ABOUT US

Community Connections for Youth (CCFY) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to equip grassroots faith and neighborhood organizations to develop effective community driven alternatives to incarceration for youth. CCFY directly serves youth and families in the South Bronx and provides leadership to similar efforts across the country through training and technical assistance.

Community Connections for Youth is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. All contributions are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. CCFY’s tax identification number is 26-4482112

#NoKidsInCages

CCFY envisions a world in which incarceration is no longer a primary response to children when they do something wrong.

Recognizing that overreliance on the juvenile justice system is a harmful, ineffective, and costly, CCFY seeks to develop the capacity of communities to respond to youthful misbehavior.

The work we describe as building community capacity for juvenile justice reform includes the following elements:

MISSION & APPROACH

System Engagement

providing expert consultation for juvenile justice agencies on ways to reduce reliance on the juvenile justice system by strengthening partnerships with communities.

Community Capacity Development

training grassroots faith and neighborhood organizations to effectively engage youth in the juvenile justice system.

System-Community Partnerships

facilitating system-community partnerships that are research-based and data-informed to divert youth from deeper juvenile justice system involvement by deepening their connection to the local community.

CCFY believes that reducing overreliance on the juvenile justice system can only happen when strong community networks are mobilized to care for youth and hold them accountable.

This requires engaging community stakeholders closest to the problems, which includes faith and community leaders in affected neighborhoods, family members of system-involved youth, and the young people themselves. CCFY champions an approach that is restorative, strengths-based and treats young people, their families, and communities as assets in the juvenile justice reform process.