2025 - April 15, Juliet Summers, Exec. Director of Voices for Children in Nebraska

Mike Kamm Author

04/16/2025 Added

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The State of the Agency Lecture Series with guest speaker Juliet Summers, Exec. Director of Voices for Children in Nebraska. Recorded April 15, 2025

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[00:00:00.000]All right. Well, welcome, everybody. Thank you so much for coming. I know you could be at class
[00:00:07.640]or out enjoying the nice weather or whatever, so thanks for being here. My name is Monica Miles
[00:00:13.360]Steffens. I'm the assistant director at the Juvenile Justice Institute. We're housed in the
[00:00:18.220]School of Criminology and Criminal Justice. So I'm really excited to bring you a speaker today
[00:00:23.760]focused on juvenile justice and child welfare and advocacy in that space. So I'm really excited to
[00:00:30.620]introduce Juliet Summers. Juliet is the executive director of Voices for Children here in Nebraska.
[00:00:36.360]She brings a wealth of experience as a former public defender, advocate in Voices for Children,
[00:00:44.900]school teacher. She's got a wide range of experience in this area, and she and I have
[00:00:51.240]worked a lot together on advocating for juvenile justice.
[00:00:53.640]In our state legislature, so I think you'll get to hear a lot about that today too.
[00:00:57.780]So I will turn it over to Juliet.
[00:01:00.440]Test, test. There we go. Hi everyone. I'm Juliet Summers. As Monica said, I'm really
[00:01:15.760]pleased to be with you today. I'm going to start with a story from my time at the Public
[00:01:22.380]Defender's Office.
[00:01:23.160]Gosh, almost 15 years ago now. So I met Caleb when I was a relatively new public defender.
[00:01:32.600]I was doing juvenile defense work. And Caleb had been charged with making terroristic threats,
[00:01:38.640]which is a felony, and use of a weapon to commit that felony, those terroristic threats.
[00:01:45.020]The allegations were that Caleb had been involved in a fight at a park and that he had committed
[00:01:52.020]that he had gone back to his house and then produced a knife with which to threaten the
[00:01:58.160]other children who were involved. On the basis of those facts, Caleb had been charged in
[00:02:04.700]criminal court as an adult and was facing potentially a sentence in prison, which is
[00:02:11.700]a possible penalty in the criminal system when you're facing a felony that's enhanced
[00:02:18.200]with a weapon. Caleb was 11.
[00:02:21.920]So most of my interactions at the outset of the case as his lawyer appointed to represent
[00:02:26.920]him were not just with him but also with his mom, who was really fearful and concerned
[00:02:32.380]about what was going to happen. What you might not have gathered from the facts that I laid
[00:02:38.840]out on the basis of the charge was that Caleb was also developmentally delayed. He had been
[00:02:45.520]the victim of bullying for some time by a group of kids that he would meet up with at the
[00:02:51.820]school and he had been in a lot of fear and decided he needed to do something to defend
[00:02:57.660]himself. Excuse me, I'm coming out of a cold.
[00:03:03.200]So my initial process with this case as a public defender trying to do the best for
[00:03:08.720]my client was facing really serious criminal conviction, prison time, a felony record was
[00:03:17.980]to immediately try to get it to juvenile court because in juvenile court, the juvenile court
[00:03:21.720]judge would be better poised to assess Caleb's full spectrum of needs.
[00:03:29.020]The services and the things that could be offered in juvenile court would be more likely
[00:03:33.160]to be rehabilitative, developmentally appropriate.
[00:03:39.120]And above all, 11-year-old I just felt did not belong in the criminal system regardless
[00:03:44.360]of what the nature of the charge might have been.
[00:03:47.540]And luckily I was able to get Caleb into juvenile court.
[00:03:51.620]And in fact the court case later closed on the basis of his developmental delay and his
[00:03:58.440]inability to understand proceedings as well as his youth and sort of the circumstances
[00:04:03.540]of the case itself.
[00:04:06.220]But the very fact that he was a developmentally delayed 11-year-old facing criminal conviction
[00:04:12.740]and sentencing struck me, even as a new lawyer at the time, as really a problem with our
[00:04:19.480]justice system.
[00:04:21.520]And that's something that, as a lawyer in the courtroom, you can fight in one case at
[00:04:26.060]a time when you get appointed to a client who has those characteristics or that kind
[00:04:32.100]of fact pattern.
[00:04:34.140]But really, what it ultimately is is a policy question.
[00:04:38.340]How do we want our system to function?
[00:04:40.060]What do we want our system to automatically do when it comes into contact with an 11-year-old
[00:04:45.780]who's wielding a knife?
[00:04:48.080]And that is the work of Voices for Children in Nebraska.
[00:04:51.420]Which is the organization that I'm with and that I'm here to talk to you about today.
[00:04:55.960]It is the work of trying to get our policy and our state laws right so that we have a
[00:05:01.540]law in the books that says, you know what, 11 years old is just too young to be in criminal
[00:05:06.020]court.
[00:05:07.020]That even a child who is functioning ahead of their age wouldn't be able to understand
[00:05:15.140]the nature and consequences of those proceedings.
[00:05:17.480]And they really belong in juvenile court if they belong in the justice system at all.
[00:05:21.320]So that's the work of my organization that I'm excited to share with you.
[00:05:26.820]And as Monica said, I've had a bit of a winding road to get here.
[00:05:30.800]So I've been an elementary school teacher a long time ago before I went to law school,
[00:05:37.600]teaching second grade on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
[00:05:42.100]I went to law school because teaching was too hard and became, as I said, a juvenile
[00:05:47.080]public defender in Douglas County in Omaha.
[00:05:51.220]I'm a law advocate and a lobbyist for kids at the legislature.
[00:05:53.920]I first joined Voices in 2014 where I was the policy coordinator for child welfare and
[00:05:59.200]juvenile justice.
[00:06:01.000]I'm a mom of three children, so this is all very close to home for me, but I'm here with
[00:06:07.120]you today as now the executive director of Voices for Children to talk about the state
[00:06:11.880]of our agency and hopefully spark your interest in policy advocacy and this type of work in
[00:06:19.900]service of kids and families.
[00:06:21.120]So, I have to cycle through both my slides and these slides.
[00:06:28.160]Did that work?
[00:06:29.160]Okay.
[00:06:30.160]So, a little road map.
[00:06:31.160]First, I'm going to share with you what is Voices for Children, what do we do, what's
[00:06:35.600]our history in the state of Nebraska, then I'm going to talk a little bit about some
[00:06:42.840]work that is ongoing right now with our legislative advocacy and the challenges that we're facing
[00:06:48.300]in 2025 and beyond.
[00:06:51.020]And then most importantly, we'll get to Section 3 to share some ways for you to get involved
[00:06:56.580]or consider how you could be a part of this work either at Voices for Children or with
[00:07:01.780]other types of orgs doing multi-issue child policy advocacy.
[00:07:05.660]So click through there, click through there.
[00:07:10.880]So first, what is Voices for Children?
[00:07:12.740]Mission, vision, values, history, and how we work.
[00:07:15.860]Has anybody heard of us before today?
[00:07:17.920]Okay.
[00:07:18.920]All right.
[00:07:19.920]We got a couple hands.
[00:07:20.920]A couple shaking heads.
[00:07:24.400]So we are a small nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization.
[00:07:32.140]So I'm not surprised that many of you haven't heard of us, but appreciate those who have.
[00:07:36.680]Our mission, forgive me, is we advocate for equitable opportunity for children in Nebraska.
[00:07:47.160]We do that through research, policy, and community engagement.
