Joshua Thompson-Rodriguez joined LCCR as our new Civil Legal Services Attorney in April of this year. With experience working with families in immigration law, Joshua has already had a significant impact on LCCR’s educational advocacy work.

It’s been a great year here at LCCR. We served more than 700 kids between New Orleans and East Baton Rouge, defended against punitive policies like Amendment 3 and SB74, and launched our #ItTakesAVillageNOLA narrative change campaign. Click here to read about what your support helped us achieve in FY 2025.

LCCR’s policy team has been hard at work during the 2025 legislative session, working to defend against tough-on-crime policies and rollbacks that had the potential to harm Louisiana’s children. Throughout this session, LCCR tracked three bills that represented the greatest threat to youth justice reform. Here are the results that were achieved.

Last year, Louisiana's Office of Juvenile Justice spent $165.6 million to operate the state’s prison system. Gov. Landry is now proposing spending $93 million more this year. Here are some better ways we can invest taxpayer dollars that will enhance public safety in Louisiana. 

This is the first article in our Staff Spotlight series, where we will interview staff to learn more about their background, skills, and motivation to do this essential work for kids in Louisiana. In this article, we will discuss Kisha’s work as a youth advocate and how her unique lived experience fuels her advocacy for our kids. 

We first met “Nadia” as an 8th grader arrested for theft under $1,000. Her crime? Simply being present when her friend was caught stealing a pack of gum. What could and should have been a teachable moment for two adolescent girls instead became a frightening legal ordeal. Here is how we helped.

On April 3, LCCR welcomed more than 230 guests to our annual Celebration for Children’s Rights event. Collectively, we raised nearly $90,000 to fund our work with arrested and incarcerated youth in Louisiana. We can think of no better way to spend a beautiful (if slightly humid) spring evening than to come together with so many of our friends and supporters. Thank you for joining us and making this such a wonderful night out!

LCCR is pleased to announce the launch of our new narrative campaign, #ItTakesAVillageNOLA. This campaign coincides with the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and calls upon New Orleanians to own the responsibility to its youth. It is part of a wider effort to combat the harmful narratives surrounding Black youth and promote alternative, positive narratives that reassert the humanity of young people in our city.

At LCCR's Celebration for Children's Rights event on April 3, we will be presenting our 2025 Calogero Champion of Justice Award to Dominque Jones-Johnson, Founder & Executive Director of Daughters Beyond Incarceration, for her incredible work uplifting Black girls with parents in prison and developing them into advocates, policymakers, and grassroots activists to forever change lives, systems, and communities for good.

At the close of January, Aaron Clark-Rizzio concluded his 8.5 years of service as LCCR’s Executive Director and (later) Legal Director, leaving behind a legacy of thoughtful, dedicated stewardship of LCCR’s mission. Here we take a moment to reflect back on his impact at LCCR.