The Roots of Ready to Rise

August 25, 2026

Art by Tracy Nguyen (@hellafly.graphics on Instagram)

At the Ready to Rise Summer Convening, Moderator Rob McGowan (Coach at Destiny Consulting), Dr. Diane Terry (Senior Researcher at Imoyase Community Support Services) and Joseph Williams (Executive Director of Students Deserve) hosted a segment titled “Where Are We Now?” where they discussed the origins of R2R and possible futures for youth justice.

Using their presentation as a jump-off point, we’ve written a timeline tracing how this shift in California’s youth justice ecosystem happened.

Ready to Rise is a story about community members, advocates and activists who fought for public dollars to be invested in youth development instead of youth punishment.

Through community organizing, state legislation, county policy and philanthropy, Ready to Rise was launched – a private-public partnership designed to move government dollars into the hands of community organizations on the frontlines of youth justice advocacy.

For decades, the establishment response to youth involvement in the justice system was to build and maintain institutions designed to lock up young people after a crisis had already occurred. The changes we see happening today are the result of years of organizing by young people, families, advocates and community-based organizations calling for a fundamentally different approach.

2001: California shifts funding toward prevention

California’s Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act (JJCPA) created a dedicated funding stream for counties to support programs designed to prevent and reduce youth involvement in the justice system. These dollars became a significant source of funding for juvenile-justice programs, administered through the Probation Department and the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council (JJCC).

“There was a mission with Ready to Rise and we didn’t get here by accident. There were rebels and community organizers who have pushed for non-punitive responses and reforms to meet the needs of our communities.” – Dr. Diane Terry

2017: L.A. County begins shifting away from youth incarceration

L.A. County Board of Supervisors passed structural motions to establish the Division of Youth Diversion and Development (YDD). They voted to systematically close nine probation camps and one juvenile hall, signaling a broader shift away from incarceration and toward community-based approaches.

2018: State policy begins pushing toward reinvestment

Senate Bill 439, enacted in 2018, raised the minimum age for ordinary juvenile-court jurisdiction to 12, with narrow exceptions for certain serious offenses. This same year, California established the Youth Reinvestment Fund, allocating $37.3 million to support local efforts focused on diversion and community-based responses for young people.

2018: Community, policy and philanthropy alignment

Los Angeles County approved a partnership of the Probation Department, the California Community Foundation, and Liberty Hill Foundation to help accelerate the distribution of previously unspent juvenile-justice funds to community organizations. The partnership created a new way for public dollars to reach grassroots community organizations and provide grantees with organizational support.

“From the beginning, the funding that contributed to Ready to Rise was meant to support community-based organizations with capacity building, training, and evaluation to track outcomes that drive county policy and practice change.” – Dr. Diane Terry

2019: Ready to Rise launches

The vision became reality in early 2019, when Los Angeles County formally approved the public-private partnership (L.A. County Probation, California Community Foundation, and Liberty Hill Foundation) that would become Ready to Rise. In June, Ready to Rise awarded its first grants to 20 community-based organizations, who received customized organizational support, professional coaching, capacity building training and more.

2020: Youth justice continues to transform in L.A. County

As Ready to Rise offered an early example of what investment in youth justice looked like, the Board of Supervisors unanimously voted for a multi-year wind-down of the Probation Department’s juvenile operations and began creating new infrastructure through the standalone L.A. County Department of Youth Development.

The story of Ready to Rise is not just about how Los Angeles changed its approach to youth justice. It is about what becomes possible when a community decides to invest in young people before they are defined by a system.