[00:07:50.820]We are not a direct service organization.
[00:07:53.380]So that legal work that I was telling you about before, or the work, that important
[00:07:58.000]work that CASAs do, or that advocates in the courtroom do, that is all sort of amazing
[00:08:05.060]frontline work.
[00:08:07.240]What we try to do is we do, like I was talking about, we do the upstream.
[00:08:10.860]We advocate at the systemic level to try to make sure that our systems as a whole are
[00:08:15.220]working for the kids that they are supposed to serve.
[00:08:20.720]We have a vision of a Nebraska with strong communities where every child has all they
[00:08:25.220]need to lead a healthy, secure, and fulfilling life.
[00:08:29.040]And in order to meet that vision, we follow a set of values.
[00:08:33.220]So we keep children at the heart of everything we do and we have these values that guide
[00:08:38.180]us.
[00:08:39.180]Integrity, it's important to us to be an independent and a nonpartisan voice to drive systems change.
[00:08:45.660]We have been since our founding.
[00:08:47.280]We take no state or federal money to do this work.
[00:08:50.620]So that we can always be an outside voice calling for change when it's necessary, critiquing
[00:08:55.900]the system as it's not working for kids, and independently supporting good initiatives
[00:09:01.420]that do work without regard to, you know, where dollars and cents for our organization
[00:09:06.880]may be coming from.
[00:09:09.420]We believe in information.
[00:09:11.320]So we use research and data and community input, particularly from those who have experience
[00:09:18.160]of our systems, to inform our direction.
[00:09:20.520]And to guide our actions.
[00:09:23.340]We don't think that think tanks should just operate in a vacuum over here articulating
[00:09:29.140]what good policy is or should be.
[00:09:32.140]Particularly when it comes to the systems that are serving kids, families, communities.
[00:09:36.840]So it's important to us that we ground our work in real fact.
[00:09:41.640]Looking big picture at the data that we see and how that's disaggregated.
[00:09:46.860]How different policies or interventions are working for different communities.
[00:09:50.420]Or different kids and families across the state.
[00:09:53.940]And that as we go about the work of advocating for change, seated at the table with us are
[00:10:00.400]children, youth, families who have lived expertise in these systems.
[00:10:06.880]Equity is a dirty word right now.
[00:10:08.040]I hope I can say it.
[00:10:09.980]But we intentionally center diversity, equity, and inclusion and accessibility.
[00:10:15.460]And there shouldn't be anything radical about that.
[00:10:18.560]Equity simply means that we're
[00:10:20.320]striving for a Nebraska where every child has what they need to thrive.
[00:10:23.960]And every child might have slightly different needs.
[00:10:26.880]So how do we align our systems to ensure the best outcome for all?
[00:10:32.860]And we do that in a state that is diverse.
[00:10:34.800]We have kids growing up in our urban cores.
[00:10:37.760]We have kids growing up in incredibly rural parts of the state.
[00:10:42.060]We have kids from all different countries of the world immigrating to Nebraska.
[00:10:47.760]And they may be bringing different cultures, different values.
[00:10:50.220]Different traditions, different heritages, different strengths and then also different
[00:10:56.000]challenges.
[00:10:57.000]So, as we think about how we want our child welfare system to function or our juvenile
[00:11:01.700]justice system to function so that kids and families are getting what they need and getting
[00:11:07.440]rehabilitated and moving on to opportunity, we have to take those things into account.
[00:11:13.140]We have a value of courage.
[00:11:16.560]We fight against the status quo when necessary to amplify
[00:11:20.120]youth's voices and to transform systems.
[00:11:23.420]Sometimes it can feel very lonely doing the work of being the lobbyist for the child in
[00:11:28.580]the room where there's other interests at play, and you have to have courage to stand
[00:11:35.740]up and to voice what's right for kids.
[00:11:39.140]And finally, collaboration.
[00:11:41.380]We are deeply committed to listening and to partnering with those who are in the work
[00:11:46.580]in different ways, those who are on the front lines.
[00:11:50.020]So, always trying to connect with social workers and teachers and lawyers, like I said CASAs,
[00:11:57.660]but most importantly, children and families themselves so that we can truly understand
[00:12:02.920]how best to support them according to their needs.
[00:12:09.260]Kind of restated another way here.
[00:12:12.180]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:12:19.920]a very important thing.
[00:12:20.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:12:21.920]a very important thing.
[00:12:22.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:12:23.920]a very important thing.
[00:12:24.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:12:25.920]a very important thing.
[00:12:26.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:12:27.920]a very important thing.
[00:12:28.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:12:29.920]a very important thing.
[00:12:30.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:12:31.920]a very important thing.
[00:12:32.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:12:33.920]a very important thing.
[00:12:34.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:12:35.920]a very important thing.
[00:12:36.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:12:37.920]a very important thing.
[00:12:38.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:12:39.920]a very important thing.
[00:12:40.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:12:41.920]a very important thing.
[00:12:42.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:12:43.920]a very important thing.
[00:12:44.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:12:45.920]a very important thing.
[00:12:46.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:12:47.920]a very important thing.
[00:12:48.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:12:49.920]a very important thing.
[00:12:50.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:12:51.920]a very important thing.
[00:12:52.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:12:53.920]a very important thing.
[00:12:54.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:12:55.920]a very important thing.
[00:12:56.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:12:57.920]a very important thing.
[00:12:58.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:12:59.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:00.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:01.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:02.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:03.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:04.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:05.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:06.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:07.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:08.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:09.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:10.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:11.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:12.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:13.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:14.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:15.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:16.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:17.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:18.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:19.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:20.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:21.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:22.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:23.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:24.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:25.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:26.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:27.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:28.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:29.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:30.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:31.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:32.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:33.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:34.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:35.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:36.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:37.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:38.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:39.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:40.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:41.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:42.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:43.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:44.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:45.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:46.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:47.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:48.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:49.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:50.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:51.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:52.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:53.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:54.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:55.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:56.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:57.920]a very important thing.
[00:13:58.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:13:59.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:00.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:01.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:02.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:03.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:04.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:05.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:06.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:07.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:08.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:09.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:10.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:11.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:12.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:13.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:14.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:15.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:16.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:17.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:18.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:19.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:20.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:21.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:22.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:23.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:24.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:25.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:26.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:27.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:28.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:29.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:30.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:31.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:32.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:33.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:34.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:35.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:36.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:37.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:38.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:39.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:40.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:41.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:42.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:43.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:44.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:45.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:46.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:47.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:48.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:49.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:50.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:51.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:52.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:53.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:54.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:55.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:56.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:57.920]a very important thing.
[00:14:58.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:14:59.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:00.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:01.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:02.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:03.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:04.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:05.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:06.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:07.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:08.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:09.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:10.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:11.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:12.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:13.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:14.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:15.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:16.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:17.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:18.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:19.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:20.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:21.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:22.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:23.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:24.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:25.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:26.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:27.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:28.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:29.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:30.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:31.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:32.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:33.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:34.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:35.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:36.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:37.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:38.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:39.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:40.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:41.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:42.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:43.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:44.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:45.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:46.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:47.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:48.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:49.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:50.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:51.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:52.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:53.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:54.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:55.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:56.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:57.920]a very important thing.
[00:15:58.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:15:59.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:00.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:01.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:02.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:03.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:04.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:05.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:06.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:07.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:08.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:09.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:10.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:11.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:12.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:13.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:14.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:15.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:16.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:17.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:18.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:19.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:20.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:21.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:22.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:23.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:24.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:25.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:26.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:27.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:28.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:29.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:30.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:31.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:32.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:33.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:34.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:35.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:36.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:37.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:38.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:39.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:40.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:41.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:42.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:43.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:44.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:45.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:46.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:47.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:48.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:49.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:50.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:51.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:52.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:53.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:54.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:55.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:56.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:57.920]a very important thing.
