By Julia Arroyo
Dear Freedom Family,
Earlier this year, I had the profound honor of traveling to Aotearoa (New Zealand) as part of the Journey to Justice delegation. Funded by incredible movement-aligned partners like Akonadi Foundation, Impact Justice, and the Zellerbach Family Foundation, I joined fellow criminal justice leaders to learn from the indigenous Māori people and how they radically transformed their youth justice system.
I went as a daughter of San Francisco, a mother, a descendant of the Zapotec people, and as someone who has walked with young women and trans youth through the deepest trenches of incarceration, poverty, and state violence. I went not just to learn — I went to experience a different future.
And I did.
From the moment we landed, we were held in a sacred ceremony grounded in pepeha — sacred storytelling that names the rivers and mountains you come from. We witnessed how the indigenous Māori culture isn’t just a part of New Zealand’s justice system — it leads it.
With mana at the core, healing is not seen as a project —
it’s a birthright for every child.
In New Zealand, Family Group Conferences replace courtrooms and Whānau (families), not judges, decide the path forward for youth. It truly is a beautiful execution of community coming together to support youth and give them the individualized attention they need and deserve.
This was more than a trip — it was a spiritual reorientation – and it affirmed what we at Young Women’s Freedom Center have always known: that justice comes from community, not cages.
We are already doing this with our Freedom 2030 campaign, youth-led healing circles, and calls to permanently end the incarceration and criminalization of girls and trans youth of all genders.
New Zealand showed us what’s possible when a nation commits — fully — to youth, community, and our collective healing.
Now we need your full support. Become a Monthly Donor Today!
Every dollar helps us grow the leadership and economic empowerment of young girls and trans youth of all genders rising from incarceration and poverty.
Let’s honor the sacred knowledge that was shared with us in Aotearoa and keep building a future rooted in self-determination, love, and freedom.
Pushing the youth justice movement forward,
Julia Arroyo
Executive Director, YWFC
