Youth First!

This morning, Youth First, a national organization that assists state and local justice campaigns, has issued a notice that one of its youth activists and leaders in Ohio is missing. Amber Evans has been missing since Monday and authorities are looking for leads in her disappearance.

Youth First has published “Breaking Down the Walls,” a report that provide advice about campaigning to close youth prisons based on efforts that have already yielded results in the District of Columbia and five states: Calif.,

She didn’t provide the kind of neatly-wrapped, unequivocal stuff of memes. But Assistant Attorney General Karol Mason, facing unemployment in a few months, essentially threw Justice Department support behind the movement to eliminate large juvenile justice facilities in the United States.

Last week, we mentioned a new poll on Americans’ attitudes about juvenile justice, released by the Youth First Initiative as part of its official grand opening of sorts. We called it a “great resource for reform-minded juvenile justice advocates,” and that is true.

Youth Services Insider received a recent press release noting that March 3 was the launch of a new campaign called Youth First, an organization led by Liz Ryan that will focus on the closure of big and/or old youth prisons.

A few weeks ago, The Imprint began “Positive Youth Justice: Curbing Crime, Building Assets,” a series that imagines an entire continuum of juvenile justice services built on the positive youth development framework.