In 1997, Budnick first became interested in juveniles in prison after reading a Rolling Stone article about Brandon Hein and three other youths who were found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in California, even though three of them never touched the weapon.

[1] Jake Gyllenhaal went with Budnick to the Sylmar juvenile detention center, to Men's Central Jail and out to California State Prison, Los Angeles County.

Then, Budnick and others started doing retreats where the formerly incarcerated young people would meet with mentors and lawyers, and eventually formed a private Facebook page where they organized events and provided support.

[6] In 2014, ARC teamed up with the Ford Foundation and others to host a TEDx conference inside Ironwood State Prison with hundreds in attendance.

[12] ARC successfully advocated for California Senate Bill 260, which guarantees that offenders who received long sentences as juveniles have the opportunity to be considered for parole.

[13] In 2015, James Anderson, a formerly incarcerated young man and first founding staff of ARC, spoke alongside John Legend in Sacramento about criminal justice reform.

[15] Robert Downey Jr., Brent Bolthouse, Dede Gardner, Jake Gyllenhaal, Hill Harper, Bruce Karatz, and Damon Lindelof, among others, serve on the board of directors.

[3] Ben Lear, Common, Jonah Hill, Mike Tollin, Nasir Jones, Raul Ruiz, Tony Cardenas, and Zach Galifianakis, among others, serve on ARC's Advisory Board.