Upcoming Events
LARRP Committee Meetings
Stay tuned for January 2021 Meetings!
Partner Events
MEASURE J RE-IMAGINE LA ADVISORY COMMITTEE SPECIAL MEETING
Wednesday, December 23, 2020 at 4:00 p.m.
Microsoft Teams meeting
Click to Join on your computer or mobile app
Or call in (audio only) +1 323-776-6996,,381880815#
Phone Conference ID: 381 880 815#
Substance Use & Narcan Trainings
Stimulant Use Disorder, Harm Reduction & Evidence Based Interventions
Dec 29th- 9am -
Zoom Link
Narcan
January 6th at 10am
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYpf-qtqTIiE9FlxhixpN76YEIDvlNfUxhk
January 11th at 6pm-
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJErce-vqDItHN0bVjLbBMMIqGbvUXbYsOqy
Harm Reduction Primer: What is Harm Reduction?
January 12th at 9:30am- https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwpceCprTkuHdMRp9ciSuaJtt58ocPaCDzu
Opioid Use Disorder & Medication for addiction treatment
January 18th at 9:30am
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcrcOGsqDooGtx7_cc1dxzdXBaKlH_PmGaP
Stimulant Use Disorder, Harm Reduction & Evidence Based Interventions
January 25th at 9:30am-
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0vc-q
LA County Workforce Development Board Local Planning
Your voice will help us modernize the workforce development system for Los Angeles County, so we are seeking your input at our upcoming local plan stakeholder engagement meetings. These meetings will begin on January 8, 2021 and end on February 5, 2021.
Schedule:
High Road Training Partnerships
Friday, January 8, 2021
10AM to 12PM PST
REGISTER
Equity & Equitable Access
Friday, January 15, 2021
10AM to 12PM PST
REGISTER
Sector Clusters & Career Pathways
Friday, January 22, 2021
10AM to 12PM PST
REGISTER
The Digital Divide
Friday, February 5, 2021
10AM to 12PM PST
REGISTER
Housing Rights Workshops December
Please note: LARRP General Meetings and other events are open to the public. By attending, you consent to having your voice and likeness recorded, photographed, posted on LARRP's website and social media, and included in LARRP's materials and publications for noncommercial purposes. If you don't want to be photographed or recorded, please let the facilitator know so you can be seated accordingly.
Get Involved!
County government
Keep up with the Board of Supervisors meetings, motions and resources at LARRP Steering Committee member, Joseph Maizlish’s site
For a complete listing of all the opportunities and information
CLICK HERE
Dignity and Power Now Reentry and Anti-Recidivism Guide:
Twenty-one pages listing about fifty programs and organizations, community-based and governmental, offering a variety of support such as housing, health/mental health, financial support and planning, employment.
Free Training Opportunities from HHCLA and LAHSA!
Homeless Health Care Los Angeles’ Training and Education Department will offer three separate curricula through the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s Centralized Training Academy:
- Curriculum I: Care Coordination and Systems Navigation
(Intended for Entry Level and Newly Hired Staff) - Curriculum II: Applied Care Coordination and Systems Navigation
(Intended for Mid-Level Direct Service Staff) - Curriculum III: Supervisory Training for Homeless Service Providers (Intended for Supervisory Staff)
Each curriculum will be comprised of 35 hours of training. Each day will host 7 hours of training. Curriculum I will take place over the span of 5 consecutive business days, while Curricula II and III will meet once every two weeks (holidays providing). Trainees who attend all 5 modules of a curriculum will be awarded a Certificate of Completion unique to that curriculum.
Upsolve
Upsolve is a nonprofit web app that helps low-income Americans who can't afford a lawyer get a financial fresh start by filing for bankruptcy protection on their own. Upsolve helps people erase crushing debts. Thousands of people use Upsolve to recover from medical bills, credit card debt, and layoffs.
To learn more, check out Upsolve's guide to filing bankruptcy for free in California.
Root & Rebound - Roadmap to Reentry
A California legal guide for people in reentry and their advocates.
Covers in Detail the following Topics:
- The Building Blocks Of Reentry: Getting Id & Other Key Documents, Voting & Civic Participation
- Parole & Probation
- Housing
- Public Benefits
- Employment
- Court-Ordered Debt
- Family & Children
- Education
- Understanding & Cleaning Up Your Criminal Record
- Tribal Issues
- Immigration
- Legal Aid Providers In California
- Social Services In California
Free Ged Courses
To learn more and register please contact Dorian Esters at (213) 267-8213 or via email at de@miguelcontrerasfoundation.org
FAIR HIRING MOTION
We are excited to announce that Los Angeles City Councilmember Joe Buscaino introduced the Fair Hiring Software Motion on November 10th.