[00:16:58.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:16:59.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:00.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:01.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:02.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:03.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:04.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:05.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:06.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:07.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:08.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:09.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:10.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:11.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:12.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:13.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:14.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:15.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:16.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:17.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:18.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:19.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:20.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:21.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:22.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:23.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:24.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:25.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:26.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:27.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:28.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:29.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:30.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:31.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:32.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:33.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:34.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:35.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:36.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:37.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:38.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:39.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:40.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:41.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:42.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:43.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:44.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:45.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:46.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:47.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:48.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:49.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:50.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:51.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:52.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:53.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:54.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:55.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:56.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:57.920]a very important thing.
[00:17:58.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:17:59.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:00.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:01.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:02.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:03.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:04.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:05.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:06.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:07.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:08.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:09.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:10.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:11.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:12.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:13.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:14.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:15.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:16.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:17.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:18.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:19.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:20.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:21.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:22.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:23.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:24.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:25.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:26.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:27.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:28.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:29.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:30.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:31.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:32.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:33.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:34.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:35.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:36.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:37.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:38.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:39.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:40.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:41.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:42.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:43.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:44.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:45.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:46.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:47.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:48.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:49.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:50.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:51.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:52.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:53.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:54.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:55.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:56.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:57.920]a very important thing.
[00:18:58.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:18:59.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:00.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:01.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:02.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:03.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:04.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:05.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:06.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:07.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:08.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:09.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:10.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:11.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:12.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:13.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:14.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:15.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:16.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:17.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:18.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:19.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:20.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:21.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:22.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:23.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:24.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:25.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:26.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:27.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:28.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:29.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:30.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:31.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:32.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:33.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:34.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:35.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:36.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:37.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:38.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:39.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:40.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:41.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:42.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:43.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:44.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:45.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:46.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:47.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:48.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:49.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:50.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:51.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:52.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:53.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:54.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:55.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:56.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:57.920]a very important thing.
[00:19:58.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:19:59.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:00.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:01.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:02.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:03.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:04.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:05.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:06.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:07.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:08.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:09.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:10.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:11.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:12.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:13.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:14.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:15.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:16.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:17.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:18.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:19.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:20.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:21.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:22.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:23.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:24.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:25.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:26.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:27.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:28.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:29.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:30.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:31.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:32.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:33.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:34.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:35.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:36.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:37.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:38.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:39.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:40.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:41.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:42.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:43.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:44.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:45.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:46.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:47.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:48.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:49.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:50.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:51.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:52.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:53.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:54.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:55.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:56.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:57.920]a very important thing.
[00:20:58.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:20:59.920]a very important thing.
[00:21:00.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:21:01.920]a very important thing.
[00:21:02.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:21:03.920]a very important thing.
[00:21:04.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:21:05.920]a very important thing.
[00:21:06.920]We believe that all children deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, and this is sort of
[00:21:07.920]a very important thing.
[00:21:08.920]As I mentioned before, community engagement is both input and output, so we host these
[00:21:20.080]-- oh, shoot.
[00:21:21.080]Did I not do it?
[00:21:22.080]There we go.
[00:21:23.080]We host -- I chose, like, the worst possible photo of myself in there.
[00:21:30.040]We host advocacy cohorts with young people.
[00:21:32.800]This was from a summer candidate forum we did with some lawmakers in Omaha where the
[00:21:37.540]students worked all summer.
[00:21:38.880]They were on policy advocacy and then collected their questions that they had for candidates
[00:21:44.740]who were running for office and posed them to the candidates here before the election.
[00:21:51.640]We do policy fellowships, particularly for young people involved in our juvenile justice
[00:21:57.080]system where we work with them on, you know, what is policy advocacy?
[00:22:01.060]What is making your voice heard?
[00:22:02.680]How do you see changes to this system that would benefit young people coming up behind
[00:22:07.840]you?
[00:22:08.840]How do you help them share out their opinions and their visions in policy projects that
[00:22:14.600]those culminate in?
[00:22:18.440]But as I said, we also, a big part of our work is really sharing this information with
[00:22:22.560]different groups.
[00:22:23.560]So giving presentations, whether that's data-based or legislative advocacy 101, being a resource
[00:22:30.340]for the media when there's a news story about a child welfare case or there's, you know,
[00:22:38.800]some movement on a juvenile justice bill, we are frequently an organization that gets
[00:22:43.100]calls from the media to offer, you know, an evidence-based perspective on what the, you
[00:22:49.340]know, question at hand might be.
[00:22:53.480]And then finally, policy advocacy.
[00:23:00.120]We believe that children deserve a voice in every classroom, courtroom, and policy table
[00:23:04.700]where decisions are made about their futures.
[00:23:07.120]So we combine our kind of data.
[00:23:08.760]We combine data, research, technical expertise in these public serving systems, and we combine
[00:23:14.360]it with youth voice, youth leadership, lived experience, and we bring that all together
[00:23:20.700]and use skilled policy advocacy and lobbying to try to fight for good policies and laws
[00:23:26.540]that are going to allow every child in our state to thrive.
[00:23:30.080]And we do have a special emphasis on the intersection of race, poverty, and geography in the work
[00:23:35.580]that we do.
[00:23:37.700]So what does that mean?
[00:23:38.720]This year, and what are some of the challenges and opportunities that we're facing in 2025
[00:23:46.920]and beyond?
[00:23:50.340]This is, I probably could do a whole presentation on the data side or on the engagement side,
[00:23:55.560]but my heart is in the legislative advocacy because that's where I was for quite some
[00:24:00.240]time in this work, and you're right here in Lincoln, so you're very close to the action.
[00:24:08.680]So, some of the barriers that we're facing in 2025 and beyond may or may not be surprising
[00:24:17.860]to you.
[00:24:20.380]Rising partisanship.
[00:24:22.640]The Nebraska unicameral is officially a nonpartisan, one-house legislature, and so the history
[00:24:30.020]of the institution has been one where, historically, a coalition of moderates kind of governs.
[00:24:37.940]The way that the numbers change.
[00:24:38.640]The way that the numbers shake out tends to mean that those on the very far ends of the
[00:24:43.140]political spectrum, historically, have sort of rarely gotten their way without creating
[00:24:49.500]some kind of compromise that's palatable to a core midsection of the legislature.
[00:24:57.820]With redistricting and term limits over the last dozen years or so, I would say we are
[00:25:03.640]still officially a nonpartisan unicameral, but rising partisanship.
[00:25:08.600]Has played more and more of a role, which can be challenging for an organization that
[00:25:14.240]is nonpartisan, but has strong ideas about what the right policies would be for kids
[00:25:21.600]and families.
[00:25:22.800]We see these issues as nonpartisan, that every senator, regardless of whether there's an
[00:25:27.300]R or D behind their name, cares about child safety, cares about ensuring young people
[00:25:33.660]have an opportunity to thrive, wants to make sure that kids in our state aren't going hungry,
[00:25:38.560]or that parents don't have their rights taken away from them because of poverty issues.
[00:25:45.340]Those are nonpartisan topics, so we still see there's a real opportunity in Nebraska
[00:25:51.840]to have those conversations with anyone, regardless of their political affiliation.
[00:25:58.060]But the national tenor, as well as the state tenor of politics, has sometimes made that
[00:26:04.200]ever more challenging.
[00:26:06.140]There's a tribalism that hasn't been there.
