Urban Community Network

Born and raised in North Houston, Councilmember Tarsha Jackson’s life took a dramatic turn when her oldest son was arrested at his elementary school for a classroom disruption. Just ten years old at the time of his arrest, he was sentenced to three-and-half years in jail for a low-level misdemeanor. From tragedy to triumph, Urban Community Network was born in April of 2017. In a short amount of time, UCN became a hub for families like Tarsha’s with youth involved in Harris County juvenile justice system by helping them navigate the system and connecting them to wrap-around services to build and sustain the family as a whole.

The staff and consultants at Urban Community Network have more than 100 years of combined experience at grassroots organizing, leadership development for those most deeply impacted by the criminal justice system and other systems that adversely impact our lives and working within systems to reform racially and gender biased policy and practice. UCN identifies and advances real solutions to the problems facing these systems. We embrace a transformative approach to youth delinquency that focuses on building local neighborhood capacity to work with at-risk or system-involved youth and their families. whole.

We believe in strengthening communities from within.