Red Hook Planning Diary

• NCJ Number: 179622
• Author(s): Greg Berman
• Date Published: 1999
• Length: 10 pages
• Grant Number(s): 96-DD-BX-0090 (S-1)
• Sponsoring Agency: Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)
• Corporate Author: Center for Justice Innovation
• Sale Source: NCJRS Photocopy Services; Center for Justice Innovation
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper charts how one community court planner addressed some of the challenges of early planning for a community court, including community needs assessment, fundraising, and program design.

Abstract

This paper tells the story of the initial days of the Red Hook Community Justice Center, a neighborhood-based court in southwest Brooklyn, N.Y. It focuses on the early stages of planning, from 1994 to 1996. In the middle of 1994, the District Attorney's Office and the Center for Court Innovation agreed that the feasibility of a community court in Red Hook should be explored. These two agencies cooperated in composing a joint funding application that was presented to the New York City Housing Authority, since more than 70 percent of Red Hook's residents live in public housing. The grant awarded enabled the Center for Court Innovation to hire the author of this paper as a planner. The first task of the planner was to organize a series of focus groups with Red Hook residents. The focus groups were productive, yielding valuable data on community attitudes and expectations, as well as building neighborhood support. Over the next several months, the planner met with every conceivable stakeholder. Early partnerships were developed with the District Attorney's Office and Victim Services. A joint project was launched in the fall of 1995. The Red Hook Public Safety Corps was established as a community service program that put 50 local residents to work on crime prevention and victim assistance projects. Beyond its intrinsic value to the community, the Public Safety Corps served another important purpose; it kept talk of the Justice Center alive during some of the project's lengthy "dry spells" when progress was slow. This paper concludes with a description of the development of the site for the Justice Center and fundraising efforts. A ground breaking ceremony for the Red Hook Community Justice Center was held in the summer of 1998. The Justice Center officially opened in early 2000.