[00:26:08.520]Maybe historically.
[00:26:12.760]This year, we've got a bad budget forecast.
[00:26:14.900]So it does cost money to run effective programs for young people.
[00:26:20.080]I think the evidence is there that they save money over time, but when you have a budget
[00:26:25.920]deficit year, there's no money at the legislature to do anything.
[00:26:29.800]It can be hard to get any initiatives across the finish line that are going to cost anything.
[00:26:38.480]That can always present a challenge, and sometimes it takes creative work to think about what
[00:26:42.880]are going to be the solutions we can work on for children this year that don't have
[00:26:47.800]a fiscal tag to them, or how can we combine this cost with another bill that shows some
[00:26:54.380]savings somewhere.
[00:26:57.680]Obviously the federal landscape.
[00:26:59.800]So again, without being partisan, there are policies that are going to support kids and
[00:27:07.440]families.
[00:27:08.440]There are policies that aren't.
[00:27:09.880]And the money and the directives that come from our federal government govern a lot of
[00:27:14.480]those things, even at the state level.
[00:27:16.780]So if there's a budget plan in Congress that is seeking to significantly cut funding for
[00:27:22.940]Medicaid, that's going to affect kids in Nebraska who need health insurance.
[00:27:27.100]There's a budget plan in Congress that's going to cut SNAP benefits.
[00:27:30.520]That's going to impact the one in eight Nebraska families who don't always know where their
[00:27:33.600]next meal is coming from, and really rely on food stamps to be able to support their
[00:27:38.400]nutritional needs.
[00:27:40.120]So as an organization, we do advocate both at the state and federal level, and I would
[00:27:47.980]say that what we see in Congress and with the administration right now are presenting
[00:27:55.600]some really significant challenges that we don't know where it's all going to go.
[00:28:02.360]As well as, so I mentioned term limits before.
[00:28:04.900]Both term limits and coming out of the pandemic, there's been significant changes.
[00:28:08.360]We've had a transition at our state agencies, as well as some of our federal data partners.
[00:28:14.240]So whenever transition happens, there is institutional knowledge that is lost and relationships that
[00:28:19.940]are lost.
[00:28:21.040]So another barrier we're working through is kind of how we rebuild those relationships
[00:28:26.420]or we find the people that we're going to work with for the next five, 10 years when
[00:28:31.940]there has been transition, significant transition and turnover all at once.
[00:28:38.320]So it's not all bad, it's not all doom and gloom.
[00:28:41.080]We do have opportunities as well.
[00:28:43.940]There's a new legislature this year.
[00:28:46.040]Anytime there's a new legislature, it's a new sort of cocktail of relationships in there,
[00:28:51.880]there's new opportunities.
[00:28:53.240]So we're still figuring out where this particular legislature is going to go and what their
[00:28:58.400]priorities are going to be.
[00:29:00.320]I would say it's a mixed message so far from our side.
[00:29:03.620]We've seen some bills moving that maybe we expected to be more of a fight.
[00:29:08.280]That haven't been.
[00:29:09.920]And we've also seen some bills moving that we're strongly opposing and we would like
[00:29:16.180]to be able to have more conversations with legislators about why those would be harmful
[00:29:21.460]for kids.
[00:29:25.460]We also have Governor Pillen is, for the first time in many years, we have a governor who's
[00:29:30.680]interested in taking federal funding, which can be a benefit in a lot of the work that
[00:29:36.500]we do.
[00:29:38.240]Nebraska's efficient usage of federal resources for programs like Medicaid, SNAP, even in
[00:29:44.780]the juvenile justice space, there's federal funding that Nebraska can have access to if
[00:29:50.160]we come into compliance with certain federal laws and regulations.
[00:29:54.400]So it's heartening to have a governor who says, "Hey, I'm interested in doing that and
[00:29:58.360]taking advantage of these resources and willing to work toward that."
[00:30:04.840]And really, one of the biggest things is, over the last couple of years in particular,
[00:30:08.200]we've seen just a massive wave of community engagement.
[00:30:13.320]So there are so many more individual concerned citizens coming to the legislature than ever
[00:30:19.160]before, getting involved, making their voices heard, caring about what's happening in the
[00:30:26.880]sausage-making process of the legislature and their work.
[00:30:31.380]And that has been really heartening and really exciting, and we hope will continue, and we
[00:30:38.160]hope foster it as it goes.
[00:30:43.080]So within our work, the book that you have in front of you has more sections than just
[00:30:53.140]these.
[00:30:54.140]So when we get to the questions portion of this, if you have questions about the data,
[00:30:59.860]in the book we've got sections on education and population, so sections beyond what you
[00:31:07.380]just see here.
[00:31:08.120]This is Voices for Children's Pro-Kid Policy Plan.
[00:31:12.120]So these four domains are the ones that we really focus in on when it comes to our policy
[00:31:17.060]advocacy work.
[00:31:18.060]We're a small organization, there's only eight of us working full time, and only two of them
[00:31:24.900]are full time dedicated to our policy advocacy part of our house.
[00:31:30.000]So we really, education for instance, we do get involved in some issues related to education,
[00:31:38.080]but really primarily when they cross over into one of these other primary domains of
[00:31:42.840]ours.
[00:31:44.260]So when it has something to do with potentially the school to prison pipeline, so suspension,
[00:31:49.560]expulsion, disciplinary policies at school, that kind of overlaps with our juvenile justice
[00:31:55.580]work.
[00:31:56.580]Or school meals, we do a lot of work around school meals and trying to expand free and
[00:32:01.520]reduced lunch and breakfast access, because that really crosses over into our health work.
[00:32:08.040]And really, that's just a question of capacity, no one organization can be an expert and present
[00:32:16.580]and all the possible things that could touch children and families' experience in our state.
[00:32:21.610]So these are the ones that we have historically focused on.
[00:32:24.930]And today I'm going to talk to you really specifically about our juvenile justice prong.
[00:32:32.610]So I've given you both our language, what voices for children.
[00:32:38.890]Every bill that we work on in juvenile justice within that space needs to meet this standard.
[00:32:45.710]We're always, as I said, we're either trying to fight harmful policy, promote beneficial policy,
[00:32:51.570]or imagine and create policy, new policy that doesn't exist.
[00:32:55.810]And in juvenile justice, it has to meet this.
[00:32:58.190]So we believe that youth in a juvenile justice system of our dreams,
[00:33:02.890]youth are held accountable for their actions in developmentally appropriate ways
[00:33:07.710]that promote community safety and allow them to grow into responsible citizens.
[00:33:11.830]So every bill that we're going to support or oppose,
[00:33:15.370]that I'll talk to you about today, we're trying to meet that standard.
[00:33:19.690]And I shared with you a quote from Cory Booker that I liked,
[00:33:23.250]which I think is aligned with this, that we have to invest in our youth,
[00:33:27.950]not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it is the smart thing to do.
[00:33:32.170]A well-supported and effective juvenile justice system can break the cycle of crime
[00:33:37.070]and create a brighter future for our communities.
[00:33:40.010]So whenever, when we think about youth justice and the initiatives
[00:33:45.030]that we're trying to promote, it's not a zero-sum game.
[00:33:49.650]It's not, it's not, we want to benefit the young people
[00:33:54.390]at the expense of the community.
[00:33:56.130]In fact, those two things go hand in hand.
