Nikisha Francis urges youth justice funding and DOP program restoration
Nikisha Francis of Good Shepherd Services describes the March 2026 youth justice convening and May report. She calls for trauma-informed services, reentry planning, $50 million for youth justice innovation, and restoration of DOP programs like Next Steps and Works Plus.
Thank you, Chair Stevens and the members of the Committee on Children and Youth for this oversight hearing.
My name is Nikisha Francis.
I am the Policy and Advocacy Manager at Good Shepherd Services.
Good Shepherd Services operates foster care, prevention, juvenile justice, parent support, alternative to detention, summarizing Saturday Night Lights, the Summer Youth Employment Program,
after school, care violence, cornerstone, beacon, and runaway and homeless youth program.
My testimony will focus on the information regarding alternatives to incarceration and alternatives to detention programs for youth.
On March 6, 2026, this year, the New York City Council Chair Stephen and Deputy Speaker Natasha Williams hosted the New York City Convening Actions to Advance Youth Justice.
This special convening brought together young people, New York City Council members, service providers, community organizations, and system stakeholders from across the five boroughs.
Grounded in the lived experiences of youth, the discussion focused on the needs of those impacted by the juvenile and criminal legal system and explored strategies to strengthen prevention, intervention, and reentry efforts.
In May 2026, the Youth Convening Report was released.
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This report was co-produced, again, by the Deputy Speaker and the Chair.
the New York City Youth Justice Coalition that details findings from the convening and offer concrete recommendations for how to bring youth services to scale.
in New York City.
Some key high-level takeaways are justice-involved youth require tailored and trauma-informed services.
Girls in the justice system face unique challenges.
Interventions must be comprehensive and holistic.
Re-entry and aftercare require earlier planning and continued support.
Re-Juvenile Justice and Crossroads Horizon Close to Home, on top of the fact that we need to be addressing the crisis, we ask that for increased funding for more community-based aftercare support, youth development supports, vocational career opportunities,
GD classes, counseling, and job development.
We are also calling on the council to support the Youth Justice Innovation legislation, which would direct $50 million
to community-based organizations to provide a continuum of services from prevention, early intervention, to alternatives to detention, placement, and incarceration for youth age 12 through 25.
We continue to advocate for restoration of critical prevention programs that were cut by the DOP over the past two years, such as Next Steps and Works Plus.
These smaller, hyper-local, high-touch programs allow us to give intensive levels of support to the most at-risk falling through the cracks, and they are a crucial part of the solution.
In conclusion, we urge the councils to continue to demand that the administration respond to and address the needs of children, youth, and family.
and fully support nonprofit human sector, which is the backbone of social services.
We also know that the safest communities are the fully reserved communities.
Thank you.