouldn’t Be Sentenced Like the One Who Committed the Murder

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The current attempt to amend the felony murder rule in California has been a multiyear effort. This work, like all our work, was borne out of our personal experiences with clients, incarcerated individuals and family members with loved ones serving life sentences under this antiquated doctrine. This rule represented to us an injustice that deserved a remedy.

recreational therapy: young girl paints a picture using palette

Recreational Therapy Is Lifesaver for Kids in Juvenile Detention

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Bill Dorsey works as a shift supervisor at the Ada County Juvenile Justice Detention Center in Boise, Idaho. Outside of his daily duties, Dorsey also provides a valuable service to the youths held in detention — he teaches music. By providing guitar, mandolin and drumming lessons, Dorsey creates a space for kids to learn skills and find their passion by engaging in healthy, communal activities. Since Dorsey began his informal musical instruction, the detention center now incorporates a “healthy hobbies” program that includes gardening and fly fishing.

LGBTQ: closeup of the handcuffed hands of a young man patterned as the gay pride flag

LGBTQ Youth in Facilities Need Support, Resources When Coming Out

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Over the last couple of years, laws have been established to protect LGBTQ youth. Those laws should be upheld inside and outside any facility. It’s not a conversation that many people have, which is the reason I decided to write this. I chose to organize my thoughts in a Q&A format. My fellow Youth Council member, Aazia-Marie Ross, developed the questions.