 |
Community
Renewal Dialogues
This project
uses two-way interactive video-conferencing to reconnect
victimized individuals and communities to violent offenders
who will soon return to these communities. The Community
Renewal Dialogues project aims to increase the offenders'
sense of responsibility to those who were victimized,
while reintegrating them into community and family life.
The goal is to revive the social engagement that has
been lost to fear and isolation in high-crime neighborhoods.
Since 1999, the project has been linking inmates who
are learning to control their violent behavior at the
San Francisco and San Bruno Jails, with members of San
Francisco's Bayview and Mission District communities.
The project is carried out in cooperation with the San
Francisco Sheriff Department's Resolve to Stop the Violence
Program (RSVP), the Bayview Family Resource Center and
Youth Opportunity San Francisco. The videoconference
technology eliminates the need for complex security clearance
processes that would be necessary for jail visits, minimizing
the intensity of face-to-face meetings in the jail. Mediated
dialogue formats include:
• Employment
Links - job interviews with near-release
offenders.
• Family Links - victimized family members in facilitated
dialogues with inmates.
• Youth Links - dialogues between inmates and at-risk
teens
about the reality of life in jail.
• Survivor Restoration Links – survivors of violent
crimes
connect with violent offenders. |
|
