Executive Summary The landscape of youth justice in Los Angeles County is in the midst of a dramatic change, shifting from a punitive system to one focused on prevention and youth development. Innovative programs, such as the Ready to Rise Youth Development Initiative, are working to actualize this shift. Ready to Rise (R2R) is a public-private partnership between the Los Angeles County Probation Department (Probation), California Community Foundation (CCF), and Liberty Hill Foundation (Liberty Hill). R2R began as a $3.2 million pilot program, expanding to an over $25 million multi-year initiative serving 49 youth development organizations and 7,854 youth in one year. In the midst of a global pandemic and racial-justice uprising, the importance of innovative reinvestment strategies cannot be overstated. R2R has proven its ability to be an equitable, efficient, and responsive vehicle for distributing public dollars and growing the organizational capacity of youth service providers in L.A. County. The ultimate goal of the Ready to Rise partnership is to build a system that replaces the traditional structures of punishment and incarceration with emerging best practices centered on healing, learning, and opportunity. In order to do so, R2R uses a two-pronged strategy: 1) provide grants for youth development and 2) offer intensive and customized capacity-building services to community-based organizations. To implement this strategy, R2R has contracted with Imoyase Community Support Services (Imoyase) for program evaluation and Destiny Coaching and Consulting (Destiny) to serve as the capacity building partner. Funding for the initiative comes through the Probation Department to the foundation partners who serve as a third-party intermediary. From there, California Community Foundation leads the grantmaking strategy for R2R, and Liberty Hill Foundation leads the capacity building strategy. The model allows for faster distribution of funds to community-based organizations, and provides an opportunity for organizations to access funding that may not have previously had the infrastructure to compete for county contracts. By strengthening the organizations and the overall ecosystem for youth development programs, R2R aims to improve educational, personal, and professional outcomes for young people, as well as decrease youth interactions with the justice system.
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Ready to Rise Annual Report - 2020
