October is Youth Justice Awareness Month. It aims to bring attention and action to the prosecution, sentencing, and incarceration of youth under the age of 18 If we truly believe that future generations are the key to building a better world, then it is up to us to ensure that every young person is given a fair opportunity to succeed.

Young people make mistakes. However, young people who live in less forgiving environments, who lack familial support, or are struggling with substance abuse and/or mental health issues are often times not awarded the opportunity of a second chance.

In 2016, law enforcement agencies in the U.S. made an estimated 856,130 arrests of individuals under age 18, 58% less than the number of arrests in 2007. While this trend is incredibly encouraging, there is still more work to be done. In honor of Youth Justice Awareness Month, we want to highlight a few of the ways our youth are impacted by current policies.

Raise the Age

In 2017 the House passed the “Raise the Age” bill that would raise the age of criminal responsibility to 18. However, the bill will not be implemented until 2021 to offset costs. Juveniles that are processed through adult court systems face higher recidivism rates and often have less access to rehabilitative programs. Juveniles also undergo far more mental distress and are subjected to dangerous physical and emotional situations from older inmates.

Classification of Crimes

Overcriminalization is a huge issue in the justice system. Most recently, the Community Safety and Security Act of 2018has sought to redefine dozens of crimes as violent crimes. The first impact would be that crimes such as fleeing, coercion, and fraud would come with heftier sentences. The secondary impact is the inevitable increase in racial and ethnic disparities in the justice system. “Black youth were more than five times as likely to be detained or committed compared to white youth, according to data from the Department of Justice collected in October 2015”, The Sentencing Project. With these policy changes, this may worsen.

Future Opportunities

“Not only are juveniles at extreme risk of sexual and other abuse, which is inarguably unacceptable, they also get denied counseling and educational services they desperately need.”, Caitlin Curley. The results of imprisoning young people are higher rates of suicide and recidivism and significantly reduce their employment and educational opportunities.

At Dallas Leadership Foundation, our desire is to prevent youth from entering the justice system all together. Our youth programs pair high school students with adult volunteers to mentor, guide, and equip them with the tools they need to be successful, engaged, and make better lifestyle decisions. Should our young people enter the system, our reentry services helps them successfully transition back into society through job training, providing a stable living environment, and teaching tools like financial literacy. Youth Justice Awareness Month is more than a month for our staff at Dallas Leadership Foundation. This month and every month we need your support to bring awareness and reduce the obstacles young people are facing in the criminal justice system.

Get involved with our Power Mentoring program today to help young people succeed.

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Expert shoppers know that early Christmas shopping eases some of the stress of the holidays. The optimum shopping occurs when shoppers start their holiday shopping early. They avoid the crowds and bypass skimpy inventory during the last days before Christmas.

If you're an effective, early-bird shopper, we hope Dallas Leadership Foundation is high on your Christmas shopping list. As you plan to purchase gifts for your loved ones, please consider buying gifts for Dallas Leadership Foundation's signature outreach, Treasures of Hope. This annual outreach is our largest need going into the last part of 2017.

DLF will host the Christmas Store Dec. 11-15 at the Plaza of the Americas in downtown Dallas. The store is a robust community event that creates a festive atmosphere for families to purchase quality gifts at affordable prices. Families who attend also get the chance to learn about benefits from social service agencies that partner with DLF. Families also participate in nightly chapel services held during store hours.

To make supporting this event easy, we've set up an online store that allows you to purchase gifts for families who participate in the Christmas Store. Each gift you buy is shipped to DLF to stock our store. You can browse our online gift catalog by going to dlftx.org. 

If you prefer, you can donate money to Treasures of Hope, set up a gift collection box at your business, or give the precious gift of your presence and time by volunteering at the Christmas Store.

Remember -- it's not too early to plan how you can bring someone else Christmas comfort and joy!

Photo by Markus Spiske on unsplash.com

We’re days away from Praise in the Park! We hope you plan on attending. Praise in the Park is one of Dallas Leadership Foundation’s signature events that gives the community an opportunity to celebrate those who have gone through our DLF Reentry program. We’ve befriended, baptized, shared Bible lessons, mentored and supported men while they’ve been incarcerated. For example, to date, we have an 8.3 percent recidivism rate among the men who’ve participated in our program.