[00:33:59.030]When we align our system correctly to be responsive to youth's developmental needs,
[00:34:04.830]to treat them as young people rather than trying to cram them
[00:34:09.390]like mini-adults into an adult system, when we respond with upstanding,
[00:34:15.030]downstream, evidence-based interventions rather than heavy-handed, punitive approaches,
[00:34:20.030]all of that not only benefits that young person, but it benefits the community as a whole
[00:34:25.030]because the documented evidence is in that those are the things that work to rehabilitate young people,
[00:34:31.030]to set them on a better path rather than to keep them in a cycle of recidivism and further incarceration,
[00:34:39.030]which of course is also really costly for taxpayers and for the rest of our community.
[00:34:45.030]So that's our big goal in juvenile justice.
[00:34:50.030]And every year our policy team, does anyone know how many bills the legislature usually brings every year?
[00:34:58.030]Any Nebraska legislature nerds in the room? Well, it's hundreds.
[00:35:03.030]So every senator can bring as many bills as they want.
[00:35:07.030]Well, that used to be the case. Now they can only bring 20.
[00:35:10.030]So that has saved us a little bit, but it's still hundreds.
[00:35:12.030]Hundreds of bills are dropped each session.
[00:35:15.030]And some of them we have been working on in advance with senators to craft and to get ready.
[00:35:22.030]And those will be some of our big priorities.
[00:35:25.030]But many of them we don't see until they're dropped into the hopper.
[00:35:29.030]And then during the first 10 days of legislative session, a lot of our time is spent reading through hundreds of bills.
[00:35:36.030]Anything that has the word child in it or that could reasonably be associated with any of our public systems.
[00:35:44.030]We are taking a look at and seeing, is this something that we need to weigh in on?
[00:35:49.030]We always look first to see, is it part of our pro-kid policy plan?
[00:35:54.030]Does it fall into one of these domains?
[00:35:57.030]Then we ask, do we have historical or technical expertise?
[00:36:01.030]Are we hearing from young people about this?
[00:36:03.030]Do we have data that could inform this conversation?
[00:36:07.030]The answer to those two questions is yes.
[00:36:10.030]We will probably get involved, but we do ask one further question,
[00:36:13.030]which is how full is the room already?
[00:36:16.030]Are we bringing something unique to this conversation?
[00:36:19.030]Because if we're not, then we need to reserve our capacity
[00:36:23.030]for these other things that are much more in our wheelhouse.
[00:36:26.030]So hundreds of bills at the legislature,
[00:36:29.030]many of them dedicated to these four issue areas
[00:36:32.030]and many of them to juvenile justice.
[00:36:34.030]So this is our list for this year of all the juvenile justice bills
[00:36:39.030]that we were working on.
[00:36:42.030]And in Nebraska, every bill gets a public hearing.
[00:36:46.030]So part of the work is preparing for that public hearing,
[00:36:49.030]writing testimony.
[00:36:51.030]I can show you at the end how to get to our website.
[00:36:53.030]For any of the ones you see on this list,
[00:36:55.030]you could go back on our website, find our testimony,
[00:36:58.030]what we shared with the committee about it.
[00:37:01.030]And then for the ones that are our priority bills
[00:37:04.030]or that we think are moving,
[00:37:07.030]we're working actively every day, you know, as lobbyists,
[00:37:11.030]talking to legislators about trying to see
[00:37:14.030]whether we can stop the ones we're trying to stop
[00:37:17.030]or amend them to make them better
[00:37:20.030]or the ones that we're promoting that we're hoping will pass,
[00:37:23.030]working with senators to try to move those forward
[00:37:26.030]in any way that we can.
[00:37:29.030]So we always, in the juvenile justice space,
[00:37:32.030]we want to support initiatives that are going to keep young people
[00:37:35.030]connected to school and community,
[00:37:38.030]wrapping sort of the strengths-based focus around them.
[00:37:40.030]We want to invest in families and communities
[00:37:43.030]as upstream prevention.
[00:37:45.030]So we know that poverty is intersectional
[00:37:48.030]with the justice system.
[00:37:50.030]We know that community of colors with historical redlining
[00:37:53.030]and systemic racism have been kept in poverty.
[00:37:57.030]So that race can also in Nebraska be intersectional
[00:38:00.030]with the justice system.
[00:38:03.030]We want to reduce juvenile court involvement
[00:38:05.030]for low-risk or no-risk youth
[00:38:07.030]because there is good research, decades of research,
[00:38:09.030]out there showing that court involvement itself
[00:38:12.030]can make young people less likely
[00:38:14.030]to graduate from high school.
[00:38:16.030]That controlling for other factors appearing in court
[00:38:20.030]makes you a little bit less likely
[00:38:22.030]to go on and get your degree,
[00:38:24.030]makes you a little bit more likely to commit another crime.
[00:38:27.030]So for those kids who are committing low-risk offenses,
[00:38:31.030]the more we can screen them away to diversion programs
[00:38:35.030]or to community service initiatives
[00:38:37.030]away from the court system,
[00:38:38.030]the better that's going to be,
[00:38:39.030]not just for them and their family but for all of us.
[00:38:42.030]We want to lower arbitrary barriers
[00:38:47.030]to successful completion of court and probation.
[00:38:50.030]So when a young person is involved in the court system
[00:38:53.030]and we're telling them, "Hey, you did something wrong.
[00:38:56.030]"We want you to be on probation, go to school,
[00:38:59.030]"complete X amount of community service,
[00:39:02.030]"do this drug treatment intervention,"
[00:39:04.030]whatever it is, whatever those court orders are,
[00:39:07.030]we want to make sure that there's not arbitrary things
[00:39:09.030]standing in their way that's going to make it harder
[00:39:11.030]for them to succeed at that.
[00:39:13.030]So what does their transportation look like?
[00:39:15.030]Are they able to get to that drug treatment provider?
[00:39:19.030]One bill that we've been working on this year, LB 65,
[00:39:23.030]would eliminate administrative fines and fees in juvenile court
[00:39:26.030]because all teenagers, I mean, except for maybe, like,
[00:39:31.030]the YouTube star, are, as a category,
[00:39:34.030]themselves indigent, I think, for the purposes
[00:39:36.030]of court intervention.
[00:39:38.030]And most families of young people who are involved
[00:39:41.030]in juvenile court are as well.
[00:39:43.030]So why are we asking these families and young people
[00:39:47.030]to pay sometimes hundreds of dollars of fees
[00:39:50.030]to fund judges' retirement or to, you know,
[00:39:53.030]to fund the processes of the court system itself
[00:39:56.030]as opposed to just focusing on what are these court orders
[00:39:59.030]that I need to accomplish so that I am rehabilitated
[00:40:02.030]and can move on with my life?
[00:40:05.030]We are always out there opposing initiatives
[00:40:09.030]that ignore developmental realities.
[00:40:12.030]I'll talk some more about one in particular on the next slide.
[00:40:16.030]Or that double down on harmful, disproven practices.
[00:40:19.030]So when we have really good evidence showing certain interventions
[00:40:24.030]or practices actually make kids less safe and communities less safe,
[00:40:31.030]we shouldn't keep paying for those.
[00:40:33.030]We shouldn't keep running down that same path.
[00:40:34.030]It's like the definition of insanity, right?
[00:40:38.030]It's doing the same thing over and over again,
[00:40:40.030]expecting different results.
[00:40:42.030]And we oppose initiatives that are going to increase recidivism
[00:40:45.030]rather than reduce it.
[00:40:47.030]So I'm a broken record on this score,
[00:40:49.030]but when we treat young people as young people,
[00:40:52.030]we do hold them accountable for their choices,
[00:40:55.030]but we do it in ways that acknowledge they are still
[00:40:58.030]in the process of development.
[00:41:01.030]We're going to make everybody safer.
[00:41:03.030]And -- oh, well, that turned out really badly.
