Youth Voices for Justice: Ending Punitive and Discriminatory Practices in the U.S. and the Fight for Rights-Based Reforms

Delvin Davis is the Interim Policy Research Director at the Southern Poverty Law Center.  While at SPLC, he has conducted research to promote progressive public policy in the area of criminal legal reform. His most recent work includes a five-part series named “Only Young Once,” which details the dynamics of youth incarceration in the Deep South. He earned both his BA in Public Policy Analysis and MA in Public Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and currently resides in Durham, NC.

doobneek (they/them): I am a queer asylum seeker who went through youth homelessness and had to escape it on my own. My experiences shaped my advocacy work and the product I have developed for undocumented, immigrant and other international populations caring about privacy in their financial endeavors at doobneek.org.

Jasiyah Gilbert is a Brooklyn native, lifelong Mets fan, and former foster youth dedicated to transforming child welfare and ending harmful family policing practices. He serves as a board member of Are You Listening? (AYL), a youth-led committee working to end the use of congregate care in New York State. He is also a member of the Children’s Rights Lived Expert Committee, where he helps attorneys strengthen client-centered practices and amplify youth voices.

Currently, Jasiyah is the Manager of Client & Community Engagement Unit at The Legal Aid Society’s Juvenile Rights Practice, building partnerships with youth, families, and communities to advance systemic change. Previously, he gained professional experience through paralegal positions and legal internships at several New York law firms and organizations, focusing on litigation and legal research.

Jasiyah envisions a future where families are supported with resources, dignity, and care—rather than surveillance and punishment—so that children can thrive at home and in their communities.

Siya Hegde is a human rights lawyer in New York City, where she currently works with the National Homelessness Law Center on advancing the right to housing and decriminalizing homelessness and poverty. She was previously a civil public defender at The Bronx Defenders, where she engaged in client facing advocacy and litigation that centered on the civil consequences of individuals’ contact with legal systems. Her expertise in eviction defense and housing justice has grown in partnership with local grassroots coalitions, directly impacted tenants, advocates, and defender organizations across the City. Her work and commentary have been featured in various outlets, including the New York Daily News, Times Union, City Limits, the New York Law Journal, the Georgetown Journal of Poverty Law and Policy, and the Indiana Health Law Review. As part of a national task force of civil society advocates, she has engaged with U.N. human rights mechanisms in Geneva around the criminalization of homelessness and poverty and is also a Board Member of the relaunched U.S. Human Rights Network. 

Cory Jones Sr. is a proud U.S. military veteran and a seasoned professional in the automotive industry. Deeply committed to community service, he dedicates much of his time to mentoring young men and parents while advocating for educational fairness.

Cory has worked closely with his son, CJ Jones, and others on Alabama House Bill 188, a measure focused on protecting students’ due process rights in schools. His advocacy reflects his belief in justice, accountability, and the importance of giving every child a fair chance.

Beyond his advocacy and mentoring efforts, Cory is an avid fisherman and hunter who treasures time spent with his children and grandson. Guided by the values of honor, courage, respect, and perseverance, he continues to strive for what is right for his family and his community. At his core, Cory describes himself simply as a dedicated father doing his best to make a positive difference.

CJ Jones is a student and youth advocate from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. After facing an unjust disciplinary process in high school, he transformed his experience into a platform for change, speaking at the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent about racial disparities in education. Despite the challenges he endured, CJ has remained positive and focused, mentoring his peers and working to ensure others don’t face the same injustices. He was instrumental in advancing HB188 in the Alabama state legislature in 2024, a landmark Alabama law that gives students the right to appeal school punishment and be represented by legal counsel. Today, CJ is pursuing his studies at Shelton State College while continuing to use his voice to advance equity, justice, and opportunity for young people.

Hina Naveed joined Children’s Rights in 2023 where she is the policy and legal analyst for racial justice initiatives. Previously, she was the 2021-2023 Aryeh Neier Fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) where she conducted research on, and pursued litigation and advocacy related to, the US child welfare system. Hina also authored an ACLU/HRW report, “If I Wasn’t Poor, I Wouldn’t Be Unfit” The Family Separation Crisis in the US Child Welfare System, in which she documented how the system too often removes children from their parents with scant evidence and limited protections for parents’ due process rights, and disproportionately impacts children from over-policed, underserved communities, especially people of color and people living in poverty.

Hina earned her B.S. as a Registered Nurse from the College of Staten Island in 2017 and her J.D. from the City University of New York School of Law in 2021. While pursuing her law degree, Hina worked in a child welfare agency serving children in the foster system and volunteered as a Registered Nurse during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. Hina is a long-time immigrants’ rights activist and in her spare time advocates for dignity and permanency for undocumented immigrants in the US.

Léocadia Tchouaffé is a Human Rights Fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, where she helps engagement with the United Nations and other international mechanisms, raises awareness of human rights standards among policymakers and the public, and coordinates U.S. civil society coalition efforts. She earned her Master’s in Human Rights from the University of Minnesota and a B.A. in Political science and History from The George Washington University. Her academic studies have focused on migration, U.S.–Africa policy, and advocacy among the African diaspora.

Previously, Léocadia served as a Regional Organizer at The ONE Campaign, directing advocacy across eight Midwest states to influence foreign aid funding and federal legislation on issues including HIV/AIDS, gender-based violence, and poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. She also worked in refugee resettlement at Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas, deepening her commitment to advancing justice and human rights.