We’ve befriended, baptized, shared Bible lessons, mentored and supported men while they’ve been incarcerated. For example, to date, we have an 8.3 percent recidivism rate among the men who’ve participated in our program.

The stats show the results of DLF Reentry: We’ve served 3,000 men and women incarcerated or formerly incarcerated through our comprehensive program in and outside of prison facilities. Fifty percent of men who stay in our transitional facility, Onesimus House, maintain employment for more than a year.

As you can see, we have lots to celebrate with the formerly incarcerated and their families this coming Saturday. Come out and support these leaders who have demonstrated their commitment to dedicate their lives to God, their families, and communities. 

Praise in the Park starts at 11 a.m. in Jubilee Park and ends at 4 p.m. Smokey John’s Bar-be-cue & Home Cooking is catering.

Everywhere we look there is a prayer need. At Dallas Leadership Foundation (DLF), we need prayer as we reach out to neighborhood leaders, young people and those in prison who want to see God transform their lives. We need prayer about how we can help people even more effectively, gather resources and use them wisely, and expand our reach to people in Dallas.

Think about your prayer needs. What do you need God to help you with? Where do you need understanding? Provision? Courage? Peace? 

A wonderful psalm that can inspire our words to God is Psalm 68. The first verses of this psalm authored by David let us know that our God is dependable. He moves into our situation. He isn't remote or uncaring. We can expect Him to respond to His people:

May God arise, may his enemies be scattered;

may his foes flee before him. 

May you blow them away like smoke—

as wax melts before the fire,

may the wicked perish before God. 

But may the righteous be glad

and rejoice before God;

may they be happy and joyful. (verses 1-3)

Another part of this magnificent psalm fills us with assurance when we pray. He's there when life wears us down with trouble. In fact, God shoulders those challenges with us. David says with joy:

Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,

who daily bears our burdens.

Our God is a God who saves;

from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death. (verse 19-20)

So we should always feel confident to call on Him and implore Him to intervene on our behalf. Jesus followers know that our God is not a do-nothing deity who distances Himself from people. God is engaged! He can be called on in any situation. We can take our cues from the ancient psalmist. David calls on God with no hesitation. It's like he utters a shout that pounds the windows of heaven: 

Summon your power, God;

show us your strength, our God, as you have done before. (verse 28)

Wow. That should make us shout right there. Hasn't God helped each one of us before? Why doubt now? Why be prayerless now? Join with DLF as we pray to our Father, who so dearly loves us. Pray this with us: Summon Your power, God!

Photo by Diana Simumpande on Unsplash

Christmas is around the corner and at Dallas Leadership Foundation we’re already gearing up for the 20th anniversary of Treasures of Hope (TOH) on Dec. 11-15 at the Plaza of the Americas.

We have so many memories about this signature outreach event, which has helped thousands of families over the years. We have binge-worthy stories to tell about getting toys to the shelves, pricing items, and watching how God used TOH to answer prayer after prayer. We can testify to how each year God has taken Treasures of Hope to deeper levels of service for families who need quality, affordable gifts. 

The Treasures of Hope Christmas Store also has become a go-to place where families can interact with participating social service agencies and learn about an array of benefits. The event also has become the gathering place for some of the most wonderful Christmas singing in Dallas-Fort Worth, and each night has been bathed in prayer and ministry through the chapel services.

We’re grateful for having the capacity to offer Treasures of Hope to the community each Christmas season. Not only does TOH serve families, it gives people and churches throughout the area an opportunity to spread the love and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in a tangible way.

This year, consider getting involved. You can do so in three ways. You can set up a TOH Collection Box at your office or church. You can purchase items from the catalog and your purchases will be shipped to DLF and used to stock the Christmas Store. You can also make a cash donation online to support event expenses for Treasures of Hope.

Whatever you choose, learn more by going to the Treasures of Hope page on dlftx.org. With you, we can make TOH17 a special one!