Community Courts

Center staff visited the Delaware site. This visit started with a courthouse tour, which included the community resource center, the law library, the CCAT room, as well as the location of other community resources. Center staff then had a strategic planning session where site staff discussed an overview of the programming, successes and challenges, as well as long-term goals.

Center staff visited Paterson Community Court on May 24th for a forum to give a presentation on Community Courts. In the same meeting, the Paterson team presented on their RFP logistics. The purpose of this forum was to spread information about the Paterson project and inspire interest from possible partners. Center staff then held two strategic planning meetings: one for the Paterson Court Administrator and one for the prosecutor and defense counsel.

Center staff supported San Francisco Community Justice Center’s Nuevos Destinos Coordinator to organize a full day convening on October 13 with the goal to bring stakeholders together to visit two programming partner sites, learn about legal, court, and programmatic operations, increase buy-in and enthusiasm, and discuss future goals. Some items discussed included navigating political tension, as well as a focus group with Nuevos Destinos participants who spoke of their experiences with the program, which were very positive.

Center staff visited JCCS on December 12 and participated in their first “Transit Tuesdays,” during which staff partnered with New Jersey Transit to provide legal navigation services to community members at a community-based organization. Center staff will continue to support JCCS as they integrate real-time virtual court appearances into these outreach days.

On October 12, Center staff visited the Las Vegas site. The visit had meaningful discussions and strategic planning activities with court leadership, and the community court staff are currently discussing with county administrators about drastically changing their courtroom policies to be less punitive and more evidence-based to better support court participants in achieving and maintaining stability. The court welcomed a new judge, which occurred right before the site visit.

Center staff met virtually with each FY22 grantee site at least once per month throughout the reporting period. During these calls, Center staff helped sites revisit project goals and action plans, provided individualized project guidance, and deepened discussions that began during all-site webinars. Center staff also took further steps outside of the monthly calls to advance each site’s project, including offering trainings, participating in stakeholder meetings, and arranging information-sharing sessions, when useful. Center staff visited the Delaware site.

The Center continues to support long-established mentor community courts across the country, including South Dallas Community Court; Orange County Collaborative Courts; Olympia Community Court; and Spokane Community Court. Center staff facilitated networking connections between mentor courts and the current community court cohort to share best practices. For example, Center staff helped connect leaders from Spokane Community Court to Luce County practitioners to build Luce County’s practices.

The Center maintains a Court-Builders listserv that hosts over 530 active subscribers and shares examples of promising practices, lessons learned, and timely news among the community court field. The listserv continues to be a valuable tool for peer-to-peer communication. From July through December 2023, users made 16 original posts (with many more posts in response) that included updated practices in the field, questions about current services that courts are offering, and support around common issues.

Center staff amassed a wide contact list of around 120 community court professionals across the United States. Center staff sent 25 mass blasts through platforms like mailchimp to the contact list and the courtbuilders listserv, which included an RSVP email, a formal invitation, a lodging and travel information email, and various reminder emails.

Center staff selected presenters for the Reno Conference. In Reno, Staff members from the Reno Community Court (host) to provide an overview of the planning process and inception of the Reno Community Court. CJI staff to present on Risk Need Responsivity and Responsive Intervention 3 Staff members from Midtown Community Court to present on pre-arraignment diversion in NYC. Matthew Hartman of Just Outcomes to lead a presentation on Restorative Justice.