FOR US, BY US
Projects and Partnerships with Creative Justice
Community Care
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Basic Needs Support
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Health & Wellness
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Youth Voice
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Artistic Expression
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Restitution Relief
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Creative Economies
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Community Care - Basic Needs Support - Health & Wellness - Youth Voice - Artistic Expression - Restitution Relief - Creative Economies -
Restitution Relief
Did you know it costs money to go through criminal court? From DNA collection fees to Restitution, the costs for public defenders, and even a flat charge for each day spent in jail, defendants are required to cover mandatory Legal Financial Obligations (LFO) and receive the bill at sentencing.
The Restitution Relief Fund supports people escaping the burden of court involvement so we all can have the same opportunity to thrive. We aid young people in sealing their juvenile records through connection to legal advice, public education campaigns, and access to a sustainable fund that assists in paying their legal financial obligations. If youth owe restitution to the courts, their records cannot be sealed, standing in the way of their ability to find secure housing and stable employment, as well as accessing other resources that help them establish healthy futures. Sealing or expunging convictions can be critical to youths’ abilities to move forward in their lives. You can learn more HERE.
Youth-Led Media and Communications
Through partnerships with Converge Media, Real Change and King County young people are building out “for us, by us” media and communications tools and strategies. Currently, Creative Justice youth operate a podcast called “Recess” that centers youth voices. Youth play a crucial role in identifying topics and guests for the podcast while also having the opportunity to learn alongside Converge Media and GZ Radio on the filming and editing process. Additionally, Creative Justice is honored to partner with Real Change News where a Creative Justice participant writes a monthly column for Real Change on current events and issues that matter most to them. We also partner with our youth-leaders and King County Public Health to co-design a youth-led public health focused communications initiative that speaks to substance use in a way that responds to the unique interests and needs of youth and young adults in King County.
‘Keepin it 100’
“Keepin It 100” is Creative Justice’s annual Black History Month community education and fundraising campaign. Together we learn and skill build for a future beyond prisons and police, a future grounded in collective care, wellness and healing; and all while raising at least $50k to further sustain our community-based and BIPOC youth-centered restorative and transformative justice work at Creative Justice.
What is a team?: A team is whomever you want to learn alongside during the month of KI100. Your team might be you and a friend or group of friends, your book group, your basketball team or artist collective, or even your business! Your goal is to connect one-time weekly to talk through the "Keepin It 100" facts and curriculum and to plan/track your fundraising goal of $1,000. After a month of weekly curriculums and fundraising, all of our teams and the greater community come together to celebrate through art, a community wellness fair, delicious food, and fun. Together we can envision and build a world full of wellness, collective care, and healing!
“I’m always excited to see the new art that’s going to come out of each program and what I’m going to learn from that art...”
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In honor of 10 years of care and restoration at Creative Justice we dropped “Free them All” an album featuring music made in program at Creative Justice or by past mentor artists that worked with youth-participants over the last 10 years. You can stream or buy the album HERE.
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We are so happy to announce that we have been selected as a recipient of the Buffalo Exchange Tokens for Bags® program from July through December 2024. You can now donate to Creative Justice just by shopping at Buffalo Exchange Bellingham.
Instead of a plastic bag, the Tokens for Bags® program offers every customer who makes a purchase one “token” valued at five cents (the cost to produce a bag) to donate to one of several local charities selected by the store. The program has generated over $962,840 for hundreds of local nonprofit organizations since 1994 and has saved over 19.25 million plastic bags from the landfill.
You can learn more HERE.
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CreativeMornings is a breakfast lecture series for the creative community - and so much more. Our executive director Nikkita and Heal Fellow Faisal had the pleasure of joining and speaking on the power of perspective.
You can watch it in full HERE.
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Outside of our monthly column with Real Change we had the pleasure of attending ‘X’ Opera to write a review piece. Our ‘Recess’ hosts Micah and Kash attended.
Read Micah’s review HERE.
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In honor of hip-hop turning 50 in August 2023 Creative Justice partnered with community staples such as KEXP, The Vida Agency, GZ Radio, Totem Star, The Residency, and many more to commemorate the culture of hip-hop while envisioning with the youth the next 50 years.
During this 2-day event Creative Justice hosted a day of workshops and panels that focused around the main elements of hip-hop such as breakdancing, graffiti, MC’ing, DJ’ing, and Knowledge. Later that night community gathered at KEXP for a stacked line up including SA Roc, Black Stax, Gifted Gab, Oble´ Reed, youth performers from both Creative Justice, Totem Star, The Residency, and many more!
The culture and music of hip-hop was birthed out of community. At The NEXT 50 we honored community builders and cultural innovators. Now, right now, is the time to give flowers to the folks who build up our communities and innovate for the culture. Awards honoring the legacy of Elijah L. Lewis and Keanna and D’Vonne Pickett were given out as well as the first Spirit of Hip-Hop Award!
In true CJ fashion, this event concluded with a meal. To close out the weekend, Creative Justice hosted a Sunday breakfast feast with community and special guest speakers.
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We hosted our Black Health and Wellness Day at Washington Hall for 'Keepin it 100' 2023 featuring numerous organizations, guests and resources focused on community well-being and healthcare.
“It’s like the feeling when you leave your auntie’s house - you got fed not just physically but spiritually too,” Rell Be Free said.
There were arts and crafts, including button making with Art Therapist Dalisha Phillips as well as music and activities, including massages, acupuncture and sound therapy.
You can watch the full recap video mentioned above brought to you by Converge Media HERE.
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2020 has seen an awakening in both the understanding and the opposition to state-sanctioned violence. But even as people take to the streets in record numbers across the nation, we know the fight for Black liberation did not begin with BLM or George Floyd, Mike Brown, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr or the Black Panther Party. It began with the rebellions of African people throughout the so-called New World, as they fought to break the literal and figurative shackles of chattel slavery. The fight for Black liberation was and is a response to racism and its tethers capitalism and imperialism.
But even as we have miles to go before Black lives are loved fully, Black arts have captivated the world. Our musical traditions have birthed song and dance of every genre, our speech and fashion have become the ruler by which we measure “cool.”
We know that contemporary artists do much more than create beautiful objects and places, they can offer unique and creative thinking to inspire dialogue, build and maintain community connections, and model change. For oppressed communities, these actions are often essential to the creative process. They are not intellectual exercises, they are survival strategies. Creative Justice uses the power of art to articulate the power and potential of marginalized communities.
Inspired by the poem “I, too, am America” by Langston Hughes, Who Am I is a visual poem directed by Abdi Ibrahim and Jonathan Salmon. The film is an unapologetic ode to the relationship between Black life and the art it creates by portraying 40+ Black Seattle artists of all disciplines, ages, complexions and backgrounds to highlight the authenticity of their craft.
Watch and learn more about the film HERE
