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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 8:45 pm
Time: 8:45 pm
Results for youth advocacy programs
1 results foundAuthor: Kralstein, Dana Title: A Comprehensive Community Justice Model: An Evaluation of the Baltimore Community Justice Initiative Summary: This report evaluates an ambitious and comprehensive new community justice initiative implemented in two communities of Baltimore, Maryland beginning in late 2004. The initiative, funded by the Crane Family Foundation, aims to reach adults and youth alike, and seeks to incorporate a broad array of justice system agencies and community-based organizations. An important question is whether such a comprehensive model can produce a large and sustainable impact, both within its target communities and in the Baltimore City justice system as a whole. There were three principal components of the Baltimore Community Justice Initiative: focus on the justice system; school conflict resolution; and youth advocacy. Community Justice – Prosecution, Capacity-Building, and Collaboration This component encompassed three goals. The first goal was to develop a community prosecution project in the Hargrove District Court servicing the communities of Cherry Hill and Pigtown – and perhaps to lay the groundwork for a community court at some point in the future. The second goal was to strengthen the capacity of community organizations to become significant contributors to the ongoing discussion about justice in Baltimore. Lastly, the initiative intended to create a network of justice system and community stakeholders. During the evaluation period, from January of 2006 through August of 2007, the initiative team established a citywide network of almost 200 contacts throughout the criminal justice system as well as in the communities of Pigtown and Cherry Hill. This network met on a quarterly basis as a Task Force to discuss common issues. The team made inroads in the criminal justice community in Baltimore regarding support for the idea of a community court and gained the commitment of a State Senator to sponsor any legislation that might be required. Perhaps most significantly, the initiative helped to foster an environment that enabled other community justice projects to emerge throughout the city, including a prostitution task force, a community prosecution project, a community defense program, and the creation of the Office of Problem-Solving Courts within the Maryland judiciary. Lastly, a national symposium was held in March of 2007 at the University of Maryland School of Law to discuss community justice, engaging both local and national participants. The School of Law established itself as an effective convener. School Conflict Resolution As part of the community justice initiative, the Center for Dispute Resolution at the University of Maryland School of Law (C-DRUM) proposed to implement a demonstration project in conflict resolution at one specific school, the Southside Academy of Cherry Hill. The program was to consist of a peer mediation program, coupled with efforts to spread the philosophy and practice of alternative conflict resolution throughout the school. Beginning in the fall of 2005, C-DRUM staff began to implement the peer mediation model in Southside. The first mediation session took place in February of 2006, and a small number of other sessions were held in the course of the spring semester. Despite the efforts of C-DRUM staff, however, the peer mediation program never received the level of institutional support that was necessary from Southside Academy. In the spring of 2007, C-DRUM broke away from the Southside Academy and turned its attention to the Baltimore Freedom Academy (BFA), a high school that seemed more receptive to conflict resolution efforts. In March 2007, C-DRUM staff held a training for 13 students at the Baltimore Freedom Academy to become peer mediators. The mediation sessions began almost immediately, and 18 mediation sessions took place the first month of implementation. The students who participated in mediation sessions were surveyed at the end of the school year, and the results were mostly encouraging. In addition, a teacher survey was distributed in the spring of 2007, and teacher feedback was positive about the use of conflict management techniques within their classrooms. C-DRUM currently has plans to continue the peer mediation program as well as implement a more comprehensive conflict resolution program in the Baltimore Freedom Academy during the 2007-08 school year that would incorporate teacher training in classroom management techniques. Youth Advocacy The final component of the Baltimore Community Justice Initiative involved the piloting of a youth advocacy program within a school environment. The Community Law in Action Center (CLIA) at the University of Maryland School of Law planned to recruit a small number of teenagers to be trained in advocacy. This group of teenagers would then accompany CLIA into the Cherry Hill community to identify a specific youth safety concern on which to focus their advocacy project. Concurrent with the youth advocacy piece, CLIA would help the Southside Academy set up a youth court and a student government. However, late in the spring of 2006, the entire youth advocacy plan was rebuffed by the administration at the Southside Academy. In January of 2007, CLIA staff put together a new plan with three components: • The Youth Media Showcase was hosted by CLIA at the National Symposium on community justice at the University of Maryland School of Law. Youth from around the country were invited to send in video tapes of their vision of violence and self in the community. The youth media showcase was the opening event for Beginning in the fall of 2005, C-DRUM staff began to implement the peer mediation model in Southside. The first mediation session took place in February of 2006, and a small number of other sessions were held in the course of the spring semester. Despite the efforts of C-DRUM