Dane County has the nation's widest black/white educational achievement gap and Wisconsin has the highest per capita black juvenile arrest and incarceration rate (Wisconsin Council on Children & Families, Race to Equity, 2013). Making Justice allows the library to work collaboratively with many community partners to help these teens learn art and digital technology skills, discover role models from the community, learn to express themselves creatively and work with others in a team, and give the teens a voice in the community through art exhibits and via the Teen Bubbler web site.

Making Justice’s project-based workshops foster hands-on, peer-supported learning and digital literacy, connecting teens with diverse community and campus partners. Workshop participants create graphic and 3D art, photographic, spoken word, storytelling, performance and video projects documenting themselves, their communities and the justice system. Collaborative projects accommodate a variety of interests, skills and learning styles, and are contextualized to connect with teen experiences and community resources. Collaborating with the Dane County Juvenile Court programs has given the library unprecedented access to teens most in need and makes a real impact in the lives of teens and their families.

Making Justice received funding through an IMLS National Leadership Grant, the Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment, and Morgridge Center. The many partnerships and joint funding from these sources have helped the library and the UW-Madison to establish a network of 75 community partners for future collaboration, offered 22 UW-Madison library science and criminal justice students real world experiences in advancing social justice, and given teens a direct voice through library art exhibits and media partnerships. Workshops annually serve over 200 teens under the supervision of the Dane County Juvenile Court Detention Center, and an additional 150 teens through targeted community programs.