[00:41:10.030]I downloaded this from one system to another,
[00:41:13.030]and some of the graphics didn't quite work out.
[00:41:16.030]So this is -- this is what I mean about using the data,
[00:41:20.030]looking at the data.
[00:41:21.030]If you just watched the news and that was your only source
[00:41:26.030]of information about the juvenile justice system,
[00:41:29.030]what would you think about how it's working?
[00:41:32.030]Thumbs up?
[00:41:35.030]Thumbs down?
[00:41:37.030]Thumbs sideways?
[00:41:39.030]Thumbs sideways to thumbs down, right?
[00:41:42.030]Every night you could turn on the news and see really sad stories,
[00:41:47.030]really terrible stories.
[00:41:50.030]You could go on social media and think the kids are worse
[00:41:55.030]than they've ever been.
[00:41:56.030]They're out here committing terrible crimes,
[00:41:59.030]the likes of which has never been seen before.
[00:42:01.030]And two things can be true.
[00:42:04.030]One thing can be true, that young people are still committing crimes
[00:42:08.030]and that we are nowhere near the peak of juvenile crime in Nebraska.
[00:42:14.030]And we can know those two things are true by looking at our data.
[00:42:18.030]So I tried to stack these graphs in a way that the years would match up.
[00:42:24.030]So this graph up top is our statewide data of juvenile arrests,
[00:42:30.030]juvenile arrests age 10 to 17 from 2009 through 2023.
[00:42:35.030]And then down here below is Lancaster County specific data.
[00:42:39.030]So that starts all the way from 2000 going through 2023.
[00:42:45.030]And you can -- it's big enough here you can actually see.
[00:42:48.030]When I printed it out for lawmakers, it was much harder to see.
[00:42:51.030]The little teeny, tiny, tiny blue line down there for each year is violent crime.
[00:42:59.030]So what the data tells us when we really look at it -- and I did this for every county for lawmakers on the Judiciary Committee.
[00:43:06.030]That was the same pattern for every county.
[00:43:09.030]And it mirrored our statewide trend.
[00:43:12.030]Nebraska has been on a significant downward decline of youth offending, youth arrests, over the period of years that we have been making these evidence-based reforms to try to right-size our juvenile justice system, right-size our criminal justice system,
[00:43:28.030]get kids out of the criminal justice system into the juvenile justice system, and get low-risk kids out of the juvenile justice system into diversion.
[00:43:37.030]Over that same period of years, crime has continued to fall, and violent crime, so this was like rape, murder, high felony robbery, and high felony assault where there was a serious injury.
[00:43:53.030]Those crimes have hung entirely steady.
[00:43:57.030]Tiny fraction, tiny fraction of the overall juvenile offending.
[00:44:02.030]So, and then we do see, this also mirrors a nationwide trend as well.
[00:44:09.030]There was a significant dip from 2020 to 2021 when we all stayed home.
[00:44:15.030]Nobody was out there committing any crimes, 2020.
[00:44:19.030]But that it has bubbled a little bit back up.
[00:44:22.030]But, you know, it hasn't blown up, right?
[00:44:26.030]We're coming out of that dip in the pandemic.
[00:44:29.030]And now we are leveling off back about where we would have otherwise expected our trend line to be.
[00:44:35.030]So I like to share this data because it is good news, right?
[00:44:39.030]If you just watch the news, it feels like bad news all the time.
[00:44:45.030]Really, we have a real success story here in Nebraska about how juvenile reform has impacted youth offending and made our communities safer.
[00:44:55.030]And I share this before talking about my next slide, which is a bill that we're opposing this year.
[00:45:03.030]So Voices for Children is in opposition to a bill that's LB 556.
[00:45:12.030]I told you the story at the outset of a child who was 11 at the time he was charged in criminal court.
[00:45:20.030]That was a long time ago. In 2013,
[00:45:24.030]the legislature passed 2013, 2014 passed a significant law to change our criminal and juvenile justice jurisdiction and say, you know what?
[00:45:35.030]We're going to say that if you're under the age of 14, you're just too young.
[00:45:39.030]You're just too young to be in criminal court, regardless of what the charges are.
[00:45:44.030]That between 14 and 18, we're going to do a balancing act based on your age.
[00:45:50.030]If it's younger, closer to 14 or if it's up there closer to 18.
[00:45:53.030]And the nature of the charge.
[00:45:56.030]So very serious offenses are going to weigh more heavily in this.
[00:46:00.030]So in that age range, there's more discretion of whether the county attorney can charge it in criminal court as an adult facing prison sentence.
[00:46:08.030]Versus in juvenile court where you have access to a full spectrum of rehabilitated services and interventions.
[00:46:14.030]So the client that I described at the very outset, for over 10 years now, he wouldn't have been in that situation.
[00:46:22.030]His case would have started in juvenile court regardless where it could have immediately had the benefit of a judge and a system that understands the unique needs of an 11-year-old with developmental delays.
[00:46:34.030]LB 556 would change that, would roll that back.
[00:46:38.030]Maybe not for him because he was 11.
[00:46:41.030]LB 556 would allow children as young as 12 to be charged in our criminal justice system.
[00:46:48.030]It would allow
[00:46:51.030]children as young as 11 to be detained in our jail-like secure detention facilities.
[00:47:00.030]But it would also, a much larger part of the bill, is it changes our detention statute overall
[00:47:07.030]to allow the detention, the use of incarceration, for young people who have not just demonstrated that they're a danger to the community,
[00:47:15.030]but young people who haven't committed any violent behavior,
[00:47:20.030]who maybe have been doing, run away, run away from law enforcement is one of them,
[00:47:25.030]or run away from home or a placement,
[00:47:29.030]as well as it has language that young people who have threatened harm to self can be detained.
[00:47:34.030]So the sum total of this bill would be to roll back so much of the progress that I shared with you
[00:47:41.030]about how we have been realigning our system to use less of the heavy-handed approaches that backfire
[00:47:49.030]and how to do more to support children and families at the front end.
[00:47:53.030]And it's a bill that we're really concerned about.
[00:47:56.030]Right now it's still in the Judiciary Committee.
[00:47:59.030]It hasn't been voted out to the floor yet, but it is one senator's priority bill.
[00:48:04.030]So essentially what that means is there's going to be a little extra emphasis to try and get it out of committee
[00:48:10.030]and to try to get it on the list of what's going to be heard this session.
[00:48:15.030]So if this is something that you're interested in,
[00:48:18.030]so the get involved part of it, please follow us.
[00:48:21.030]Join our listserv and our social media that I'll share with you in a second
[00:48:25.030]because we're going to keep people updated on the status of this,
[00:48:29.030]and we're working hard to help legislators understand why this would really be a significant backward step,
[00:48:35.030]not just for the young people themselves but for Nebraska as a whole.
[00:48:42.030]All right, so ways to get involved, which I think I've timed this right.
[00:48:46.030]I have about just a few more minutes left.
[00:48:47.030]Any questions about the legislature or any of the bills you saw on that list before?
[00:48:54.030]Okay.
[00:48:56.030]So we have a number of ways you can get involved with our work at Voices,
[00:49:00.030]and I hope that if this sparks your interest that you do reach out to do it.
[00:49:04.030]So we do have periodic internships.
[00:49:08.030]We don't have a formal internship program.
[00:49:12.030]We're just, frankly, too small for that.
[00:49:15.030]So these are typically self-arranged.
[00:49:16.030]We almost always have at least one intern working with us,
[00:49:21.030]typically in either Omaha or Lincoln.
[00:49:24.030]And those are usually someone who just reached out,
[00:49:27.030]who was at something like this and said, "Hey, here's where my interests are.
