Announcing Our 2024-2025 Stoneleigh Youth Advocacy Fellows at Juvenile Law Center

We are delighted to announce four Stoneleigh Youth Advocacy Fellows at Juvenile Law Center. Each Stoneleigh Youth Advocacy Fellow will be embedded in one of four Juvenile Law Center legal teams to ensure that youth voices, perspectives, and leadership are infused in efforts to advance systems change.

Aqilah David
Stoneleigh Youth Advocacy Fellow
Debt Free Justice Team
2024-2025

Aqilah David is a Stoneleigh Youth Advocacy Fellow with the Debt Free Justice Team at Juvenile Law Center. Aqilah first joined Juveniles for Justice (now Advocates for Youth Justice) in 2018 following her own experience of incarceration. Aqilah observed how young people often take on the burden of being in the juvenile legal and family surveillance systems and navigate them without proper support. She recognized that she could use her expertise and voice to change these systems and bring awareness to the hardships young people face within them. Aqilah has worked with Juvenile Law Center to advocate for Pennsylvania’s credit transfer bill, establish Philadelphia’s youth ombudsperson office, and end fines and fees for young people and their families.

Bree Hood
Stoneleigh Youth Advocacy Fellow
Youth Safely Home Team
2024-2025

Bree Hood is a Stoneleigh Youth Advocacy Fellow with the Youth Safely Home Team at Juvenile Law Center. Bree will draw upon her eight years of experience at Juvenile Law Center to improve conditions for youth in the juvenile legal and family regulation systems, using a mixture of policy and legislative advocacy and litigation to accomplish these goals. One key challenge within both the juvenile legal and foster care systems is that the systems do not provide youth with access to enough people to help, guide, and be there for them. In addition to her advocacy work, Bree enjoys writing, including professional writing, poetry, and prose. She is currently working on her first book.

Jihid Maye
Stoneleigh Youth Advocacy Fellow
Policing Youth and Families Team
2024-2025

Jihid Maye is a Stoneleigh Youth Advocacy Fellow with the Policing Youth and Families Team at Juvenile Law Center. During his more than seven years of experience with Juvenile Law Center, Jihid has worked on projects to help foster youth access higher education, establish Philadelphia’s youth ombudsperson office, and advocate for statewide youth justice reform. He is also a Certified Peer Specialist Community Health Worker and Researcher and a consultant with Johns Hopkins University on mental health and trauma-informed care for youth in the juvenile legal system. Jihid became involved in advocacy work as a result of his own experience in the legal system. He brings first-hand knowledge to the issues and offers ideas and solutions from both inside and outside of the system.

Alexandria Rivera
Stoneleigh Youth Advocacy Fellow
Treating Kids as Kids Team
2024-2025

Alexandria Rivera is a Stoneleigh Youth Advocacy Fellow with the Treating Kids as Kids Team at Juvenile Law Center. With nearly a decade of dedicated service at Juvenile Law Center, Alexandria’s unwavering commitment to amplifying the voices of youth fuels her mission to effect meaningful change within communities and the systems that serve them. In addition to her work at Juvenile Law Center, Alexandria represents various organizations focused on youth homelessness, advocating for those who are often overlooked. She is eager to raise awareness about the complexities of the youth justice and foster care systems and shed light on the critical issues facing vulnerable young people today.