Empowering LA's foster and system-involved youth to become all they can be in LA and beyond

Support for Foster and Systems-Impacted Youth

Expand existing project, program, or initiative

Foster and system impacted youth are disproportionately people of color or LGBTQ+. Youth who come into contact with the justice system or are at risk for arrest and incarceration in Los Angeles County face numerous challenges, including educational disengagement, social isolation, unemployment, homelessness, and complex medical health and/or behavioral/mental health conditions. Leading research on adolescent brain development and effective interventions for Youth highlights the importance of holistic, developmentally appropriate, trauma-responsive, community-based programming that is designed to respond to the strengths, interests, and experiences of each Youth. Our 3-decades of experience has allowed us to obtain first-hand knowledge on how to work with this population and work with their various traumas. These youth experience higher rates of high school dropouts, increased suicide, substance abuse, chronic disease, gang involvement, shorter lifespans, and other negative outcomes.

InsideOUT Writers (IOW) offers creative writing classes inside LA County’s juvenile halls. We are one of the first programs to be offered inside LA County’s juvenile hall. Weekly classes are conducted by Teaching Artists in a trauma-informed, strengths-based curriculum, focused on positive youth development, and promote resilience and healing in a culturally responsive way. Classes are reflective in nature and focus on the youth’s past, present, and future and encourage original writing that helps them speak their truths in authentic ways. The Teaching Artist also serves as a positive role model and mentor and assists with transitioning from Juvenile Hall to IOW. We find that youth with severe trauma, neglect, and other ACEs related issues benefit from our classes since it allows them to be vulnerable and learn positive ways to advocate and express themselves. Our Alumni Program provides holistic re-entry services for youth returning home from incarceration. We provide counseling, mentorship, workforce development, academic re-engagement, field trips, and other services as well. Additionally, we provide at-risk youth diversion services that includes: school-related goals, civic engagement, social justice, behavioral health, recreational activities, creative writing, and work-related placement.

Since 1996, InsideOUT Writers has been positively impacting the lives of over 27,000 youth impacted by the foster or juvenile justice system to become better versions of themselves or to discover their many talents. We are an intervention program that helps youth deal with their anger challenges in a healthier, more prosocial way. Our goal with them participating in our various programs is to become high functioning members of society and to contribute to this growing and thriving city. Many of our youth and young adults use their story to help others like them, become public policy change advocates in local, state and federal campaigns, go to school to become social workers or other chosen fields. We are giving youth a second, third, fourth, and even fifth chance to become the best version of themselves and productive and contributing citizens in their communities.

Our Writing Program inside the Juvenile Halls is currently servicing around 170+ youth. We know our program works because of the number of participants, since our program is purely voluntary for them to attend. Furthermore, the quality of their improved writings, and their desire to have their writings published in our quarterly InDepth Journal are just a few examples of the measure of success. We host an annual Writers’ Retreat, which provides youth an environment to showcase their original writings. Additionally, youth fill out a Pre/Post Survey that provides insights on whether their needs and services have been met. Moreover, each youth is provided with an Individualized Action Plan that includes their goals for completing high school and advancing to college.