[00:49:32.030]I'd love to set something up."
[00:49:34.030]And if there is kind of a mutual agreement that, yeah,
[00:49:38.030]that whatever you're interested in working on,
[00:49:40.030]there's a project that we have that could really use some support,
[00:49:43.030]we often try to figure those out.
[00:49:45.030]It can be hosted in either Omaha or Lincoln,
[00:49:48.030]so we have staff in both cities.
[00:49:50.030]We do try to prioritize individuals
[00:49:53.030]who have lived experience with our child-serving systems.
[00:49:56.030]That doesn't mean it's an automatic bar if you have it,
[00:49:59.030]but because we really strongly believe
[00:50:01.030]in activating the voice of lived experience,
[00:50:04.030]we do try to give some preference there
[00:50:06.030]if it comes down to we have just a lot of interest at any one time.
[00:50:09.030]These internships generally, like I said, they're project-focused,
[00:50:14.030]so sometimes it'll be a research project
[00:50:17.030]or we know we're working on a bill,
[00:50:19.030]we're going to be crafting a bill with a senator for next session
[00:50:22.030]and we want to see what other states are doing
[00:50:25.030]and we need someone to look into that
[00:50:27.030]or we need someone to dig through five years of juvenile court records
[00:50:32.030]to find trends on a certain thing.
[00:50:35.030]They can be like that or sometimes they're a little bit more general.
[00:50:39.030]We have someone who's with us right now
[00:50:41.030]who's largely doing some social media stuff,
[00:50:43.030]we're helping our fund development and marketing manager work on events,
[00:50:48.030]providing social media support, that sort of thing.
[00:50:53.030]These typically run one semester,
[00:50:56.030]but they can and have been extended longer if it's mutually desired,
[00:51:01.030]so we usually set them up for semester long
[00:51:05.030]and then we kind of see how we go.
[00:51:07.030]My contact information is at the end,
[00:51:10.030]so if that is something that you're interested in,
[00:51:12.030]please feel free to reach out.
[00:51:15.030]We do also periodically have volunteer opportunities,
[00:51:20.030]so like for Kids Count releases or for other events that we do,
[00:51:26.030]we will sometimes ask for volunteer support.
[00:51:30.030]We have board committees, so we have obviously our board
[00:51:35.030]that is a volunteer activity in itself.
[00:51:38.030]You can apply to join the board, but beyond that,
[00:51:41.030]we have board standing committees like our special events committee
[00:51:44.030]that even people who aren't on the board can join
[00:51:47.030]and can help support our work that way.
[00:51:49.030]But really the best way to get involved as a volunteer with us
[00:51:53.030]is to follow us and to attend our events.
[00:51:56.030]So we're always hosting release events or policy town halls
[00:52:01.030]or listening sessions, and that is really where we see
[00:52:05.030]we need the most support.
[00:52:07.030]We need people coming out and sharing their experiences, their ideas,
[00:52:10.030]and their voices.
[00:52:12.030]As I've mentioned a couple times, a really easy way to do this
[00:52:19.030]is to join our listserv advocate.
[00:52:23.030]We send it out once a week.
[00:52:24.030]We really try not to overload your inbox, although we do occasionally
[00:52:28.030]put out an urgent action alert if there is a vote that's about to be taken,
[00:52:33.030]either with Congress or at the Nebraska legislature,
[00:52:36.030]where we encourage people to reach out to their lawmakers.
[00:52:39.030]This is kind of what it looks like over here on the side.
[00:52:43.030]We'll give a little legislative update on different bills that are coming up
[00:52:47.030]or what's passing right now.
[00:52:49.030]If there's an opportunity to call your senator and say,
[00:52:51.030]"Hey, thanks for your vote on this," that's what you'll tend to see in Advocate.
[00:52:56.030]And so if you're interested in this work, please you can follow that link
[00:53:01.030]or you can find it on our website to join
[00:53:04.030]and then stay updated on what we're up to.
[00:53:08.030]And mostly the best way to get involved is to speak up for kids.
[00:53:11.030]How many of you have contacted your Nebraska state senator ever?
[00:53:16.030]All right, all right, we've got some advocates in the room.
[00:53:18.030]Yeah, how about anyone contacted a federal representative,
[00:53:22.030]a congressman or a senator?
[00:53:26.030]The thing about Nebraska politics that you should know is the people
[00:53:31.030]of Nebraska, those living here, are what's called the second house
[00:53:35.030]because it's a unicameral.
[00:53:37.030]So if you have a one-house legislature, the second house is the people,
[00:53:41.030]and we have a really truly open-door democracy in that sense.
[00:53:46.030]So thank you to the -- does anyone want to share what they reached out
[00:53:50.030]to their senator about?
[00:53:53.030]There's all different issues you could be interested in or work on.
[00:53:58.030]Okay, that's okay now.
[00:53:59.030]But those who haven't, was it an easy experience?
[00:54:02.030]How about that?
[00:54:06.030]It was an easy experience contacting your senator.
[00:54:08.030]Yes, yes, right.
[00:54:09.030]Okay, so if you haven't, try reaching out.
[00:54:13.030]You can follow us on Advocate.
[00:54:15.030]You can see something that sparks your interest of a child advocacy issue,
[00:54:20.030]and then you can use the tools that we share about figuring out
[00:54:23.030]who your senator is.
[00:54:25.030]And all you have to do is pick up the phone and give them a call,
[00:54:27.030]or you can shoot them an email.
[00:54:29.030]It's extremely easy.
[00:54:31.030]They're very interested in hearing their constituents' voices,
[00:54:34.030]and it really can make an impact.
[00:54:35.030]A lot of times if you watch the legislature and hear the debate,
[00:54:39.030]they are frequently talking about things that someone emailed them
[00:54:42.030]or called them to say.
[00:54:44.030]So it really can matter.
[00:54:47.030]And, of course, most importantly, register to vote,
[00:54:52.030]and encourage those around you to as well be educated on what candidates
[00:54:56.030]are saying about what their positions are,
[00:54:59.030]because it's not just tribal politics.
[00:55:02.030]Some of this work comes down to the nitty-gritty
[00:55:04.030]of policies and policy ideas and what's possible for Nebraska.
[00:55:13.030]So my very last thing, again, my formatting got a little weird on this.
[00:55:17.030]I apologize.
[00:55:20.030]But I was asked to talk about a career in advocacy.
[00:55:23.030]So if this is something that you think you might be interested in
[00:55:27.030]as an organization, what do we look for in our hiring processes?
[00:55:33.030]Relevant fields of study is on here, and kind of yes, kind of no.
[00:55:38.030]So those of us who are already at the organization,
[00:55:41.030]we have a broad range of majors and backgrounds.
[00:55:45.030]I'm the only lawyer.
[00:55:46.030]We have a couple different social workers,
[00:55:49.030]people with their masters in social work or public administration.
[00:55:55.030]We have a data person who's a --
[00:55:58.030]I forget what his undergrad degree was in statistics maybe.
[00:56:02.030]But we also have someone who got her masters in --
[00:56:08.030]it was like either bachelors in criminal justice
[00:56:11.030]and then masters in social work or vice versa.
[00:56:14.030]So sometimes those fields of study can impact.
[00:56:17.030]But really we are very interested in real-world experience too.
[00:56:21.030]So people who have spent some time working for a food bank for many years,
[00:56:26.030]one of my policy coordinators.
[00:56:28.030]My other policy coordinator was a teacher for many years.
[00:56:31.030]People who are youth and family engagement coordinators.
[00:56:35.030]She's worked in group homes.