This policy action is a step in the right direction -- it would require vendors of hiring assessments to give employers data about how their product performs across race and gender. More transparency can help employers avoid bias in the applicant screening process. We hope you will join us in raising awareness about this important effort and showing the City Council that there is strong support across our community!
We are excited to see progress in the right direction to giving Angelenos of all backgrounds a fair shot at economic opportunity, paving the way for a more equitable recovery. The LARRP Employment Committee is committed to ensuring a fair chance for everyone in our community and fully supports this motion.
- Women and people of color in L.A. have been hit hardest by unemployment in the wake of Covid-19. A real recovery should ensure systemic bias won’t stand in the way of getting back to work.
- Thank you @JoeBuscaino for leading the way by introducing the Fair Hiring Software Motion! Change starts with transparency and making sure employers know if the tools they use to screen candidates are fair.
- Women and people of color in L.A. have been hit hardest by unemployment in the wake of Covid-19. A real recovery should ensure systemic bias won’t stand in the way of getting back to work.
- Thank you @joebuscaino for leading the way by introducing the Fair Hiring Software Motion! Change starts with transparency and making sure employers know if the tools they use to screen candidates are fair.
- Our economy should work for everyone, regardless of race or gender. This starts with transparency and fairness in hiring. Today @JoeBuscaino introduced the Fair Hiring Software Motion – a critical step toward real change.
- Women and people of color in L.A. have been hit hardest by unemployment in the wake of Covid-19. A real recovery should ensure systemic bias won’t stand in the way of getting back to work.
- Thank you (tag Councilmember Buscaino) for leading the way by introducing the Fair Hiring Software Motion! Change starts with transparency and making sure employers know if the tools they use to screen candidates are fair.
illume Restorative Culture Shift Institute Application
illume: Restorative Culture Shift Institute is a comprehensive 6-month Restorative Justice training program starting in January 2021. Participants will immerse themselves in Restorative Justice training to learn about the foundations of Restorative Justice through experiential learning modalities. Through training and coaching sessions, participants will cultivate a values-centered and identity-conscious approach to Restorative Justice with a lens of cultural humility, and intersectional empathy. Moreover, participants will develop dialogue and facilitation skills aligned with creating restorative spaces through games & teambuilders, Community Building and Harm & Conflict Circles, and relationship-building communication. illume: Restorative Culture Shift Institute will serve to prepare cohort members to implement restorative practices across a variety of contexts, including homes, schools, workplaces and communities.
News
For an archive of reentry and criminal justice related news, please see our News Archive which goes back years!
Los Angeles County Supervisors Hire Reform-Minded New Chief To Lead LA’s Still-Troubled Probation Dept.
WitnessLA, December 22, 2020 by Celeste Fremon
After much searching, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has reportedly just hired a brand new chief to run the nation’s largest, and arguably most complicated probation department. His name is Adolfo Gonzales.
Congress clinches deal to restore Pell grants for prisoners 26 years after ban
The compromise also includes language to simplify the application for federal financial aid and grant more than $1 billion in loan forgiveness for HBCUs.
Politico, By Michael Stratford, 12/20/2020
The Coronavirus Has Found a Safe Harbor
NYTimes 12/18/2020 by Nathaniel Lash
We are making the same deadly mistakes all over again. New cases show the protocols adopted by even the most proactive jails aren’t working. Crowded jails, where social distancing is virtually impossible, are fueling outbreaks both inside and outside of their walls.
“There’s no question with a new peak in infections that we have to be decarcerating now,” said Dr. Emily Wang, the director of Yale School of Medicine’s Health Justice Lab. “If we don’t have larger-scale decarceration efforts, we won’t control Covid.”
There’s one solution: Break our addiction to locking people up. Why can’t we do it?
Moving LA Forward: DA Gascon's Plan For Justice Reform in Los Angeles
ARC (Anti-Recidivism Coalition) Streamed live on Dec 18, 2020
White Paper
Experts from around the nation in issuing a new white paper advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state governments to prioritize incarcerated individual and correctional staff in the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines.
Specifically, the report recommends:
- Prioritize vaccine distribution to all incarcerated individuals at the same stage as correctional officers (essential workers/first responders) or higher
- Create vaccine distribution and implementation plans developed by medical and public health professionals that are specific to correctional systems
- Include correctional leadership and justice-involved individuals in state advisory vaccine groups and committees
- Identify policies and methods to effectively fund vaccine distribution and administration in correctional systems and following release
Turning Point & DAAC Present: Justice-Involved Community Survey Report
Criminalizing Victims And Trauma: Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office Ignores Victims Of Crime Until It’s Time To Punish Them.
