On our second anniversary, we announced The Children’s Record—a powerful archival initiative launched with a stark public statement from our Executive Director: “Two years ago, we set out to provide children access to their legal rights; today, we recognize the greater need of recording how those rights are denied.” This digital archive collects, preserves, and publicly displays documentation of civil rights violations—through the eyes of children—creating a permanent record for future accountability. As part of this initiative, exemplifying our founding belief that “legal literacy equals liberation,” we simultaneously launched Tracking Power: What Executive Orders Are Doing to Our Rights in 2025, a comprehensive, youth-focused database categorizing and clarifying the rapid and complex executive orders issued by the Trump Administration. This makes critical information affecting young people’s rights searchable, accessible, and transparent.

In March, twenty-four global organizations, including Human Rights Watch, co-authored an open letter, urging Nepal’s Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Finance, Bishnu Paudel, to expand the Child Grant program—at a moment when only 10% of Nepali children benefited from it, yet nearly 40% of Nepal’s entire population is the under age of 18. The letter emphasized both the urgency and feasibility of this critical investment in youth, noting that expansion would cost less than 0.7% of Nepal’s GDP annually yet profoundly improve child labor rates, food security, and overall child welfare. Through our platforms, we directed thousands to the full open letter hosted on Human Rights Watch’s platform.

On the President’s first day in office, he signed Executive Order 14160, attempting to eliminate birthright citizenship—a constitutional right protected under the 14th Amendment since 1868. Within 24 hours, we launched an aggressive digital campaign and tool that auto-generated and sent multiple pre-filled emails demanding Congress to permanently codify birthright citizenship protections. Our digital platform spiked by over 6,000 users, leading to an estimated 30,000+ direct emails flooding the inboxes of key congressional leaders responsible for safeguarding this fundamental right.

Amid intensifying January wildfires prompting mass community evacuations in Los Angeles County, we discovered that 116 youth remained detained without emergency evacuation plans at Sylmar’s Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall and Malibu’s Camp Kilpatrick, both located in severe fire-risk zones. Alongside the Youth Justice Coalition, we swiftly mobilized our platform to publicize the L.A. County Supervisor’s contact information—facilitating mass-demanding of evacuation and the inclusion of incarcerated youth in disaster preparedness protocols.

As the world braced for the results of the 2024 U.S. election, we recognized that over 4.3 million young people born in 2007 would be 17 on Election Day—and would miss the legal ability to vote in one of the most consequential elections in recent history. In response, we launched a campaign urging eligible voters not to sit this one out. Our message was clear: “Vote for those of us who can’t yet.” The phrase amassed over 30,000 views across platforms, with support from Little Miss Flint on X. We called on the public to recognize that civic responsibility extends beyond personal stake—and to vote with and for the millions of young people watching the election unfold without a voice at the polls.

Just over a year after publicly calling out the United States’ Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) for its lack of youth leadership in our Youth Agenda to the Biden Administration, we held the floor at their annual national conference. Addressing U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, renowned Attorney Bryan Stevenson (Equal Justice Initiative), and a plenary of nearly 3,000 juvenile justice practitioners representing all 52 U.S. states and territories, we outlined actionable tactics to abate the incarceration of children in America—grounded in the belief that youth deserve to be heard in the decisions that define their lives.

When our advisor based in West Africa alerted us that 29 Nigerian minors protesting soaring living costs were detained, initially facing potential death penalty charges, we rapidly disseminated urgent legal resources to the families of the victims to ensure fair representation and advocacy for their release. Amid mounting public pressure and legal efforts supported by our actions, the charges were dropped, and they youth were released.

On August 16, 2024, we took the global stage at the United Nations Headquarters, where our Executive Director sat on the very dais where world leaders have debated the future of nations. Invited as the youngest of five youth peace panelists selected from around the world, he joined the AFS Youth Assembly, themed “Forge Our Shared Future,” which convened an audience of nearly 800, including the President of the General Assembly, diplomats, and delegates from over 100 countries.

Our address was grounded in UN Security Council Resolution 2250, the first resolution to formally recognize the role of youth in building and sustaining peace. We made clear that young people are not future participants in global decision-making—we are current actors, and often the primary subjects of global conflict. As we told the room: “Stop asking for permission.”

At the personal request of Mayor Mike Duggan’s administration, we prepared testimony presented before Detroit City Council advocating for a landmark initiative transforming 250 acres of vacant land into solar energy farms—with a unique advocacy perspective—stressing the initiative’s capacity to prevent juvenile criminal activity linked to vacant properties.
The proposal was approved.

In anticipation of heightened police-youth encounters that the summer months often bring, we joined Mayor Duggan’s team once again to present to the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners, advocating for proactive safety measures and reminding them of minor’s legal rights.

Prepared a historic 45-minute presentation for civil rights icon Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp in Detroit, marking our Executive Director as the youngest-ever presenter in the camps history, leading the legal rights segment previously entrusted to renowned civil rights attorney Ben Crump. We directly engaged 500+ youth, and educated thousands more through subsequent media coverage, equipping minority youth with the “legal artillery” to defend themselves against systemic injustice in a city deeply scarred by structural inequities.

We launched an expansive, now-archived wave of partnered op-eds authored by university students nationwide. This initiative syndicated and localized critical findings from the American Psychological Association (APA), bringing public focus to the grim realities of punitive isolation practices in juvenile justice facilities, historical patterns of police deception in youth interrogations, and dismantled the currently uprising narratives villainizing student protestors. Each publication advanced public awareness in response to global horror, while clarifying the legal rights of young activists across the nation.

We joined a coalition of America’s largest youth-led organizations, including Gen-Z for Change, March for Our Lives, United We Dream, and Sunrise Movement to coauthor The Youth Agenda, urging the Biden Administration to “Finish the Job,” and articulating clear demands for policies and actions the administration could champion to align with our generation. Our press conference included Representatives Summer Lee, Greg Casar, Jamaal Bowman, Ro Khanna, and Senator Bernie Sanders. Overall, the moment attracted over 550,000 views across all platforms and was covered by TIME and Forbes Breaking News.

We launched an ongoing, highly accessible series of foundational legal guides, explicitly crafted for youth—providing comprehensive yet digestible explanations of essential rights and actions for navigating common but potentially life-altering scenarios, including police encounters and election participation. These guides became invaluable, widely-shared educational resources for thousands of young people nationwide.

Our team of lawyers authored this publication to outline The Trespass Project’s official position and findings on juvenile recidivism in the United States and the constitutional deficits inherent in adult-led juvenile adjudication processes. Click Here to Read →

In Oakland County, Michigan, we developed sharp closing arguments for defenders working in the county’s juvenile diversion program, strengthening their capacity to effectively advocate for youth defendants and shift judicial outcomes toward restorative justice models. The resulting strategies contributed to a 90% non-reoffense rate.

The Trespass Project was officially released on June 23, 2023 in New York City, rapidly attracting nearly 10,000 website readers within the first 24 hours of launch. Our debut featured an extensive, now-archived resource hub—transcribing expert guidance designed to help youth of color navigate systemic barriers to their liberation. Within six months, our outreach extended to over 70 publications—with one of them gaining 130,000 impressions alone, via X.