Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ), pronounced “courage”) is an anti-incarceration nonprofit that focuses on juvenile offenders and is based in Oakland, California. CURYJ was co-founded by George Galvis from an effort to defeat the Fruitvale gang injunction. The organization has called for closing juvenile prisons and the abolition of youth incarceration in California by 2030. ¹

Programs

Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice programs support formerly incarcerated youth and seek to end the incarceration of youth offenders. Its Dream Beyond Bars program is a paid internship for former convicts who are working to “end youth criminalization.” Similarly, Homies 4 Justice is a paid leadership training internship for “systems-impacted youth.” CURYJ’s stated goal by 2030 is to “end youth incarceration in California.” ²

Financials

In 2023, Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice reported $6,427,272 in revenues and $4,777,336 in expenses, with $5,208,311 in total assets and 29 employees. In the fiscal years ending in June 2022 and June 2023, CURYJ saw an almost 64 percent rise in revenues. ³

In 2023, CURYJ reported receiving $2,162,022 in government grants, or almost 34 percent of its total revenues. ⁴

In 2022, the California Endowment reported three separate grants to CURYJ, totaling $660,000. Grant purposes included developing “an alternate model for community safety and public health that does not rely on prisons and policing.” ⁵

In 2022, the Foundation to Promote Open Society reported a $500,000 grant to CURYJ. ⁶ Other organizations that fund CURYJ include the East Bay Community Foundation and the Common Counsel Foundation. ⁷

Policy Advocacy

Since 2011, Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice has contributed to drafting, co-sponsoring, and advocating for more than 50 bills and ballot measures aimed at advancing left-wing racial and social policies. ⁸

In 2024, California voters passed a ballot initiative, Proposition 36, which increased penalties and sentences for certain crimes. ⁹ CURYJ opposed the new law, calling it a “mass incarceration” program. ^{10 11} The proposition would increase penalties for rising crimes in the state such as shoplifting, which CURYJ co-founder George Galvis calls “crimes of survival.” ¹²

CURYJ advocates for trying minors in juvenile courts rather than as adults. In 2016, voters in California passed Proposition 57, which gives judges rather than prosecutors the authority to charge minors as adults for certain crimes. When Pamela Price ran for Oakland District Attorney, she promised not to use her authority to try youths as adults. In a 2022 case involving a 17-year-old who allegedly murdered teenaged brothers at a birthday party in Oakland, DA Price decided not to try the accused as an adult, and CURYJ praised her for the decision. ¹³

After the 2024 election, CURYJ was one of 193 organizations that signed a letter urging outgoing President Joe Biden to preemptively thwart the incoming Trump administration’s efforts to curb illegal immigration, by asking President Biden to close detention facilities and release illegal aliens from detention centers “before the next president follows through on his mass deportation plans.” ^{14 15}

People

George Galvis is the co-founder and executive director of Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice. Galvis is a former gang member who was “incarcerated and charged with multiple felonies related to his participation in a drive-by shooting.” Galvin serves as the chair of the board of directors for Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, helped create All of Us or None, as well as Quest 4 Democracy, which is the “largest formerly incarcerated people’s lobby day in the nation.” He is also an Alameda County Juvenile Justice Commissioner. Galvis was a co-author of 2016 California Proposition 57, and has sponsored numerous state youth, criminal justice, and police accountability bills. ¹⁶

1. “Close Youth Prisons.” CURYJ. Accessed February 24, 2025. https://curyj.org/about-us/.
2. “Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice.” CURYJ. Accessed February 24, 2025. https://curyj.org/.
3. “Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice.” ProPublica, May 9, 2013. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/275008441.
4. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice. 2023. Part 8, line E.
5. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). The California Endowment. 2022. Part 14.
6. “Grantees: Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice.” Open Society Foundations. Accessed February 24, 2025. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants/past?filter_keyword=Communities+United+for+Restorative+Youth+Justice&grant_id=OR2021-83068.
7. “It Takes Curyj on Instagram: ‘Curyj Is the Proud Recipient of New Grant Funding from the East Bay Community Foundation. Together We Are Working to Unlock the Leadership of Young People to #DreamBeyondBars and to Lead the Way in Transforming Our Communities by Investing in Their Healing, Aspirations, and Activism. We Are Deeply Grateful for Your Continued Support! #ItTakesCURYJ #buildyouthleaders.’” Instagram, April 17, 2024. https://www.instagram.com/curyj510/p/C53sfVYstjM/.
8. “Policy.” CURYJ. Accessed February 24, 2025. https://curyj.org/programs/policy/.
9. “California Proposition 36, Drug and Theft Crime Penalties and Treatment-Mandated Felonies Initiative (2024).” Ballotpedia. Accessed February 24, 2025. https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_36,_Drug_and_Theft_Crime_Penalties_and_Treatment-Mandated_Felonies_Initiative_(2024).
10. “CURYJ on X: ‘Vote NO on Prop 36! Share These Slides as Elections Are Coming up. Learn & Spread the Knowledge to Fight Back against Misinformation Being Spread by People Opposed to All the Hard Work & Achievements We Accomplished with Prop 47.’” X.com, September 30, 2024. https://x.com/CURYJ/status/1840795081965453580.
11. “Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice.” Facebook, November 1, 2024. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15hpmNaDL6/.
12. Potter, Suzanne. “Criminal Justice Reform Advocates Rally behind Prop 6, Reject Prop 36.” Public News Service, October 24, 2024. https://www.publicnewsservice.org/2024-10-24/criminal-justice/criminal-justice-reform-advocates-rally-behind-prop-6-reject-prop-36/a93134-1.
13. Boone, Alastair. “Oakland Advocates Applaud DA’s Decision to Charge Youth in Juvenile Court.” KALW, March 26, 2024. https://www.kalw.org/bay-area-news/2024-03-26/oakland-advocates-applaud-das-decision-to-charge-youth-in-juvenile-court.
14. Sandronsky, Seth. “Resisting Trump’s Immigration Policy .” CounterPunch.org, February 7, 2025. https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/02/07/resisting-trumps-immigration-policy/.
15. “193 Organizations Urge the Biden Administration to Take Decisive Action to Protect Immigrants.” Detention Watch Network, January 30, 2025. https://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/pressroom/releases/2024/193-organizations-urge-biden-administration-take-decisive-action-protect.
16. “George Galvis.” CURYJ. Accessed February 24, 2025. https://curyj.org/our-people/george-galvis/.