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WHO WE ARE
ABOUT US
"We repeat what we don't repair."
The Radix Project works at the root causes of youth incarceration in Contra Costa County. Youth do not enter the justice system at a single moment. They arrive through a sequence of unaddressed conditions: chronic absenteeism, poverty, school disengagement, family strain, trauma and housing instability, each one visible long before an arrest.
We intervene at three points along that sequence: before system contact, at the exit from detention, and at the level of the systems that decide which path an individual takes.
WHO WE SERVE · Justice-involved individuals ages 14–20 across Contra Costa County. Community profile →
OUR REACH
THREE INITIATIVES, ONE CONTINUUM
Each initiative addresses the same root causes from a different position. Youth reached early are diverted. Youth already detained are prepared to leave and stay out. The institutions around both are equipped to make prevention and diversion the default.
01 · YOUTH EARLY INTERVENTION
Reach youth before the system takes hold.
PROGRAMS
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Workshops
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1:1 Advocacy
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Coaching
02 · RE-ENTRY PROGRAMMING
Prepare youth to exit the system permanently.
PROGRAMS
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1:1 Advocacy & Coaching
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Life Skills: Daily Preparedness, Employment, Financial Literacy, and Communication
03 · SYSTEM LEVEL ADVOCACY
Change the conditions that send youth into the system.
PROGRAMS
Outreach & Education for the community, local and state leadership, law enforcement and the criminal justice system
GOAL
Shift the default response to youth in crisis from punishment toward prevention, diversion and repair.
OUR FRAMEWORK
HOW WE WORK
THE PRINCIPLES
ROOT-CAUSE INTERVENTION AND REPAIR
We address the conditions that make justice involvement more likely: chronic absenteeism, poverty, housing instability, trauma exposure and systemic disinvestment.
TRAUMA-INFORMED CARE
Behavior is often a response to trauma. Every program creates a safe, structured setting where change can take root.
RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
Through facilitated conversations, individuals identify the impact of their actions and take responsibility. From there, we repair relationships between individuals, their families, their communities and the systems around them, rather than only punishing the act.
COLLABORATION
We prioritize communication, consistency and collaboration with community organizations and agencies to facilitate the best possible outcomes for the individuals we work with.
LEADERSHIP
ACCOUNTABLE TO THE INDIVIDUALS WE SERVE
FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
SASHA KANTOR
Sasha's work as a volunteer youth advocate in Contra Costa County's juvenile court system revealed an unmet need. Youth and families were left to navigate schools, courts and services largely on their own, while the providers supporting them worked in silos. Radix was founded to close that gap.
She connects service providers, educators and justice system partners so that youth, their families and the community are served together. Before founding Radix, she spent over a decade in technology (Facebook, Block), venture capital and institutional finance.
B.S. Applied Economics, University of San Francisco
Post-Graduate Certificate in Restorative Justice, NYU Silver School of Social Work
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
BOARD CHAIR
AMY RICKARD
A bilingual, bicultural nonprofit and community leader with more than 20 years in social justice, community-based programs and systems change. Her work spans nonprofit leadership, program evaluation, strategic planning and legislative advocacy alongside elected officials and their staff.
TREASURER
HAROLD DEGUZMAN
Chief Financial Officer of the California School Employees Association, which represents more than 250,000 classified school employees statewide. A CPA with 30 years of executive financial leadership, he began his career in public accounting and holds a BA from UC Santa Barbara.
SECRETARY
NICHOLAS SMETAK
A nonprofit and community leader with a decade of experience advocating for children, families, educators and public education. He has led multiple nonprofit boards with a focus on fiscal responsibility, governance and accountability, and his advocacy extends to LGBTQ nonprofit work.
DIRECTOR
CAROL GILLESPIE
Executive Director of the Asian American Donor Program since 2002, after joining as one of its first elected board members in 1989. She brings a controller's financial discipline and more than three decades of community leadership.
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY OUTREACH
JESSICA KASHYAP
Event Coordinator and Volunteer Coordinator for the Native Nations Foundation, organizing the events and volunteers behind its youth baseball programming. At Radix, she leads engagement with families, volunteers and community partners, the network that keeps a young person's progress rooted after they leave the system.