Model and Strategy
Arts on the Outs is a 9-month pilot reentry program where teens released from juvenile incarceration will have the opportunity to receive continued arts education, individualized life-skill building with a case manager, and arts employment. Its purpose is to further build upon the life-skills and sparked interest in arts the youth developed during their institutional programing as they successfully reenter the free community.
Lack of empathy is one of the greatest factors that lead to the commission of crimes. As such TIBP explicitly builds empathy for others through the practice of art, by exploring portrait expressions and through creating publicly exhibited socially-engaged art with a goal of moving the audience towards hope and action. Art-making also requires introspection and self-discovery in how artists approach and iterate upon their works. TIBP promotes self-expression and positive self-discovery by showing the youth that their experiences and voice matter—that they matter.
In order to achieve the outcomes of no new offenses and community engagement upon reentry, TIBP depends on strong collaboration with justicesystem stakeholders and community partners. TIBP could not access our youth without the explicit support from the local probation departments of our geographies. Systemstakeholders know that without proper community support and an individualized plan to achieve goals, our youth will struggle with hope and have a much higher chance of reoffending.
In addition to tactical collaboration with system and community partners, TIBP relies on the value of collaboration in programming. While incarcerated, the youth learn collaborative lifeskills such as communication, conflict resolution, and problemsolving and apply them in their relationships with Teaching Artists as reflect on youth work and share ideas for improvement. In Arts on the Outs, youth collaborate with their case managers and the community to build their individualized case plan and safety net so that they are able to succeed.
Impact
The longterm impact of our project is that Bay Area juvenile justice teens stay out of prison, find their voice, connect with the community, and maintain great jobs. This impact of our justiceinvolved teens successfully changing their trajectories and becoming role models in their communities has a ripple effect on the larger community and ultimately saves taxpayer spending on corrections. For instance, a 70% success rate of teens not committing new crimes, who would otherwise likely face at least a year of incarceration, on 100 youth served, would equate to approximately $14,000,000 in hard cost savings for the community.
Additionally, this project will strengthen community cohesion. With an increasingly large divide between the police and underserved communities across the Country, it is imperative that we as a community raise peaceful dialogue and awareness about each other. TIBP’s public exhibitions will facilitate community awareness and build empathy among its participants.
Leadership
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Sandra Legler
Arts on the Outs Program Manager