Reissues

We are thrilled to announce that Curtys Taylor, one of our Back to the Start participants who is now a facilitator and co-lead, authored an Op-Ed that was just published in the San Diego Union Tribune! In this piece, Taylor walks readers through a typical morning for him as a struggling child in order to bring to light what many students labelled “problem children” face at home. With this, he hopes to uplift why the rejection of AB 1851, Pupil health: social-emotional, behavi

Summer Highlights and Reflections Message From Program Co-Founder Edwin E. Chavez This summer, we celebrated the graduation of our third class at San Quentin. As I reflect on how our program has evolved, one of my proudest accomplishments has been working with our founding team at San Quentin to ensure that our trauma-informed curriculum is fully bilingual in English and Spanish. Programs addressing trauma are rarely designed to be accessible to Spanish speakers, despite Lati

This is the second year of our full-time summer internship program, and we welcomed eight exceptional young leaders who came to learn and work together to rewrite the narrative. From policy advocacy to writing grants to working with our incarcerated participants and co-leads, each of our interns brings their unique skills and perspectives to the table. They are committed to challenging the cradle-to-prison pipeline, and we are honored to be part of their journey as justice ad

We are incredibly proud to announce that an Op-Ed written by Back to the Start program participant and now co-lead, Jessie Milo, was published in the LA Times! Jessie also serves as chairman of Arms Down at San Quentin, and recently celebrated the cohort’s graduation. In this honest and impactful piece, Jessie uplifts why it is so important to address firearm-related trauma and brings to light how AB 2247, the THRIVE Act, will help break cycles of both trauma and incarceratio