Social Venture Partners Boulder County (SVP) proudly announces that Longmont Community Justice Partnership (LCJP) will graduate from our Catapult program in November. SVP has worked alongside LCJP for the last 4 years on many projects including Board Development, Marketing, Leadership Advising, Fundraising Strategies, and Strategic Planning, to build their capacity and position LCJP to further their mission and serve more people in our community.
LCJP has been working in the Longmont community since 1994. Initially, its work focused on addressing bullying and discipline to help keep children in school. In the mid 1990s the organization entered into a “deeper relationship with the city [of Longmont],” says Executive Director Shalene Onyango. She continues, “Because of the work of our founder, Dr. Beverly Title, and her relationship with Police Chief Mike Butler, there was an opportunity to begin utilizing restorative justice as an alternative to the traditional criminal justice system.”
Through the Community Group Conference program, LCJP uses Restorative Justice
and brings together the responsible person {offender} with the people impacted by the crime to “figure out a way for those who have been harmed to be able to move forward after that crime has occurred,” Shalene explains. This program is grounded in the guiding principles of Restorative Justice and Practices which are relationship, respect, responsibility, repair, and reintegration. LCJP’s vision, according to its website LCJP.org is that we can live in a “world where people experience interconnectedness, are proactively accountable, and choose to transform conflict with justice that creates peace.”
To further this vision, LCJP has partnered with the City of Longmont’s REWiND [Rebuilding Expectations and Walking in New Directions] program” Shalene explains “REWiND is an opportunity for all youth (who meet the criteria) to not be charged with their crime, but instead they can receive mental health services, education support, family counseling, substance abuse interventions, leadership courses, and restorative justice” all of which are grounded in helping the youth take accountability and learn from their mistakes. The program has proved to be very successful. Shalene says that the program has served over 200 youth since last year and has had very few re-offenders. LCJP is continuously working to develop new and relevant programs to meet the needs that arise in our community.
“We continue to build community responsiveness and care, stepping up to try and respond to community needs,” says Crystal Salvador-Zapote, LCJP’s Community Engagement Manager. LCJP also offers training in Restorative Practices for schools, law enforcement, and the community— including other community-based organizations. The training focuses on giving individuals skills needed to address conflict and build community. They teach people how to have difficult conversations and identify when harm occurs and give them tools to be able to address the situation with curiosity and vulnerability.
LCJP relies on volunteers to facilitate conferences and participate as community members. If you would like to get involved, you can apply to volunteer on the website: lcjp.org/volunteer.
LCJP has helped over 15,000 people repair and find a way to move forward. Congratulations to LCJP on 30 years of helping the Boulder County community.
