San Francisco, CA – Today, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced the launch of the Access to Hope Initiative and the creation of a new Youth and Young Adult Services Unit within the District Attorney’s Office.  The Access to Hope Initiative is a non-prosecutorial prevention and intervention strategy designed to build trust and create hope in those individuals and communities most deeply impacted by crime and violence to prevent and deter crime.  The Access to Hope Initiative will complement our traditional prosecution effort and protect the safety of the public by offering new opportunities to directly impact and uplift individuals and communities impacted by crime and violence. 

 

“District Attorney’s Offices have a moral obligation to uplift communities and individuals impacted by crime and violence and to reinvest in communities that have been historically harmed by the criminal justice system,” said District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.  “The Access to Hope Initiative focuses on promoting the advancement of our youth and will complement my office’s unwavering commitment to pursuing public safety for all San Franciscans.”

 

Like the District Attorney Office’s Victim Services Division, the Access to Hope Initiative programs and projects will play a critical role in the District Attorney’s Office’s ongoing commitment to centering victims and those impacted by crime and violence, in our pursuit of justice, and work to advance smart criminal justice reforms.  The initiative will launch with a focus on youth and young adults in an effort to prevent and disrupt cycles of violence and victimization amongst youth and over time grow to advance other areas of work to prevent crime.  

 

The number of victims of crime under the age of 18 served by the Victim Services Division increased substantially in 2023 from 2022.  There was a 29% increase in the number of victims aged 12 and younger and a 45% increase in the number of victims between the age of 13 and 17.

 

As a part of this initiative, the District Attorney’s Office piloted a partnership with the Sojourn Project this past spring to bring a group of San Francisco youth to the Deep South to learn about some key moments and people in the Civil Rights Movement from those who lived it where it happened.  In addition to learning about our painful shared history the trip’s goal was to empower youth participants with new insights, fresh perspectives and a reminder that ordinary people, working together can accomplish the extraordinary and that they too can transcend above difficult circumstances to make our communities safer and more just. 

 

The new Youth and Young Adult Services Unit announced today will advance the Access to Hope Initiative and work to connect youth and young adults between the ages of 14 and 24 to opportunities that positively redirect them to resources and supportive services with the goal of preventing future contact with the criminal justice system and disrupting cycles of violence and victimization. 

 

The new unit is launching two Access to Hope Youth Fellowships each designed to give youth and young adults impacted by crime and violence opportunities to see beyond their current circumstances. Fellowship participants will be offered mentorship, educational seminars, career and professional development, civic engagement opportunities, and interactive projects where youth will develop recommendations for solutions to community-based violence.  Participants will engage with prosecutors, professional staff, criminal justice partner agencies, and city leaders.  For more information about the new unity and the fellowships please visit: https://sfdistrictattorney.org/youth-and-young-adult-services-unit/.