Youth Policy Fellowship
About: The Youth Policy Fellowship is a 13 week research program that aims to offer Orange County youth a paid opportunity to expand their research capacity to further the development of local advocacy campaigns. Over the course of the 13 weeks, youth will learn and focus their research on criminal justice, juvenile justice, and immigrant justice work in Orange County. The end goal of the fellowship is for youth to create a report and a presentation based on their research findings.
Areas of Focus for Research: Youth will focus their research on the following areas listed below.
City & School District Budgets
City Council members and Schools Board members largely shape how the city and district are funded. Oftentimes these funding priorities do not center youth or their positive development. Youth interested in this research area will focus on highlighting where funding has traditionally gone and offer possibilities on where it can go in the future.
OC Juvenile Justice System
Orange County has a large youth population that often gets criminalized where youth end up in the School-Prison Pipeline. Racist carceral institutions like police departments, probation, juvenile hall largely remain the failed solution for addressing youth behavior in our county. Youth interested in this research area will focus on highlighting and mapping out the impacts of the criminal justice system on youth and offer new liberatory ways for youth to thrive