By Yehudah Pryce
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office (LADA) provided little support to justice-involved community members who have been victims of crime, according to a new survey of social service recipients at Turning Point (TP), a South Los Angeles non-profit social service provider, and the DA Accountability Coalition (DAAC). The data gathered by TP appear to contradict claims by former Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey that social services and mental health needs significantly guide the LADA’s prosecution decisions. The survey of 71 participants concluded that many community members who are formerly incarcerated – and have been most in need of social services and mental health care – did not have these service gaps sufficiently considered by the LADA when they were arrested, nor did they receive support from the LADA when they were the victims of crime.
new DA Report by the ACLU and DAAC
George Gascón was sworn in to lead the country’s largest district attorney’s office. See the new DA Report by the ACLU and DAAC for recommendations — based on data from public records requests — to increase equity, transparency and accountability in the Los Angeles DA's office
Download the report
George Gascón Takes Oath Of Office And Institutes Sweeping Reforms To Transform The Largest Criminal Justice Jurisdiction In America
Dec 08, 2020
LOS ANGELES – Today, George Gascón took the oath of office and announced immediate, decisive reforms to transform America’s largest criminal justice jurisdiction. Taken together the sweeping reforms are expected to permanently change the course of California’s criminal justice system and end the era of mass incarceration in Los Angeles.
“It is time to change course and implement a system of justice that will enhance our safety and humanity,” said Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón. “Today we are confronting the lie that stripping entire communities of their liberties somehow made us safer–and we’re doing it with science, research, and data. For decades those who profit off incarceration have used their enormous political influence–cloaked in the false veil of safety–to scare the public and our elected officials into backing racist policies that created more victims, destroyed budgets, and shattered our moral compass. That lie and the harm it caused ends now.”
On first day as L.A. County D.A., George Gascón eliminates bail, remakes sentencing rules
LA Times By James Queally , Dec. 7, 2020
George Gascón embarked Monday on a plan to reimagine criminal prosecutions in Los Angeles County, announcing sweeping policy changes he’ll make as district attorney that include an end to cash bail, a ban on prosecutors seeking enhanced prison sentences and showing leniency to many low-level offenders.
The dramatic reversals of deeply ingrained, traditional law enforcement strategies in the nation’s largest district attorney’s office, also will include a review of thousands of old cases to determine whether lighter sentences or prisoner releases should be sought, Gascón said in a speech during his swearing-in ceremony.
A growing group of prosecutors, who say the job is more than locking people up, wants to help free criminals, too
Washington Post, By Tom Jackman, Dec. 7, 2020
George Gascón On Being LA's New Progressive Prosecutor
Law 360 Interview By Cara Bayles | December 6, 2020
The Pandemic Is Making Our Deadly Drug Policy Even More Lethal
Opinion: Whether you realize it or not.
SELF magazine, December 3,2020, By Kassandra Frederique
As one of the worst health crises in a century intersects with sustained uprisings for racial justice, the United States is at a perilous crossroads—and it’s easy to be distracted by superficial solutions rather than digging deeper to address the underlying issues that created these conditions.
COVID-19 continues to roil California prisons, jails as officials face new criticism
LA Times, By Anita Chabria, Richard Winton, Nov. 29, 2020
California’s prison system has more than 3,600 active coronavirus cases, with six facilities having outbreaks with more than 100 infected inmates
Los Angeles DA-Elect Gascón Transition Team Readies on Promise of Prosecutorial Reform
The Davis Vanguard, By Layla Mustafa
LOS ANGELES – George Gascón – set to be sworn in Dec. 7 as the 43rd Los Angeles District Attorney – publicly has released his new transition team, and those announced appear to be consistent with Gascón’s promise for prosecutorial reform in LA.
Biden can rebuild trust in our justice system by prioritizing prosecutorial reform
The Hill - Opinion, By Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Opinion Contributor — 11/26/20
After 40 years of punitive criminal justice policies that swelled the American prison system by 500 percent, this year’s election may have marked the beginning of the end for the “tough-on-crime” era. Voters in red and blue states alike overwhelmingly supported measures to promote fairer and safer policing practices, California restored voting rights to some 50,000 residents on parole, four more states joined the movement to legalize cannabis and Oregon voters made the bold, unprecedented move to decriminalize the use of all drugs.
Now, as President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris get ready to take office in January, they have a mandate to transform the criminal legal system.
L.A. County moves to create new juvenile justice system focused on ‘care,’ not punishment
LA Times, By Jaclyn Cosgrove, Nov. 25, 2020
After years of incremental reform, Los Angeles County is moving to dismantle the largest youth justice system in the country in favor of a “care-first” model that would look less like prison and would emphasize emotional support, counseling and treatment.
Scams led California to send COVID jobless benefits to Scott Peterson, death row inmates
LA Times, By Anita Chabria, Patrick Mcgreevy, Richard Winton, Nov. 24, 2020
...The D.A.s called the situation “the most significant fraud on taxpayer funds in California history,” according to a letter obtained by the Los Angeles Times, describing fraud that involves identity theft of prisoners as well as alleged scams by individual inmates and organized gangs to game the state system....