Equal Justice for All

“Community-Based Gang Intervention Model”

As a member of Congress, I personally spoke to President Obama on many occasions about the need to change our laws regarding solitary confinement of our youth, prison reform, and equality in our justice system. Because of my relentless conversations with President Obama, he signed executive orders that barred solitary confinement in youth detention centers, phased out private prisons, and provided wrap around services to those exiting incarceration. I plan on continuing this work with our new administration and have already spoken with President Biden on how we can fix our broken system.

As a Los Angeles City Councilman, I believed that the answers for our communities have always been in the hearts of our community leaders. I brought together community members to create a system that empowers our communities. As a result the “Community-Based Gang Intervention Model” was created and funded. For the first time, non-profits were given the money that they needed to pay community interventionists. It’s important to me that everything that we do is in step with our communities. The community must always be at the table.

As a California State Assembly member, I passed the first funded juvenile justice law that provided $120 million per year for juvenile justice programs across California. AB 1913, the Shiff- Cárdenas Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act is the largest community based funding in the country. Every year in Congress, I have written legislation to increase community based intervention funding for all communities.