Background on TimeBanks USA ()
TimeBanks USA (“TBUSA”) is building a movement to reform economic and social systems, policies and practices so that they empower people to create the type of communities they want and need. With affiliates in more than 35 states and over 30 countries, this nimble “think and do” tank catalyzes innovations. DC’s Time Dollar Youth Courtis one such innovation. It diverts 60-70% of non-violent youth offenses from the Courts back to the community through a peer-governed jury process in which young people restore justice.
The Racial Justice Initiative ()
TBUSA formally launched the Racial Justice Initiative (RJI) in 2009, with its first Colloquium, which collected input for its seminal law review article, An Offer They Can’t Refuse: Deliberate Indifference Meets Juvenile Justice Alternatives that Work, Cahn & Robbins, 13 UDC/DCSL L. Rev. 71 (2010). This article sets forth the RJI’s ever-evolving strategy to challenge policies that disproportionately push young people of color into the delinquency system. Our current work aims to shut down the “School to Prison Pipeline,” byaddressing the effects of long-term suspensions and intensified disciplinary procedures on youth of color – disproportionately pushing them out of school, and making it virtually impossible for them to return after extended absences.
The RJI engages affected students and their families, along with advocates, experts and public officials inPublic Documentation Hearings (PDH),formerly referred to as Public Notice Hearings. These forumsare designed to document evidence about injury and alternatives. Sharing this information publicly creates a record in which all segments of the community can hold one another accountable for doing what we know works. In the context of school discipline, officials face both the injury caused by current practices -- such as exclusionary school discipline, over-reliance on suspension and expulsion or “zero tolerance” --and alternatives that would prevent the injury. Once informed that more effective, less expensive, less discriminatory alternatives to exclusionary school discipline and delinquency system engagement exist, failure to adopt those alternatives may trigger a legal mandate to compel the use of knowledge about effective strategies, policies and practices.
The RJI strategy is grounded in a belief in and support of alternative, community-based programs that are more effective than the present practice of pushing young people of color out of schools and into the juvenile delinquency system. As part of the preparation for a Public Documentation Hearing, the RJI team engages in extensive research and analysis of the targeted jurisdiction. We review local statutes, regulations, policies and practices; perform statistical analysis of the number of youth within the school systems and jurisdiction; determine the percentages referred from key public systems (e.g., law enforcement, schools); and investigate the number and quality of alternatives to system engagement programs currently available and easily replicable from locally and nationally known models. The RJI is excited to learn about community-based alternatives from co-grantees in the Atlantic Philanthropies cohort and others. Another critical aspect of our strategy is the inclusion of young people as forum witnesses and audience members.
Why is the Racial Justice Initiative Focusing on DC?
We anticipate holding a Public Documentation Process in DC because we live here. Our community is also uniquely well positioned to succeed, due to an intensified focus on securing the data to track and address the over-reliance on exclusionary school discipline practices in traditional and charter public schools.In addition, there is an engaged accountability circle ready to use this strategy to challenge, inform and improve the decision-making process at different stages of the school discipline process.We seek commitments from responsible civic and community leaders to participate as witnesses and conveners.We hope to be part of the solution, advancing successful discipline strategies such as positive behaviors and supports, restorative justice, peer mentoring and classroom management techniques to create a culture of achievement and learning in public schools.
Contact Information:
Cynthia Robbins, Esq., Independent Consultant,Co- Leader of RJI, (646)772-0736, ;
Edgar Cahn, PhD. JD, Founder andCo-Chair, TBUSA, Co- Leader of , (202) 262-1176; and
Nicholas Clark, Esq., Associate, RJI, (202) 640-4140, ext.104,