Youth Community Circles
Circle practice for young people impacted by the criminal legal system — directly, or through a family member who's incarcerated.
Who it serves
Youth in our service area whose lives are touched by incarceration — their own, a parent's, a sibling's, a friend's. Often these young people are carrying weight no adult around them has named.
How it works
Same practice as adult circles, scaled to where young people are developmentally and to the specific weight they carry. Youth Community Circles are led by Rooted-trained facilitators with experience holding space for adolescents.
The program is built on the recognition that the children of incarcerated parents — and youth who are themselves system-impacted — are doing reentry work even when no one calls it that. The circle is a space where that work can be acknowledged and supported, alongside peers who get it.
We work with families, schools, and youth-serving partners in our region to make circles accessible without requiring families to navigate referral processes during a hard time.
Eligibility
Young people in BIPOC communities in our service area whose lives have been touched by incarceration.
Outcome
Healing space for youth who carry the weight of family incarceration, plus a relational alternative for those at risk of entering the system themselves.
Long-term: a generation of young people whose first frame for incarceration is community rather than shame.