As a valued member of TPC, you no doubt have noticed our deepening commitment to “Systemic Change”. This year TPC made the decision to ensure we are intentional in our inclusion of not only organizations who are providing essential direct services each and every day, but also those organizations whose focus is on the long haul…the work needed to shift the ground and the ways “things have always been done” so that doors of opportunity and inclusion open wider and long-term change, the kind of change that creates that opportunity, are made permanent.
“Systems change is about advancing equity by shifting the conditions that hold the problem in place” John Kania, et. al.
We asked organizations submitting Letters of Intent this year to identify their work on a sliding scale-Direct Service or Systems Change.
Many, as you saw when you were reviewing this year’s ballot, landed in the center of that question.
As we are discovering, so many organizations do, in fact, do BOTH, as much direct service work can and does have the impact that begins to shift that ground.
And this happens one individual at a time, creating ripple effects that move change forward. A new Mom, for example, receiving $400 a month for example through our Grantee Family Health Project is also moving change within systems that keep women with young children in poverty, transforming how these new mothers can ensure the health and well-being of their babies. A formerly incarcerated citizen who receives an affordable car through our Grantee Second Chance Cars can now have the freedom to go where the best opportunities are, allowing them to increase their earnings and have a reliable way to access competitive wages, helping them to access not only job security but also housing and family financial stability…again rippling out into the larger systems that have been barriers to opportunity.
We know “Direct Service” when we see it. Our amazing Grantee organizations, such as The Mabel Center, providing pro bono legal representation to asylum-seeking families that have been separated, detained in family detention centers, and/or subjected to expedited removal proceedings, are doing this every day. The work of these organizations is critical to ensuring security, health, shelter and safety.
But what does this look like for an organization whose work is centered on upending the systems that are the root cause of the need in the first place? The hope and goal of such non-profit organizations is that through their work they will eradicate the need for their own existence.
Let’s take a look at what that means in action with just such an organization-2026 TPC Grantee Citizens for Juvenile Justice. CFJJ centers their work on advocacy for statewide systemic reform with the goal of achieving equitable youth justice. For over three decades, CfJJ has achieved impact through advocacy, research, public education, and coalition building driven by culturally competent community engagement. Their work touches all levels of youth justice, at the state and municipal levels, including the juvenile justice, education, and child welfare systems.
We reached out to our friends at CfJJ and asked them to walk us through the “What” of Systems Change for them.
How does Citizens for Juvenile Justice approach its work through a systems-change lens?
Citizens for Juvenile Justice (CfJJ) focuses on systemic reform that improves how Massachusetts’ juvenile justice, education, and child welfare systems operate and support young people from birth through their mid-twenties. We aim to enhance public safety, improve youth outcomes, strengthen youth and community voice, increase accountability through data transparency and intersectionality, and make our youth-serving systems more equitable and developmentally appropriate.
CfJJ approaches systems change through four interconnected approaches that include:
- Advocating on state and local levels for equity-focused, data-informed, and restorative policies and practices in schools, juvenile justice, and foster care systems
- Using community voice to publish research showing where systems operate inequitably and best-practices for supporting youth
- Engaging in public education and narrative change, including training and education sessions for youth, families, and youth-serving professionals
- Building and serving in coalitions that mobilize advocacy for youth-focused reforms and keep impacted voices at the center of reform efforts
What does progress toward systemic change look like for CFJJ?
We believe that progress towards systemic change cannot be achieved by one group alone, nor is that progress linear. CfJJ takes a collective action approach to all of our work. We convene more than 60 statewide organizations and community-based groups through the Massachusetts Juvenile Justice Reform Coalition, actively serve in 15 issue-based coalitions on state and national levels, and form intimate connections in the communities we aim to serve. To us, progress towards systems change means building a sustainable movement that centers lived perspectives and has capacity not only to achieve policy and practice changes, but also to protect wins and defend against rollbacks to reforms.
Can you share an example of a success story or “win” that demonstrates progress toward systemic change?
Recent examples of our work in action include CfJJ’s core priority to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline that drives students – particularly youth of color, low-income, students, and those with disabilities – into the legal system through excessive discipline and school-based arrests.
In 2020, CfJJ was part of a movement that successfully gave local school committees and parents the power to chose whether to have police present in their schools. Recently this year, rollbacks to this important policy were threatened. In response, CfJJ collaborated with local parent-led groups and teachers’ unions to provide training on the school-to-prison pipeline and equip them with research and data to push back. As a result, schools in Somerville and Brookline have remained police-free.
This year, CfJJ collaborated with a statewide parent organization to administer a survey illustrating issues with the Commonwealth’s ‘Child Requiring Assistance’ (CRA) system. We used data from this survey and insights from parents to draft a report that ultimately helped inform recent statewide policy reforms to the CRA system. These reforms will keep young children under 12 out of the court system and ensure that families receive services in their communities rather than becoming involved in the legal system.
CfJJ at ‘Raise the Age Civic Action Day’
In this moment, with so much chaos and inequity, it is easy for us all to gravitate toward and get our heads around organizations doing the necessary and amazing work each and every day to ensure folks in need have those needs met quickly. As our TPC co-Presidents Jenny and Val reminded us in a recent newsletter, however, we need to look wider and deeper at the roots of the problems holding inequity static.
“… we risk reinforcing inequitable systems if we don’t invest in solutions that also prevent harm before it starts. Supporting systems change means backing organizations that challenge structural injustice and work toward lasting transformation. It is preventative, equity-centered work that helps communities thrive over the long term.”