[00:56:37.030]She's worked with probation.
[00:56:38.030]She's been connecting with young people and with families
[00:56:41.030]for over a decade before she came to us.
[00:56:46.030]What's really most important is having a heart for kids
[00:56:49.030]and a demonstrated interest and involvement in advocacy.
[00:56:52.030]So whether that is at the individual level or getting involved at the systemic level,
[00:56:58.030]the policy action level.
[00:57:00.030]And we do one thing that is important, especially in the policy side of it,
[00:57:04.030]is writing skills.
[00:57:05.030]So being able to do research and to cite your sources,
[00:57:10.030]to know what is a good source of information versus a shady one.
[00:57:15.030]That is important for this work that we do,
[00:57:17.030]as well as being able to make a persuasive argument.
[00:57:20.030]So if you want to be an advocate, you need to have some of those persuasive skills.
[00:57:26.030]And someday if you want to take my job, that would be great.
[00:57:29.030]I'll be ready.
[00:57:30.030]I'll be ready to retire any year now.
[00:57:35.030]It's really important to have humility about what you don't know,
[00:57:38.030]the shoes that you haven't walked in, and a willingness,
[00:57:43.030]especially at a small nonprofit, to do any part of the job.
[00:57:47.030]So I have the highest salary at my work.
[00:57:51.030]To me that means I should be the one who's willing to be there at the end of the day
[00:57:55.030]carrying the trash out, right?
[00:57:58.030]Because it takes all of us to get everything done.
[00:58:03.030]You have to be willing to challenge your world views.
[00:58:06.030]So especially as you're going about --
[00:58:11.030]if you're trying to be research-based, evidence-based,
[00:58:14.030]understanding of lived experience and expertise,
[00:58:18.030]you can't go into every issue assuming that you already know the answer
[00:58:23.030]or you'll be wrong most of the time.
[00:58:27.030]Always be willing to challenge your worldviews
[00:58:30.030]without compromising your values.
[00:58:32.030]So keeping to your inherent values is always crucial.
[00:58:37.030]And then as an executive director, you have to be ready to ask.
[00:58:40.030]So a lot of the job is asking people for funding, doing grant writing,
[00:58:46.030]making connections with donors,
[00:58:48.030]trying to market and message our work and why it matters.
[00:58:52.030]So if you're interested in an executive directorship,
[00:58:56.030]I would say, yeah, practice your skill of asking people to give you money,
[00:59:02.030]to resource you.
[00:59:05.030]And I think that's all I have.
[00:59:09.030]So please feel free to reach out.
[00:59:12.030]My email is up there.
[00:59:14.030]You can follow us.
[00:59:15.030]You can find us at voicesforchildren.com and on these social media forums.
[00:59:20.030]And otherwise, I'm just happy to take any questions that anyone might have.
[00:59:25.030]Senator Bostar proposes to remove juvie probation from the probation system.
[00:59:32.030]Your opinion on that one?
[00:59:34.030]That's a great question.
[00:59:36.030]Let me just shoot back to this page.
[00:59:39.030]That is a bill that we came in formally neutral on.
[00:59:47.030]But sometimes in the advocacy space, you do something that's kind of like a neutral negative.
[00:59:54.030]So I think that one, that's LB 684.
[00:59:58.030]It's got that little yellow yield symbol on.
[01:00:02.030]First, I want to say that what came out at that hearing on LB 684 was that that was like a 122-page bill.
[01:00:12.030]The headline of it was to transfer -- juvenile probation has for quite some time in Nebraska, if possibly always, but at least decades.
[01:00:21.030]It's an agency.
[01:00:23.030]In some ways functions like an executive agency, but it is bucketed in the judicial branch of government.
[01:00:30.030]So the judges in the Supreme Court are actually the overseer, the boss of probation, including juvenile probation.
[01:00:40.030]And this bill, for various reasons, political reasons, would have taken juvenile probation out of the judicial branch
[01:00:52.030]and moved into the executive branch as a new executive agency.
[01:00:56.030]So that required a 122-page bill.
[01:00:59.030]Every place that it talks about juvenile probation in Nebraska law had to be changed.
[01:01:04.030]There was one page of that bill that also did something with detention.
[01:01:10.030]So I talked about detention in LB 556 and how there's a push to detain or incarcerate more children
[01:01:21.030]and children for lower risk offenses.
[01:01:24.030]That is in part based on a claim, which I think is flawed,
[01:01:30.030]that juvenile probation hasn't been doing a good job of assessing for risk,
[01:01:34.030]that juvenile probation has been letting kids out of jail who are dangerous
[01:01:40.030]and they're going to go commit more crimes,
[01:01:43.030]which is a narrative that has been pushed by some people in our community.
[01:01:50.030]So that was one paragraph of an 122-page bill,
[01:01:55.030]and at that public hearing, how much of the testimony was about that one page?
[01:02:01.030]All of it.
[01:02:03.030]All of it, all of it, all of it, yeah.
[01:02:05.030]So Voices for Children, we had come in with formally neutral testimony prepared
[01:02:11.030]to say what's really important is that whatever agency is in charge of the care and supervision
[01:02:19.030]of our youth, that they do it in evidence-based ways, that they are resourced,
[01:02:24.030]that they are supported to make bold decisions, correct legal decisions.
[01:02:30.030]And that can be either under the Supreme Court or under the executive branch
[01:02:35.030]as a philosophical matter.
[01:02:39.030]And there's things that we, as an organization, we like about having it in the judicial branch.
[01:02:43.030]And there's things about it that we've frankly been really annoyed over the years that juvenile probation
[01:02:48.030]is basically not complied with the inspector general for child welfare.
[01:02:52.030]So that was the testimony we came in to give on that bill.
[01:02:55.030]And then it turned out that the bill was a little bit of a sleeper agent for this detention piece of things
[01:03:00.030]to try and take discretion away from probation, the probation function,
[01:03:05.030]and put more of it directly with judges to say any time a kid has been arrested
[01:03:12.030]on a felony-level charge that probation can't make that decision themselves
[01:03:17.030]based on the risk assessment instrument they use,
[01:03:20.030]they have to be detained until a judge would determine what to do.
[01:03:25.030]That was a really long answer to your question.
[01:03:28.030]I didn't realize there were so many components.
[01:03:30.030]Yeah, that was a little bit of a surprise.
[01:03:33.030]That hearing was something else.
[01:03:39.030]Any other questions?
[01:03:46.030]Just a quick add to that.
[01:03:51.030]JGI is actually evaluating, well,
[01:03:54.030]in NCJR under the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice,
[01:03:58.030]we're partnering together.
[01:03:59.030]We're validating that tool for probation.
[01:04:02.030]So that report will be out later this summer and hoping to work
[01:04:06.030]with them as they continue to work on improving that process.
[01:04:09.030]So there's no other questions, Juliette.
[01:04:12.030]Thank you so much.
[01:04:13.030]Thank you for the work that you and Voices for Children do each
[01:04:15.030]and every day for youth and families in Nebraska to make
[01:04:19.030]things better for all of us.
[01:04:21.030]So thank you.
[01:04:22.030]Yeah, thank you, Monica, and thank you so much for having me.
[01:04:24.030]Thank you.
[01:04:25.030]Thank you.
[01:04:26.030]Thank you.
[01:04:27.030]Thank you.
[01:04:28.030]Thank you.
[01:04:29.030]Thank you.
[01:04:30.030]Thank you.
[01:04:31.030]Thank you.
[01:04:32.030]Thank you.

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2025 - April 15, Juliet Summers, Exec. Director of Voices for Children in Nebraska

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