Arts for Healing and Justice Network

This grant will help AHJN expand our Youth Leadership Development (YLD) program for systems-impacted and at-promise youth in LA County. Funds will support Capstone Projects, a new track of YLD that helps program alum apply and demonstrate the skills learned in their fellowships to further support entry into the creative economy. They will also help us re-launch our newly transformed Leadership & Liberation Fellowship (L&L), which teaches at-promise, foster, and systems-impacted youth to engage in hands-on advocacy and movement building efforts.

AHJN's Youth Leadership Development (YLD) program co-empowers youth to reclaim their narratives. We use the arts as a way to increase empathy and solidarity. Youth-created art transforms how young people see themselves, changes how communities see these young artists, and re-humanizes them within a juvenile justice system that more often than not denies youth their humanity. We connect advocacy to those most impacted; centering arts and art-making as a way to build community, partnership, and resilience in systems-change work.

Through our Youth Leadership Development (YLD) program, the Arts for Healing and Justice Network (AHJN) supports justice-impacted and at-promise youth in LA County using healing-informed arts education. We offer weekly peer support for youth returning home from incarceration, paid internships with arts organizations, and fellowships helping those most impacted by the juvenile justice system advocate for change. We transform harmful youth narratives by uplifting youth as creators, changemakers, and leaders.