Project Period: 2018-2024
The harms caused by the incarceration of young people are well documented. This is especially concerning for girls and gender-expansive young people of color who most often are placed to the youth legal system for behaviors that pose little to no harm to public safety. Most girls and gender-expansive young people of color are remanded to the youth legal system due to behaviors connected to existing social biases and discrimination, behaviors that reflect other life challenges such as unmet physical and mental health needs, chronic adversity and trauma, sexual violence and exploitation, poverty, homelessness, and unresolved family conflict.
The ACCESS project was a training and technical assistance (TTA) initiative focused on working with decision makers, advocates, system-impaired girls and gender-expansive young people to find community-based alternatives and solutions with the goal of moving as many young people as possible away from incarceration and back into their communities. Through this project, TTA was provided to the state Department of Corrections in Kansas, the Department of Health & Human Services, Division of Youth and Family Services in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, and the Ramsey County Department of Health & Human Services in Minnesota.
