Up to 90% of justice-involved youth report exposure to some type of traumatic event. That number should stop us in our tracks. But what we do with it matters more than knowing it.

A rising tide does not just carry ships. It tells you who was committed to building the harbor in the first place. Let's find ways to build one another up.

When facilities invest meaningfully in education and vocational programs, something shifts in staff culture too. Correctional officers, teachers, program coordinators, and administrators begin to operate with shared purpose instead of competing priorities.

We put the burden of proof on survivors while giving the benefit of the doubt to systems of power and the people who protect those who cause harm. That has to change.

Here's what I've learned over two decades in this work: Every system that touches a young person's life believes it's doing its best. And most of the time, I believe that's true.