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n mid-April, 18 funders from throughout California traveled to Fresno for the California Criminal Justice Funders Group Central Valley Funder Convening. They were joined by 20 movement leaders representing community organizations throughout the Central San Joaquin Valley from Stockton to Bakersfield. Take a look at the report back, here.

CCJFG Steering Committee members are excited to share the following books and podcasts that have accompanied us as we settle into Spring 2021. The content ranges from writings on indigenous forms of justice and healing to a podcast tracing the connections between hip-hop and mass incarceration to a mixed media collection of responses to the question, what does it mean to be Black and alive? These stories are rigorous, compelling, and bring us closer to understanding the intersections of history, justice work, and future-making.

California ChangeLawyers is a public foundation whose mission is to build a better justice system for all Californians. I have been with the organization as the Program Officer for almost 3 years during which I have helped to lead our work on 3 primary programmatic functions to achieve our goals: grants, scholarships, and policy. 

The California Criminal Justice Funders Group Steering Committee is comprised of powerful and dynamic representatives from various local and statewide foundations and philanthropic institutions. Learn more about the new Committee members, Iris Garcia of Akonadi Foundation and maisha quint of Libra Foundation below. 

The Transgender, Gender Variant, Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP) is a local, state, and national leader in providing networking, leadership development and organizing for Black Trans grassroots leaders and organizations while working to build strategies against the epidemic of violence facing Black Trans folks. We continue to do historic work as a group of transgender, gender variant, and intersex people (TGI)–inside and outside of prisons, jails, and detention centers–creating a united family in the struggle for survival and freedom.

Since its founding, Akonadi Foundation has focused on supporting power building and organizing to advance racial justice in Oakland and around the state. In 2000, a year after Akonadi Foundation was launched, California voters approved Proposition 21, which targeted young people of color. Under Prop. 21, many 14-year-olds could be tried as adults rather than in juvenile court, and 16-year olds could be incarcerated in adult prisons. At Akonadi Foundation, we were inspired by the activism and efforts of youth advocates and youth-led groups against this racist ballot measure. 

In the aftermath of the study and catastrophic flooding following 13 consecutive atmospheric rivers across the San Joaquin Valley, an idea and partnership emerged. Read more below to hear about what worked, what didn’t, and where progress and investments are shifting in the Valley.