Final 5 Campaign is a campaign that is led by impacted youth, with the mission of closing the remaining youth prisons in Illinois. For about 2 years we have been supported by Youth First Initiative. Some of the work Youth First does is prioritizing directly impacted leadership. Because of that, Youth First has helped to create and launch campaigns in 15 jurisdictions all across the country. All these states are working towards ending youth incarceration. For the first time ever, this campaign is networking together active state campaigns across dozens of groups to amplify work and ensure we are hearing tactics together. We have monthly calls for everyone to check in and share updates and to figure out how we can support each other.
With that being said, this initiative is coming to an end. Youth First wanted all of us to come together to meet in person and be in community. I was invited, along with four other folks as a part of the Final 5 campaign, to come to California for this convening put on by Youth First on May 3rd for the whole week! This convening was full of workshops, team building activities, and tours of different organizations in Cali. Being a fellow at AFSC for a couple months now, one of my projects is focus groups in youth prisons. I see how the prisons are harmful, not healing or rehabilitation for any youth, and how prisons should never exist! This trip I was able to hear from people all across the country sharing different tactics on how they support the healing for incarcerated young people, tactics on how to approach the governor to end youth incarceration, and was able to network between lots of organizations and meet great people with my same mission!
I have made a poem to capture most parts of my trip…
Poem
Nerves was shot as I got the plane,
Praying this airplane lands right in its lane
Anxiety runs thru my blood,
Tide waves looked like the state was about to flood
Ears plugging, clouds surfin
Surfin, surfin
Luxury black truck picked us up
Danggg, CALI WHAT’SUP?!
Highways on top of hills,
Like a rollercoaster it seemed to feels
Palms trees breezing, good herb in the air loafin
Loafin, loafin
Hotel wrapped around a lake,
Boats, yachts with people living on them aw naw this seems fake
Exhausted to say the least
Hungry I could eat a feast
Let’s prepare for the next day, first day in motion
Motion, motion
People from all around the country,
Sitting in a vibe as a luncheon
Same mission, different mission
Workshops starting let’s all sit down & listen…
To each other
Working with politics is like playing chess,
Make sure your next move is your best move
We at the top ain’t no losin
Losin, losin
Oakland, the most diverse neighborhood
35 different languages spoken
Beautiful art surround me, it’s so much to take in
Geeked to see an organization in Cali that does the same work
Restore Oakland was our first stop with a built in kitchen serving golden forks
So many different organizations under one roof that serves the same mission
Peace room, community rooms, Ella Baker center..
Ella Baker guided & merged young people in front & center, Ms. Baker was the lender
Richmond, a challenging neighborhood they would say
Ryse was our second stop, waiting on their release day
Built their organization from the ground up
Different rooms for programs, computer laps, recording studio all i could say is that whatsup!
It was like living in a dream,
Student pipeline program that all had a lean
Starting off as a participant to intern to employee
Trips for the youth including Hawaii
Enjoying the nice breeze at night
A dimmer of light
Cali was cool & laid back to say the least
Kids was def at peace