Youth Justice & Power Union

What Youth Justice & Power Union does

Youth Justice & Power Union (YJPU) is a youth-led, community grassroots organization founded in 2011 in Boston, Massachusetts. It is structured as a nonprofit and operates as a fiscally sponsored project of The City School, where it is housed at 614 Columbia Road in Dorchester. The organization centers the voices of Black, Brown, and working-class youth in Boston, building collective power to address systemic issues — including mass incarceration, police violence, underfunding of community resources, and lack of affordable housing — through organizing, basebuilding, mentorship, political education, and direct action campaigns. Its core service offering is grassroots organizing and policy advocacy, with no technology products, platforms, or proprietary software.

YJPU's go-to-market model is community-led: youth leaders conduct direct outreach to young people and adults across Boston, convene community workshops, town halls, and rallies, deliver public testimony at government hearings, and engage residents in the City's participatory budgeting process. Its revenue model is donations and charitable contributions — including monthly recurring donors — supplemented by institutional partnerships such as United Way of Massachusetts Bay's New Way Forward initiative. No fees, contracts, or product sales are involved. Operating geographies are limited to Boston, with all activity domestic to the United States.

The organization has recorded measurable policy outcomes, including helping increase City youth jobs funding from $6.5 million in 2020 to $21.4 million in 2024 (a $15 million increase), winning expansion of the youth jobs program to include 14-year-olds and 18-24-year-olds, and helping reinvest $19 million from the Boston Police Department budget into community priorities between 2020 and 2023. It is a member of the Better Budget Alliance and supports Boston People's Response, and it played a role in the 2021 City charter change that moved budget powers from the Mayor to the City Council and community. With 5 employees, YJPU operates at a small scale relative to the dollar value of the policy outcomes it influences.

Name

Youth Justice & Power Union

Legal name

Youth Justice & Power Union

Website

https://yjpu.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Youth Justice & Power Union (YJPU) is a Boston-based, youth-led nonprofit founded in 2011 that organizes Black, Brown, and working-class communities around youth jobs, police budget reallocation, and participatory budgeting, operating from The City School in Dorchester with a 5-person staff and donation-based funding.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Organizing & Advocacy Services

NAICS

Child and Youth Services (62411), Child and Youth Services (624110), Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813), Human Rights Organizations (813311), Other Individual and Family Services (624190)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Youth Justice, At-Risk Youth & Violence Prevention Nonprofits (BPAGADAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Peer Support, Mentoring & Student Leadership (SEL) (EDAKAMAO), Youth Mentoring & Positive Youth Development Nonprofits (BPAGADAD)

Keywords

• Community organizing
• Youth advocacy
• Grassroots campaigns
• Participatory budgeting
• Police reform advocacy

Headquarters

HQ city

Boston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Contributions: YJPU accepts donations from individuals, with emphasis on monthly recurring donors for sustainability. The organization also partners with United Way of Massachusetts Bay's New Way Forward initiative.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Youth Justice & Power Union (YJPU) is a youth-led grassroots community organization that centers the voices of Black and Brown youth in Boston. It builds collective power through community organizing, basebuilding, campaign leadership, mentorship, and political education to address systemic issues at the root, including police budget reallocation, expansion of youth jobs funding, affordable housing, and community-led mental health crisis response.

Product overview

Youth Justice & Power Union (YJPU) is a community grassroots organization, not a technology product company. It does not offer products or services in a traditional SaaS or technology sense. YJPU provides community organizing, basebuilding, campaign leadership, political education, mentorship, and advocacy services focused on addressing systemic issues affecting Black and Brown youth in Boston through direct action and collective power-building.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• Increased youth jobs funding from $6.5M (2020) to $21.4M (2024)
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• United Way of Massachusetts Bay (New Way Forward Initiative)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerYJPU is a partner in United Way of Massachusetts Bay's New Way Forward initiative, working collaboratively on community development and social justice initiatives in the Greater Boston area.
• Better Budget AlliancecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerYJPU and DefundBosCops groups are part of the Better Budget Alliance, which is working to put 1% of the City budget into a fund that residents will vote on through participatory budgeting.
• DefundBosCops GroupscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative coalition focused on reducing police budgets and reinvesting in community priorities. YJPU works with these groups on budget campaign coordination.
• Boston People's ResponsecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerYJPU supports Boston People's Response which is organizing to fund a community-led model to respond to mental health crises with trained community responders and not police. YJPU advocates for $2.6M in funding for this initiative.
• The City SchoolcoreOthersYJPU is housed at The City School at 614 Columbia Rd, Dorchester, Boston, MA 02125. The City School provides office space and organizational support.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• The City School: Independent K-8 school in Dorchester that serves as YJPU's fiscal sponsor and host; adjacent in mission around youth leadership and communities of color in the same neighborhood.
• United Way of Massachusetts Bay: Funder and convener partner (New Way Forward initiative); not a direct peer but a comparable Boston-area nonprofit operating in the same community-investment space.

Broad incumbents

• Right to the City Alliance: National alliance of base-building organizations centering racial, economic, and gender justice; comparable organizing infrastructure and member-led governance approach.
• Community Change (formerly Center for Community Change): National racial-justice intermediary supporting grassroots organizations; comparable mission, funder relationships, and base-building methodology even though much larger.
• Center for Popular Democracy: National network of community organizing groups pursuing racial and economic justice through local power-building; comparable model of basebuilding, leadership development, and budget/policy campaigns.

Direct peers

• Boston People's Response: Community-led nonprofit in Boston building a mental-health crisis response alternative to police; YJPU directly supports and advocates for its funding, sharing the same community-organizing model and target populations.
• Better Budget Alliance: Coalition YJPU belongs to that campaigns for participatory budgeting in Boston; directly aligned on tactical approach, geography, and target institutional change.

Regional players

• Families for Justice as Healing: Boston-based women-led organizing group of formerly incarcerated people and families addressing incarceration and criminal-legal systems; close peer on mass-incarceration and abolition advocacy in the same city.
• Boston Education Justice Alliance: Boston-area coalition of youth, parents, and educators organizing for racial and economic equity in schools; comparable basebuilding tactics and constituency.
• City Life / Vida Urbana: Boston-based grassroots organization of tenants and residents organizing against displacement and for housing justice; overlapping Boston geography, communities of color, and base-building organizing model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/youth-justice-&-power-union

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Youth Justice & Power Union