OUR NEXT CHAPTER
For more than a decade, YSRP has stood alongside children and families as they navigate the adult criminal legal system—from arrest and mitigation through incarceration, reentry, and beyond. Along the way, we have learned that lasting change requires more than strong advocacy. It requires enduring relationships, responsive programs, and the organizational strength to adapt as the needs of our client-partners and the systems around them evolve.
The next three years represent both tremendous opportunity and significant uncertainty. Shifting legal landscapes, evolving public policy, and a challenging funding environment require organizations like YSRP to remain focused on our mission while adapting to changing conditions
VISION
YSRP envisions a world where all children have the resources and support needed to grow into adulthood free from carceral systems.
MISSION
YSRP works to keep children–especially Black and Brown children–out of adult jails and prisons, and to mitigate the harm caused by racist carceral systems.
YSRP began our work with the fight to bring home adults who were sentenced to die in prison as children–so called, Juvenile Lifers. Now, Juvenile Lifers are integral to our advocacy work in support of children and young people facing adult charges. We stay with our client-partners and their families as long as they need us–providing holistic and responsive services and programming that build a community of support for healing and self-determination.
WHY OUR WORK MATTERS
An overwhelming number of children and youth in the U.S. are tried as adults and sentenced to serve time in adult prisons. In Pennsylvania, a child as young as 10 years old can be prosecuted as an adult and be placed in an adult jail or prison.
This system is reinforced and perpetuated by narratives and mindsets that say that Black and Brown children are inclined to criminal behavior, are not actually in need of the same protection and care as other children, and don’t deserve to be seen as young human beings whose brains are still developing. These inhumane narratives and mindsets cause harm to children, families, and the communities in which they live.
Nationwide, 82% of youth tried as adults are children of color
In Philadelphia, that number is 95%
Black youth are sentenced to life without parole at a per capita rate that is 10 times that of White youth
The next chapter of our work is about continuing to change individual outcomes. It’s also about changing the systems, narratives, and communities that shape those outcomes.
OUR THEORY OF CHANGE
We believe that if our advocacy, reentry support, programming, and policy work can disrupt the narratives and mindsets that allow children to be treated like adults in the criminal legal system, we can help build communities and systems that recognize the shared developmental needs, dignity, and potential of every child.
Standing with young people
Ending the practice of charging children as adults
ORGANIZATIONAL PRORITIES
Our Strategic Framework is grounded in three interconnected priorities that will guide how we strengthen our organization, deepen our impact, and expand opportunities for client-partners to lead.
Together, they reflect what we've learned from more than a decade of advocacy and our commitment to building lasting change.
Build Organizational Strength for Lasting Change
Creating lasting change for children and families requires more than strong programs—it requires a strong organization. Over the next three years, YSRP will strengthen the financial, operational, and governance foundation needed to sustain our work, respond to changing conditions, and grow thoughtfully without compromising our mission or values.
Key Initiatives
✓ Financial sustainability and long-term planning
✓ Diversified revenue and a stronger individual giving program
✓ Board engagement and resource mobilization
✓ Organizational infrastructure and operational excellence
✓ Finance and technology modernization
✓ Strategic growth guided by organizational capacity and mission alignment
✓ Staffing and systems that support high-quality, sustainable work
Strengthen Learning, Measurement, and Impact
YSRP is committed to continually learning from our client-partners, our staff, and our partners to strengthen the impact of our work. Over the next three years, we will deepen our understanding of what helps children and young people thrive, strengthen how we measure success, and use that knowledge to refine and improve our advocacy, programs, and services.
Key Initiatives
✓ Develop and implement an organization-wide evaluation framework
✓ Define and measure client-partner thriving outcomes
✓ Strengthen data collection, analysis, and reporting
✓ Document and refine YSRP's integrated service model
✓ Foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement
Grow a Community of Client-Partner Leaders
YSRP's work is rooted in long-term relationships with client-partners that extend far beyond their involvement in the criminal legal system. Over the next three years, we will expand opportunities for client-partners and other directly impacted people to remain connected to YSRP, build community, and help shape our work. By creating meaningful pathways for leadership, storytelling, and shared decision-making, we will ensure that lived experience continues to guide our programs, advocacy, and vision for the future.
Key Initiatives
✓ Youth Advisory Board
✓ Client-partner storytelling and narrative change
✓ Speakers Bureau expansion
✓ Leadership development and pathways for engagement
✓ Community building and alumni engagement
✓ Advisory and governance opportunities for directly impacted leaders
WHAT’S NEXT
Our strategic priorities provide direction. The initiatives below represent some of the key ways we will bring this framework to life over the next three years. Together, they reflect our commitment to strengthening our organization, deepening our impact, and expanding opportunities for client-partners to lead.
Thriving Framework
Developing a new way to define and measure success that reflects client-partners' growth, well-being, and long-term thriving—not simply the absence of incarceration.
Lee Initiative
Preparing the more than 1,100 Pennsylvanians impacted by the Lee decision through prison-based education, attorney training, mitigation support, resentencing preparation, and coordinated reentry services.
Youth Advisory Board
Supporting directly impacted young people as advisors, advocates, and leaders who help shape YSRP's programs, policy, and future.
Technical Assistance
Expanding access to YSRP's expertise through technical assistance, mitigation and legal advocacy training, and the Intergenerational Healing Circle model to strengthen legal defense, healing, and reentry efforts across Pennsylvania and beyond.
Building the Future
Lasting change requires more than vision. It requires partners who are willing to invest in the people, relationships, and infrastructure that make transformation possible.
We invite you to build the next chapter of YSRP with us.
We invite you to build the next chapter of YSRP with us.