The Anti-Recidivism Coalition is a leading justice reform organization based in Los Angeles that serves system-impacted Californians statewide. We are proud of our work to empower formerly and currently incarcerated people to thrive. To ensure our communities are safe, healthy, and whole, we provide a support network which includes formerly incarcerated people, comprehensive reentry services, inside programming for those who are currently incarcerated, and opportunities to advocate for policy change.

We were honored to partner with LA2050 on our project, which is designed to give formerly incarcerated youth access to creative industry employment in music and film. This opportunity addresses the significant income inequality that our participants experience and tailor career opportunities to their interests so they can lead successful lives after incarceration. Nearly 200 formerly incarcerated community members benefitted from this grant program through programming, career opportunities, and financial support.

We are happy to report that about 20 formerly incarcerated youth are now enrolled in West LA College’s Hollywood CPR vocational training program and are receiving stipends from ARC to support their focus on school. This represents a significant increase – a staggering 230% increase – in the number of enrollments we saw prior to the start of our LA2050 grant! Through this program, these youth are working towards union membership in International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) to begin a career in one of 15+ entertainment crew careers, including grip, lighting, hair and makeup, set dressing, and costume design. The stipends and wraparound supportive services (housing, academic tutoring and homework help, case management, and clinical therapy, amongst others) that ARC provides, enable these students to remain steadfastly focused on school instead of being concerned with basic essentials like housing and meals. Nearly all of the youth enrolled at West LA College with the support of LA2050 are first generation college students and we are immensely proud of them for their commitment to their education and career path.

We were able to host our first ever Youth ARCreatives Retreat thanks to the hard work of our ARCreatives Fellow, whose position was supported by LA2050. Over the three-day retreat outside the Eldorado National Forest, our staff fostered meaningful conversations with 25 formerly incarcerated youth about ways that our community can better support young people coming home, especially to address issues of substance use and mental health. We discussed and demonstrated ways to heal through creative expression, connecting with nature, and finding a positive community. We celebrated a Member’s 21st birthday, recorded music, painted, wrote, acted, ate good food, and slept under the stars. We are grateful for the intentional artistic space ARC created for young people to share their talents and celebrate each other. The retreat included Creatives groups facilitated by five formerly incarcerated ARC Members who volunteered to serve as peer mentors to our youth. The focus areas of these five groups were creative writing, film making, painting, hat design, and music studio. Even youth who had never made music before were able to create their own original song from start to finish during this trip, leading to a sense of accomplishment and a deeper feeling of self-efficacy.

With the support of LA2050, we were able to update our music studio at our transitional housing

program for recently released youth. We added a guitar, upgraded to more advanced music engineering software, and soundproofed the room. 21 formerly incarcerated youth were able to build their music production skills in the music studio with help from Eric Tagg, our music group facilitator whose travel and teaching stipends were supported by LA2050. Eric was also able to launch a music group at Campus Kilpatrick, a juvenile detention facility in Los Angeles County – the first music group at Campus Kilpatrick! This was a huge success and an incredible experience for the youth incarcerated at Camp Kilpatrick; 16 youth participated and learned the basics of songwriting, music producing, MCing, and sound engineering. Over at our main office near Downtown LA, we hosted four Member-designed and -facilitated groups: Spoken Word, Music Studio, Film Collective, Art Therapy Group on a weekly basis, with over 150 attendees. We are excited to continue the work that was launched or supported by LA2050 this year and thank LA2050, the Goldhirsh Foundation, and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation for their generous support.

Photos and videos from some of our programming supported by LA2050 and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=70b_soCSVaI

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1C2G26SGPhM

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CxEYfT7vkOD/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D