The landscape of youth justice in Los Angeles County is in the midst of a dramatic change, shifting from a punitive system to one focused on prevention and youth development. Innovative programs, such as the Ready to Rise Youth Development Initiative, are working to actualize this shift. Ready to Rise (R2R) is a public-private partnership between the Los Angeles County Probation Department (Probation), California Community Foundation (CCF), and Liberty Hill Foundation (Liberty Hill). R2R began as a $3.2 million pilot program, expanding to an over $25 million multi-year initiative serving 49 youth development organizations and 7,854 youth in one year. In the midst of a global pandemic and racial-justice uprising, the importance of innovative reinvestment strategies cannot be overstated. R2R has proven its ability to be an equitable, efficient, and responsive vehicle for distributing public dollars and growing the organizational capacity of youth service providers in L.A. County.
