ABOUT US
CENTINELA YOUTH SERVICES (CYS)
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit community-based organization, was founded in the Centinela Valley in 1975 to provide youth counseling; physical and mental health, academic, and developmental intervention; and juvenile crime prevention services. In the mid-90s, due to the strong outcomes achieved by the youth served, CYS services were expanded into many of Los Angeles County’s high-needs communities.
OUR MISSION
Centinela Youth Services strengthens families and communities and helps build successful students and productive adults, leveraging the principles of restorative justice to empower peaceful conflict resolution. We are committed to ending the institutionalized practices in schools and justice systems that are primarily responsible for maintaining the school-to-prison pipeline, and disproportionately impact youth of color.
OUR VISION
Our vision is to use the principles of Restorative Justice and Trauma-Informed Care to empower youth, families, and crime victims to become accountable, to heal and to realize their full potentials.
Where Did We Start?
In 1973, officers of the Inglewood Police Department recognized a serious community problem: when they responded to calls, many of the young people they were interacting with were being arrested when instead they should have been receiving counseling and support. The officers attempted to connect the offending youth with appropriate services, but as the scope and breadth of the problem grew, it became apparent that an organization dedicated to helping youth and families in high-needs communities was needed. In 1975, Centinela Youth Services (CYS) was established to achieve this purpose. Originally administered by the city of Inglewood, CYS services quickly expanded to include support for youth and families in the cities of Lawndale, Hawthorne, Gardena, and Lennox. In 1995, juvenile court jurisdictions from across Los Angeles County began to refer youth to CYS. Its Victim Offender Restitution Services (VORS) program was recognized as a national model in Restorative Justice in 2014.
In 2011, with a $1 million grant from the Everychild Foundation, CYS launched the Everychild Restorative Justice Center (ERJC) next to the Inglewood Juvenile Court. The ERJC provides intensive clinical case management and comprehensive community-based intervention programming to divert youth from the juvenile court system. In 2012, thanks to a $1 million Title II grant from the Board of State and Community Corrections and the advocacy of members of the Everychild Foundation, a second center was established in South Los Angeles. Modeled after the successful Miami-Dade Youth Assessment Center in Florida, CYS’s Juvenile Arrest Diversion Program (JADP) is the first pre-booking juvenile diversion program in the state of California. These innovative CYS services are again expanding, and currently a new Restorative Justice Center is in development to provide access to pre-arrest diversion services for youth in the San Fernando Valley.
What is Restorative Justice?
Restorative Justice provides communities more equitable and community-based alternatives to address the harm caused by crime. Restorative Justice practices empower those that have been harmed, holds responsible parties accountable, and works to repair the community as a whole. Led by a community mediator, Restorative Justice mediations bring the person who caused harm and the person who was harmed together, face-to-face, and allow humanity into our response to crime. It gives the person who was harmed the opportunity to express, on their own terms, how the harm affected them. Restorative Justice provides the opportunity for people to forgive, communities to heal, and youth to turn their lives around.
Youth diverted to CYS are:
Harmed parties report:
CYS recidivism rate is:
166
times more likely to pay monetary restitution compared to youth who received a court order to pay restitution.
98%
satisfaction with the CYS restorative justice process.
8-11%
compared to traditionally retributive responses measuring 23-61% recidivism.
Black Equity in Restorative Justice
When practicing Restorative Justice practices, we also must prioritize Black Equity. By prioritizing Black Equity, CYS joins the fight to repair harm rooted in disinvestment, neglect, and systemic racism, not just for the Black community, but all marginalized communities. Read more about how Black Equity stands at the core of our work here: cys-la.org/bep.
Additional Resources
How to Handle Conflict at Home
Apology Letter Guide
Facilitating a Circle: A Snapshot
Consulting
Reframing School Discipline
Our Accomplishments
Inclusion of CYS’s Victim Offender Restitution Services in the National Registry of Evidenced-based Programs and Practices administered by the Department of Health and Human Services in 2014.
Recognition of CYS by California State Assemblymember Autumn Burke as California Nonprofit of the Year for the 62nd Assembly District, 2016
Judicial Council of California recognition of the VORS program as a model victim/offender mediation program proven to cut rates of post service participation re-offense by at least 50% without confinement or criminalization.
CYS Executive Director selected to serve on the State of CA's Office of Youth and Community Restoration State Advisory Committee for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Restorative Justice Sub-Committee in 2025.