Worth would not be possible with the help and contributions of the following organizations
The Social Intervention Group
The Social Intervention Group (SIG) is a multidisciplinary research center at the Columbia University School of Social Work that works to develop and test effective prevention and intervention models and disseminate them to local, national, and international communities. SIG’s research addresses the co-occurring problems of HIV, drug abuse, intimate partner violence and trauma.
The Columbia Center For New Media Teaching and Learning CNMTL
The Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning (CCNMTL) was founded at Columbia University in 1999 to enhance teaching and learning through the purposeful use of new media. In partnership with faculty, the Center supports efforts ranging from basic course website management to advanced project development. CCNMTL also extends the scope and reach of its work with strategic initiatives that engage educators, librarians, partner institutions, and the community in the reinvention of education for the digital age.
The Bronx Community Solutions
Bronx Community Solutions is an initiative that seeks to apply a problem-solving approach to non-violent cases in the Bronx. Its goal is to provide judges with increased sentencing options for non-violent offenses such as drug possession, prostitution and shoplifting. By combining punishment with help, Bronx Community Solutions seeks to reduce the Bronx’s reliance on expensive and ineffective short-term jail sentences, and build public confidence that the system is holding offenders accountable and offering them the assistance they need to avoid further criminal conduct. The project builds on the successful community courts, which have reduced local crime, improved compliance with alternative sanctions and strengthened the connections between courts and communities. The project, the largest of its kind, is the nation’s most ambitious experiment in going to scale with problem-solving justice.
Midtown Community Court
Launched in 1993, the Midtown Community Court targets quality-of-life offenses, such as prostitution, illegal vending, graffiti, shoplifting, fare beating and vandalism. Typically in these cases, judges are forced to choose between a few days of jail time and nothing at all sentences that fail to impress the victim, the community and the defendants that these offenses are taken seriously. In contrast, the Midtown Community Court sentences low-level offenders to pay back the neighborhood through community service, while at the same time offering them help with problems that often underlie criminal behavior. The Court works in partnership with local residents, businesses and social service agencies in order to organize community service projects and provide on-site social services, including drug treatment and mental health counseling.
The New York City Department of Probation
The New York City Department of Probation helps build stronger and safer communities by supervising people on probation and fostering opportunities for them to move out of the criminal justice system through meaningful education, employment, health services, family engagement and community participation.
