California Youth Defender Center

CYDC seeks to set the standard for youth justice in California. Our statewide efforts seek to ensure that:

• Every county has a holistic team ready to defend and transform the potential of each young person;
• Every community has place-based alternatives to youth detention; and
• Every child has an equitable chance to heal, grow and thrive.

CYDC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. For more than 25 years, CYDC has strengthened youth defense in California by equipping defenders with the training, tools, and community needed to advocate effectively for young people. Through a small, experienced staff and a robust, dedicated, statewide network of members, CYDC delivers high-impact training, advances policy reform, engages in strategic litigation, and promotes equity to improve outcomes for youth.

By pairing defender capacity building with advocacy and systems change, CYDC has helped drive significant reforms across California and continues to champion community-based solutions that reduce incarceration and strengthen pathways to opportunity for young people.

CYDC is a leading voice in youth justice in California with four major initiatives:

• Legal Training and Support. CYDC guides over 2400 youth defenders and advocates so all young people in California are represented by skilled youth defense counsel with the requisite expertise to vigorously defend their clients’ rights.
• Coalition Building and Public Advocacy. CYDC collaborates on policy strategies as an integral member of the California Alliance for Youth and Community Justice (CAYCJ), the largest statewide coalition of system impacted and grassroots groups addressing racism and systemic reform. With CAYCJ, CYDC zealously advocates for community-based solutions that deliver better long-term outcomes for the tens of thousands of youth charged in California’s juvenile courts annually.
• Legislation and Amicus Briefs. CYDC co-sponsors transformative legislation, provides technical assistance to California lawmakers, and authors amicus briefs to shape the law in the appellate courts.
• Fighting Systemic Injustice. CYDC strives to expose, challenge, and correct discrimination and the disproportionate incarceration of young people of color through litigation, policy, media outreach, and publications.

More information about California Youth Defender Center may be found at www.cayouthdefenders.org/.