ALMS Redirecting Juvenile Detention
All Leaders Must Serve (ALMS) is a nonprofit California mentoring organization dedicated to empowering young adults ages 15-25 to be job ready. We achieve this through our transformative training in soft skills consisting of work ethic, character development and communication skills.
ALMS started in 2015, and traditionally ALMS began at a local continuation school in Yolo, and worked primarily with high school girls. After achieving immediate success, it was soon requested by the Principal that we include boys. The first year boys were invited to the program, twenty-four (24) boys applied when our slots allowed for 7-10. It was a wonderful challenge to have; however, it showed the hopelessness of young men in our high schools and community, and these young men represented the ones who had not given up and dropped out.
Courage to Change: The ALMS Approach
When COVID-19 hit in 2020, the schools were not available to ALMS. We met with students in parks when the weather permitted and in local coffee shops. ALMS prepared to pivot to the immediate needs of the community, and if schools were not available, we knew that something else would be.
The ALMS Executive Director was invited to serve as a member of the District Attorney’s Restorative Justice Advisory Committee after recognizing the programs ALMS offered to youth with a first-time, low-level offense. ALMS was only one of many options. And, although ALMS offered both adult mentors and job readiness training, it required a one-day commitment for seven weeks.
The adult mentors assigned to the task included a retired insurance salesman with 20 years clean from drugs and alcohol, and a cancer survivor who spoke fluent Spanish. The other adult mentor was a retired correctional officer with 17 years on death row at San Quentin.
The bonus – these two men had been best friends from childhood. They saw in the young men a cry for help and became father figures. Most of the young men who came to ALMS were between age 22-25.
The young men chose ALMS because they were courageous enough to say, I want a mentor. I know my life is messed up, and I need answers. In fact, one young man asked to continue the program for a second course. He did not have a good relationship with his father, he left his mother when he was 16, was living with a girlfriend and learning carpentry from a friend. But drinking got him in trouble one night when he and his girlfriend were fighting. He didn’t think anyone cared. ALMS did!
The young man shared how much he wanted to become an electrician. He signed up for a government-financed apprenticeship and waited. He attended ALMS for almost two years, and poured out his hopes and dreams to his mentors, as they befriended him, encouraged him, and gave him advice about relationships, life, and work.
Four years later, the young man was hired by UC Davis as an electrician and still has a successful relationship with his girlfriend. He would tell you that at the beginning he didn’t want to come to ALMS. But once he did, it was like drinking a glass of cool, fresh water, and he was a thirsty man.
Mentors, Meals, and a New Start
When you’re homeless, you’re usually hungry and you do strange things that you never thought you would do. That’s what we learned about another young man who was sent to ALMS from the DA’s office.
This young man, 24 years old, left his mom’s house and chose to sleep in his car. That’s not unusual if there’s abuse in the home. His father was nowhere to be found, and this young man was withdrawn, isolated, and did not trust anyone. He was a large young man. About 6’7 and close to 250 pounds, solid, and hiding under a hoody.
Walmart was just some place where he thought he could get food, until he got caught.
He met the ALMS mentors and saw that someone cared. The District Attorney’s office required this young man to attend the ALMS mentor program for seven weeks, and in that time he made two unlikely friends. At the conclusion of his sessions, they took him to a coffee shop and then went shopping for interview clothing. He needed shoes, shirt, slacks and jacket. When he started ALMS, he had one part-time job. After finishing his program, he got two more jobs. One day one of the mentors got a call from this young man. “I just want you to know that I am laying on the floor of my new apartment with my keys in my hand.” He was no longer homeless!
Changing the Trajectory: Intervening Before Incarceration
ALMS believes that we can make a difference between those headed to incarceration and homelessness.
It’s harder to help young people once they’ve been incarcerated, but it doesn’t mean that we should not try and change the trajectory of young men and women who did not get the help they needed before they arrived there. ALMS is committed to the concept of going into Juvenile Hall and working for change. The brain has not fully developed yet. There’s room for thinking outside the box and looking for a way to embrace young people who have made a wrong turn in their journey.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation has taken up the torch towards Probation Reform. They highlight a three-minute video that explains how juvenile probation could be transformed. See the video here: https://www.aecf.org/blog/three-minute-video-explains-how-to-transform-juvenile-probation.
According to the video, Casey’s call to action is to the leaders and line staff of juvenile probation agencies — as well as judges, prosecutors, juvenile defenders, community organizations and other system partners. Their answer is to:
Divert young people with nonviolent, low-level charges from juvenile court toward community organizations, human service agencies and their own families. Probation officers would focus their time on young people who pose a significant risk for serious offending.
Emphasize incentives, not sanctions. For generations, juvenile probation has been built around punishment. Research makes clear this approach is backwards: Incentives moti-vate young people to do positive things like succeed in school and remain drug free.
Commit to racial and ethnic equity. While only 40% of the country’s youth population are youth of color, they represent 68% of youth held in residential custody for technical viola-tions of probation orders. Youth of color are overrepresented on probation caseloads and diverted less frequently than their white peers, too.
Build young people’s skills, decision making and positive connections to promote their per-sonal growth, positive behavior change and long-term success.
ALMS believes we address all of these issues, not just for those who commit low-level crimes, but all young people before they act on unhealthy impulses. Between the ages of 15 - 25, young people will make decisions that have life-long consequences. As adults, we are aware of and understand this. The time to act is now. You can proactively be a part of the solution.
Donate to youth mentorship and begin here!
ALMS is a grassroots organization that started with $1,000 in 2015. We have grown because we search for volunteer adult mentors who want to make a difference, train them, and then find opportunities to reach the young people who need the help.
Your support, no matter how small, can make a significant difference.
But we need your support now more than ever.
Visit www.AllLeadersMustServe.org/donate or contact Jayne Williams, Executive Director, at jayne@almsinyolo.org.