With support from the California Arts Council, Community Works West will offer healing arts education to youth with incarcerated parents. In this youth-led program supported by teaching artists, youth will learn design and performance skills to support their healing and advance narrative change, culminating in a public arts event.
Community Works West is the premiere provider of restorative justice programs in the San Francisco Bay Area, launching in 1997 with the first restorative justice program in a county jail and the first pre-charge diversion program for youth in San Francisco and Alameda counties. Our restorative justice, arts, and human service programs include anti-violence, job readiness, batterers’ intervention, and family-strengthening services for individuals, families, and communities affected by incarceration. Our restorative arts programs provide a safe and creative space for individuals to overcome the trauma of incarceration.