The new year is a time when people plan for the future, make resolutions, and prepare for change. Pieces from Sapphire, Four Eyes, Yung Sponge, Cue, and Silent. Hosted by Sending Messages contributor Lil Pineapple. Thanks for listening!

Utah’s juvenile justice system has gone through a lot of change in the past couple of years. As part of an effort to implement restorative justice practices, our state is trying to lessen the amount of kids in the system by placing those of us struggling with violence, addiction, and mental health issues into treatment instead of incarceration. In celebration of Youth Justice Awareness Month, today’s episode features five pieces about shifts in the system from the perspective of the young people within it.

Sending Messages contributors make individual pieces in a process of self reflection, often speaking on their own lives and experiences. Heard together, however, these pieces can paint a broader picture of what young people in the juvenile justice system are going through in general. Today on the podcast, young women housed in facilities and treatment centers around the Salt Lake Valley share their struggles with addiction and social isolation, the hard path toward change, and their visions for their futures.

Utah is a unique actor in the movement toward restorative justice. While being a conservative hub, we've been working toward reform in ways that inspire efforts around the country. Nonetheless, many of the young people who contribute to Sending Messages have been in and out of the system for much of their lives. On this episode of Sending Messages, stories from BG, P. City, N. and Bru the Mac, reflecting on their paths to incarceration and considering how different resources and responses to their behavior in the past could have impacted the present. Hosted by mentor Gabriella Huggins. Thanks for listening! 

Living is a series of transitions. Today on the episode we bring you seven stories about changes in scenery, loss of loved ones, new perspectives and broadened horizons. Pieces from Y.T. Swizz, Harles, Bucks, Fozzy, P.City, Kode Ice, and Cash. Hosted by Sending Messages contributor BG. Thanks for listening!

Money makes the world go 'round. But when you're left out of rotation, what are you willing to do to get in on the goods? On this episode of Sending Messages, five pieces from Y.T. Swizz, Shotsky, B.G., P. City, and Bucks sharing about how the pursuit of money has made them do their worst and influenced them to work for the better. Hosted by B.G. Thanks for listening!

One of the exercises that begins every session of Sending Messages is the challenge for participants to bust out a short piece of original media; a poem, a stream of consciousness, a simple response to an open-ended prompt, a letter they could never send. Today on Sending Messages, a collection of the first short pieces created by residents in Utah's secure care facilities, from conception to edited audio. Hosted by Wasatch Youth Center resident P. City. Thanks for listening!

Angels and demons; the battle between good and evil, the choice between the good and the bad. Today on Sending Messages teens at Decker Lake Youth Center share stories of their saviors and explore the causes of their sorrows. Pieces from Junior, Smasher, Kash Money Kellz, Sebas and G. Money. Hosted by Junior. Thanks for listening! 

Every year, Dignity in Schools runs a campaign to raise awareness around school push out, educational disenfranchisement that disproportionately impacts youth of color, the endemically poor, and youth living with physical and developmental challenges. On this episode, five young men from Wasatch Youth Center share their experiences in the education system, and the challenges that led them to end up in the justice system instead of in high school and college. Hosted by mentor Gabriella Huggins. Thanks for listening!