By and For: Community-Led Alternatives to Punishment
Hi everyone! My name is Christina Umali and I am CHOOSE 180’s Teaching and Advancement Project Manager.
I had the honor of developing and co-presenting a poster titled, “By and For: Community-Led Alternatives to Punishment” for the National Symposium on Juvenile Services.
National Symposium on Juvenile Services
This symposium was put on by the Utah Division of Juvenile Justice and Youth Services, the Utah State Courts, the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), and the OJJDP Center for Youth Justice Transformation and brought together field experts across the continuum of care that included administrators, direct service providers, clinicians, advocates, educators, community supports, and those working in the criminal legal system.
The main purpose of the conference was for folks to have the opportunity to network, share program services as well as solutions to common problems other organizations and jurisdictions commonly face.
This year, the symposium focused on the following topic areas and I bolded the topic areas our poster covered:
Improving systems,
Improving personnel performance,
Improving youth, family, and community outcomes,
Improving access to resources,
Implementation of performance improvement practices
What We Did
For our poster, we chose to provide a high level overview of the school to prison pipeline, how we disrupt this harm, and show the greatness that can be done when systems and community come together in true partnership.
The main thing folks should have walked away with after hearing about our poster was that not only is the school-to-prison pipeline a set of policies and practices that push out Black and Brown youth out of schools and into the criminal legal system but there are also other social conditions that contribute to this harm such as housing insecurity, racism, under resources neighborhoods, socioeconomic disparities, and inadequate mental health support. This is why we work so hard at CHOOSE 180 to disrupt the school to prison pipeline and prevent youth from interacting with the criminal legal system by targeting these social factors on three different levels: the individual, community, and systems level.
On the individual level, we resource individuals' specific needs, we listen to youth when they tell us what they need, and we provide youth alternatives to punishment through our programming.
At the community level, we interrupt cycles of violence through our gun violence prevention and reentry program, we build authentic relationships within and between communities by hiring staff who come from these neighborhoods and have lived experience, being out in the community, and collaborating with other community based organizations and groups, and we also provide trainings to community based organizations and schools depending on their specific needs.
At the systems level, we create community and system partnerships, prioritize youth advocacy through our youth and young adult advocacy program, and also support legislative initiatives that align with our mission and vision.
It was a great poster session and Lamaria and I were able to connect with so many people who came from really different backgrounds than us. It was amazing to see how engaged the people who stopped by were and all the questions they had for us about our stories and the work we do.
Symposium Takeaways
As I reflect on my experience presenting at the National Symposium on Juvenile Services, I am reminded of the incredible power of collaboration, community, and commitment to justice. The conversations and connections we made at this event reinforced the importance of working together—across systems, sectors, and lived experiences—to create meaningful, lasting change.
At CHOOSE180, we believe in the possibility of a future where youth are supported, not punished, where communities are safe because they are strong, and where justice is truly restorative.
The work ahead of us is challenging, but it is also full of promise. Every conversation, every partnership, and every step we take brings us closer to a world where young people are given the resources, care, and opportunities they deserve. I am inspired by the passion and dedication of everyone working toward this shared vision, and I’m excited to continue this work alongside such incredible individuals and organizations.
Together, we have the power to disrupt systems of harm and replace them with systems of care, love, and opportunity. Let’s keep pushing forward, because when we act in community, we can create a world where every youth has the chance to thrive—free from the constraints of a punitive system.
To whoever is reading this, thank you for your continued support and for believing in this vision with us <3