Prime Time and Community Members Take Action Toward Creating Respect, Justice and Safety for Everyone
Community members, law enforcement professionals from school systems, detectives from the state’s attorney’s office and Prime Time Palm Beach County began Dialogue to Change conversations designed to provide citizens, local police and justice officials with an opportunity to work together to strengthen foundations of trust and respect, creating equity, justice and safety. The theme of the dialogues were community and policing, with the goal to create “respect, justice, and safety for everyone.”
“It was people from diverse backgrounds who came to the table to seek solutions for criminal justice reform. Reform is simply change, and if we are to make a difference in our criminal justice system, it must include community. That includes residents seeking safety, residents who have been impacted by the system and residents who want to ensure equity for all. Regardless of a person’s position, it was important that everyone’s perspective was heard so that we can learn and better understand our neighbors.” – Rose Newbold, Assessment Manager, Prime Time Palm Beach County (pictured right)
Discussing challenges, successes and needs led to an idea that garnered overwhelming support to create a 30-day awareness campaign on a restorative justice initiative using local influencer organizations to craft the campaign and produce the message for county youth. If you or anyone you know is interested in taking part in the Dialogue to Change conversations, please email amplifyingimpact@cp-cto.org
“The choice of a campaign focusing on restorative justice acknowledges the need to restore youth rather than just punish youth. In this way, they can take responsibility for their actions while participating in and learning from their community. Restorative justice practices also provide an avenue for a victim to address how they were affected by the youth’s actions and provide feedback on what would make them whole again while acknowledging the need to rehabilitate the youth and honor the experience of the victim.” – Anita Winkis, Quality Advisor, Prime Time Palm Beach County (pictured right)
Prime Time’s newly released training series entitled Restorative Justice Practices in OST educates and informs attendees to create and sustain an out-of-school time (OST) space where youth are taught to learn from their mistakes and repair harm done instead of isolating and punishing youth. Modeling and technical assistance on how to run Restorative Circles/Conferences are provided between training sessions.
The goal of this training series is for OST programs to move toward becoming more restorative in their discipline practices through implementing a plan that involves all stakeholders. Learn how to shift the climate and culture of your program in a sustainable way to promote authentic dialogue, equity of voice, and a true sense of belonging for youth, staff and families.
