Addressing the Unique Needs of Girls, LGBTQ+ & GNC Youth

JustUs is a gender-responsive diversion program for girls and LGBTQ+ young people who are either involved, or at high risk of involvement, in the juvenile legal system.

Our highly skilled team works with young people and their chosen support system to create and follow through with an individualized, holistic plan aimed at helping them thrive. By hearing and meeting young people where they are, we help them create the life they want. We center the lived experiences of the young people we support, focus on their healing and provide financial incentives to participate. We both work with young people on a one-on-one basis and work to create space where young people can come together to build community.

OUR STORY // JustUs was born out of a task force started by the Vera Institute for Justice. Through this task force, New York City became interested in funding a demonstration program that was aimed at eradicating girl’s detention in the city. From there, Rising Ground’s STEPS to End Family Violence program and Girls for Gender Equity were chosen to execute a demonstration program. Follow us on Instagram @JustUsBrooklyn!

OUR SERVICES

INDIVIDUAL COUNSELING

• 1-to-1 client-centered therapy sessions

ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT

• Money management & financial literacy training
• Career readiness workshops
• Workplace Pilot (6-week paid internship)

GROUP WORK

• Weekly drop-in group sessions
• 3 month cohort (self & community exploration)
• 6 month cohort (activism & organizing)

Connect with JustUs 

REFERRAL PROCESS
Interested in joining or referring a young person to JustUs? Submit a form online here. For more information, please email diversionreferrals@risingground.org or call 646-891-8351.

AFTER THE REFERRAL
After a young person is referred, our Intake Coordinator will reach out to them within 48 hours. The young person will have space to ask questions and decide
how they would like to proceed.

THE INTAKE PROCESS
JustUs has a holistic, client-centered intake process. Our Intake Coordinator will connect with the young person over 3-6 intake session before they are
officially a part of the program.

How we began!

Rising Ground brings two unique histories to JustUs — as one of the first human services organizations to address juvenile justice issues in the 1980s and as a leader in gender-based and intimate-partner violence. Stemming from the historic testimony of women incarcerated at the Bedford Hills Women’s Correctional Facility who testified to their histories of battering and its relationship to their criminal charges in 1986, led by the legendary Sister Mary Nerney, Rising Ground’s STEPS to End Family Violence offers holistic program of services for survivors of intimate partner and other forms of gender-based violence with wide-reaching focuses on healing, prevention, intervention, and policy advocacy.

Contact us to learn more about our JustUs programs.