Better Days’ vision is to make a world that has eliminated the pipeline that propels foster children to prison.
In pursuit of this vision, Better Day’s mission is to undertake research and action focused on ending the horrific switch that transforms children from victims to perpetrators.
Better Days Mission
Advocating for the freedom of incarcerated foster care children through a multipronged approach:
- Public Education Campaign to help reveal the pitfalls of our foster care system to the general public through storytelling and beyond.
- Conduct Research within the prison population to help expose and quantify these perpetuated violence cycles. Unearth research and other findings to advocate for legislative and programmatic changes on a county, state, and eventually federal level.
- Provide Services to affected populations. Starting with healing circles in various institutions (CDCR, DJJ, Group Homes, and other DCFS Facilities). Reentry support for Returning Citizens that the Foster Care System has touched.
About Jarrett Harper
Jarrett Harper is the Founder and Executive Director of Better Days. He advocates for foster care reform & criminal justice reform while working to stop life sentences for children, develop better rehabilitation resources for those returning to society, and end the foster care-to-prison pipeline.
A Los Angeles County foster care system survivor, Jarrett endured 20 years of mass incarceration. After experiencing unimaginable trauma and abuse, at 16, Jarrett took the life of his abuser to protect himself and his younger brother. A year later, he was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole plus ten years. Despite having no chance of release from prison, he found forgiveness and hope and transformed his own life by helping change the lives of other men in prison who had the opportunity to get out.
After 20 years of creating and facilitating self-improvement programs for his peers, Jarrett’s sentence was commuted by Governor Jerry Brown through the tireless work of a group of dedicated advocates, including Bryan Stevenson, John Legend, Ty Stiklorius, Elizabeth Calvin from Human Rights Watch, Scott Budnick as well as Loyola Law School. On June 18, 2019, he was released from prison by Governor Gavin Newsom. Shortly after his release, Jarrett became an ambassador for Represent Justice’s Just Mercy campaign and has quickly become a sought-after speaker, booking engagements for Verizon, Google, YouTube, Jordan Park, The Washington Post, National Urban League, USC, Princeton, LRNG, Beit T’ Shuvah, Big Brothers, and Big Sisters, Human Rights Watch, Parole Justice That Works, and most recently the Boston Celtics.
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