Liberation Fund Announces Grantees this June!
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. We’re excited to share that the Liberation Fund Planning Grants award recipients will officially be announced in June!
To get to zero girls incarcerated, the newly formed Liberation Fund will provide grant funding, resources to build organizational resilience, convening opportunities, and leadership development to support grassroots, community-based organizations that are building progressive power and working to end youth incarceration as we know it through a gender equity lens.
Liberty Hill will also partner with government and community leaders to develop solutions based on community needs while advocating for broader policy and budget changes at the state and local levels that advance freedom and well-being of girls and gender-expansive youth.
Despite the promising decline in arrests and incarceration of boys and men of color, the proportion of girls in the youth justice system has increased over the last 20 years. Currently, Black and Brown girls comprise approximately 20% of the youth justice population and yet we know 100% of these girls are eligible for release back to their communities. Through the Liberation Fund, Liberty Hill will invest in the work of organizers, advocates, direct service providers, and researchers that are prioritizing the unique needs of this population in L.A. County.
As Liberation Fund Grantees, these selected community organizations will work cross-collaboratively to address the root causes of incarceration unique to girls and gender expansive youth, including housing instability, sexual and physical violence, child welfare involvement, and the school to prison pipeline.
Our newly selected Liberation Fund Grantees will work collaboratively to develop and implement a “strategy to win” and a blueprint to provide pathways for girls and gender expansive youth to fully secure their rights to safety, housing, education, health, and wellness.
