Meet Our Spring Intern: Esther Melton by Juan Moreno Haines This spring, Back to the Start welcomed Esther Melton as an intern supporting our narrative and policy work focused on disrupting the cradle-to-prison pipeline. Esther is a fourth-year medical student from the Bay Area currently studying at University of California, San Francisco. She previously earned degrees in African American Studies and Human Biology from Stanford University, where she explored the intersections

On June 24th, the University of California, Santa Cruz hosted night one of the 21st Annual California Youth Court Summit with the theme, “Level Up Justice for All.” Our Executive Director, Dr. Jenny Espinoza, was the keynote speaker and emphasized the power of stories and empathy to cultivate understanding. Our film, Reflections Behind Bars, was hosted at the summit, and after the screening Dr. Espinoza hosted a fireside chat with Markelle Taylor (“26.2 to Life”) and Anthony

Message from our Executive Director Jenny Espinoza, MD For too long, our society has invested far more in reacting to harm than preventing it. We continue to spend billions on downstream systems like jails and prisons while underinvesting in children, families, and communities that need support long before crisis occurs. At Back to the Start, we believe people who have lived through these unbalanced systems understand these failures better than anyone. Through storytelling, p