staff, however, the peer mediation program never received the level of institutional support that was necessary from Southside Academy. In the spring of 2007, C-DRUM broke away from the Southside Academy and turned its attention to the Baltimore Freedom Academy (BFA), a high school that seemed more receptive to conflict resolution efforts. In March 2007, C-DRUM staff held a training for 13 students at the Baltimore Freedom Academy to become peer mediators. The mediation sessions began almost immediately, and 18 mediation sessions took place the first month of implementation. The students who participated in mediation sessions were surveyed at the end of the school year, and the results were mostly encouraging. In addition, a teacher survey was distributed in the spring of 2007, and teacher feedback was positive about the use of conflict management techniques within their classrooms. C-DRUM currently has plans to continue the peer mediation program as well as implement a more comprehensive conflict resolution program in the Baltimore Freedom Academy during the 2007-08 school year that would incorporate teacher training in classroom management techniques. Youth Advocacy The final component of the Baltimore Community Justice Initiative involved the piloting of a youth advocacy program within a school environment. The Community Law in Action Center (CLIA) at the University of Maryland School of Law planned to recruit a small number of teenagers to be trained in advocacy. This group of teenagers would then accompany CLIA into the Cherry Hill community to identify a specific youth safety concern on which to focus their advocacy project. Concurrent with the youth advocacy piece, CLIA would help the Southside Academy set up a youth court and a student government. However, late in the spring of 2006, the entire youth advocacy plan was rebuffed by the administration at the Southside Academy. In January of 2007, CLIA staff put together a new plan with three components: • The Youth Media Showcase was hosted by CLIA at the National Symposium on community justice at the University of Maryland School of Law. Youth from around the country were invited to send in video tapes of their vision of violence and self in the community. The youth media showcase was the opening event for Beginning in the fall of 2005, C-DRUM staff began to implement the peer mediation model in Southside. The first mediation session took place in February of 2006, and a small number of other sessions were held in the course of the spring semester. Despite the efforts of C-DRUM staff, however, the peer mediation program never received the level of institutional support that was necessary from Southside Academy. In the spring of 2007, C-DRUM broke away from the Southside Academy and turned its attention to the Baltimore Freedom Academy (BFA), a high school that seemed more receptive to conflict resolution efforts. In March 2007, C-DRUM staff held a training for 13 students at the Baltimore Freedom Academy to become peer mediators. The mediation sessions began almost immediately, and 18 mediation sessions took place the first month of implementation. The students who participated in mediation sessions were surveyed at the end of the school year, and the results were mostly encouraging. In addition, a teacher survey was distributed in the spring of 2007, and teacher feedback was positive about the use of conflict management techniques within their classrooms. C-DRUM currently has plans to continue the peer mediation program as well as implement a more comprehensive conflict resolution program in the Baltimore Freedom Academy during the 2007-08 school year that would incorporate teacher training in classroom management techniques. Youth Advocacy The final component of the Baltimore Community Justice Initiative involved the piloting of a youth advocacy program within a school environment. The Community Law in Action Center (CLIA) at the University of Maryland School of Law planned to recruit a small number of teenagers to be trained in advocacy. This group of teenagers would then accompany CLIA into the Cherry Hill community to identify a specific youth safety concern on which to focus their advocacy project. Concurrent with the youth advocacy piece, CLIA would help the Southside Academy set up a youth court and a student government. However, late in the spring of 2006, the entire youth advocacy plan was rebuffed by the administration at the Southside Academy. In January of 2007, CLIA staff put together a new plan with three components: • The Youth Media Showcase was hosted by CLIA at the National Symposium on community justice at the University of Maryland School of Law. Youth from around the country were invited to send in video tapes of their vision of violence and self in the community. The youth media showcase was the opening event for the Symposium and was attended by more than 100 people. • Teen Leaders for Change was created in Cherry Hill by recruiting five to ten high school seniors from a different school, the New Era Academy, training them in advocacy, and then paying them to work in the community. CLIA taught the teens mapping skills and sent them out to survey the Cherry Hill neighborhood. They also linked the youth to a community-based mentoring program for kids at risk for gang involvement. • CLIA also recruited a group of youth for Pigtown advocacy. The youth were charged with walking the community streets to identify code violations, writing up their work into a report and giving a public presentation of their findings. Details: New York: Center for Court Innovation, 2007. 67p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 18, 2012 at: http://www.courtinnovation.org/sites/default/files/Baltimore_Eval.pdf Year: 2007 Country: United States URL: http://www.courtinnovation.org/sites/default/files/Baltimore_Eval.pdf Shelf Number: 125670 Keywords: Community Justice (Baltimore)Community ParticipationCommunity ProsecutionCommunity-Based ProgramsCriminal Justice SystemsDispute SettlementYouth Advocacy Programs |