Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children (FFLIC)

Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children (FFLIC) is a statewide grassroots, multi-generational membership-based organization committed to abolishing all forms of state violence against Black youth -- especially youth in New Orleans -- through transformative organizing, holistic leadership development, and advocacy.

We are parents and caregivers, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, and allies. Many of us have loved children through the legal system ourselves. Our work is people‑ and community‑centered, explicitly anti‑racist, and rooted in the belief that families — not prisons — keep children safe.

For 25 years, we have fought to create a better life for all Louisiana’s youth, especially those targeted by the juvenile justice system. From the street level to the state level, from our meeting rooms to the state capitol, we organize for racial justice, human rights, and full participation — and we do so with families and young people leading the way.

25 Years of Fighting for Louisiana’s Children

Louisiana ranks last in child well‑being and first in incarceration. Black children are pushed out of classrooms, denied mental health support, and funneled into cages instead of care. Each year, nearly 300,000 school suspensions disrupt young lives and reinforce a school‑to‑prison pipeline that is anything but accidental.

Punishment is funded.
Prevention is not.
And families are too often expected to navigate this alone.

For a quarter century, FFLIC has refused to accept that reality.

Alongside directly impacted families and youth, we helped close Louisiana’s most notorious youth prison, advanced reforms across the state, and contributed to an 85% reduction in youth incarceration. Our work is grounded in abolition, healing justice, and the transformative leadership of people who know the system from the inside.

This anniversary is not just a milestone — it is proof that organized families can change what systems insist cannot be changed.

What Care Looks Like: Cary’s Story

Cary is now in his third year of college. He calls his life today a new beginning. Like so many young people impacted by incarceration, that beginning wasn’t created by punishment — it was built through relationship and consistency.

Growing up, Cary attended schools with metal detectors, police, and quick suspensions — but little mental health support.

“There were other ways to handle it instead of stopping me from learning.”

That lack of care eventually led Cary into Louisiana’s youth incarceration system, where his identity was reduced to a number.

“You’re not identified as a person.”

When Cary returned home, what changed his path wasn’t more surveillance. It was people who stayed. Through community partners and FFLIC, Cary found adults who noticed when he was struggling and intervened early — with care, not exclusion.

“If I felt like I was about to do something I shouldn’t, I could call somebody. They’d come get me and make sure I was okay.”

Through FFLIC, Cary learned about his rights, his power, and his ability to lead. He traveled, organized, and connected with others who shared his experiences and hopes. Today, he studies history and criminal justice because he wants to understand the system — and change it.

“Kids always deserve a second opportunity. Because they are kids.”

Cary’s story reflects what we know to be true: second chances are not moments — they are built by communities that stay.

Our Work Today: Let Kids Be Kids

As we enter our next 25 years, FFLIC continues to organize for real safety through our Let Kids Be Kids platform:

• Mental Health Support — trauma‑informed care, not criminalization
• Educational Justice — ending the school‑to‑prison pipeline
• Poverty Alleviation — addressing the economic roots of criminalization

We train parents and youth as organizers, provide urgent advocacy to families, and hold systems accountable at every level. Our work keeps children out of prison, supports those who have been incarcerated and their families, and builds lasting community power.

Why GiveNOLA Day Matters

It costs $456 a day to incarcerate a child.
It costs $75 to train a parent leader who can help change a child’s life.

GiveNOLA Day is a chance to invest in the care, leadership, and organizing that make stories like Cary’s possible — and to help carry this work into its next chapter.

For 25 years, families have led the fight for Louisiana’s children.
With your support, we will keep going.