I grew up on the West Side of San Antonio, a working-class Latino community where most folks do not get a first chance. If you mess up or miss an opportunity, you’re more likely to end up in prison than walk across the graduation stage.

Where I’m from, only a few folks complete college and too many enter the criminal justice system. Traditionally, the conversation around criminal justice has centered on a second chance after incarceration, and that’s important and addressed in this plan, but we also need to ensure that every person has an effective first chance to succeed. No matter your background or where you live, you should have a real shot at a better future. I want us to focus on prevention, not prison, and a more holistic framework to achieve restorative justice. All of us want to live in a nation where people are free to pursue full potential — an America that works towards our highest ideals and ensures justice for all.

The fact is that many folks do not even have a first chance, much less a second one. Affordable housing is often inadequate and indecent, roads turn into rivers during flash floods, the air and water contain too many pollutants, immigrants fear family separations, health care is a privilege afforded only to some, the public schools are under-resourced and underserved, and gun violence, including by the police, is killing people. Today, the criminal justice system punishes poverty and communities of color more than it advances justice.

We need a new approach to criminal justice, one that prioritizes prevention, not prison, creates a restorative justice system, heals the wounds of incarceration, and ensures every person has an effective first chance.

Throughout this campaign, I have connected the dots between different issues, recognizing that people do not live single issue lives, but rather confront multiple challenges that all intersect. This First Chance Plan reflects that reality. Criminal justice reform is a moral imperative, but it’s insufficient if we do not also address public education, affordable housing, health care, climate change, immigration reform, gun safety, and if we do not lift up entire communities that have been left behind.