Oyate Hotanin
Report date
February 2021
What has been most instrumental to your progress?
Our leadership role at the JDAI collaborative table continues to be pivotal in our efforts to expand and sustain systems transformation. Two Examples: 1) Tri-Chair Special Project: The death of George Floyd created an inflection point around racial justice – a window of public interest we have previously seen open then close as public attention wanes. Our collective community/system leadership model helped us build momentum as well as surf the disruptions caused by COVID-19. We engaged in 40+ one-on-one conversations with key stakeholders and created a plan of action for meaningful change to be implemented in 2021. 2) Educational Equity in the Juvenile Detention Center (JDC): COVID restrictions meant JDC students received paper lesson handouts and no actual instruction, shedding a light on educational deficiencies for confined youth. We led conversations and convened an action team of relevant leaders and staff from JDC and SPPS to find a solution. As a result, JDC students received ipads, internet access, credit audits, and online courses that earned them credits towards diplomas. In 2021, this work will expand to youth on probation and those in placements, including prison.
We RESOLVE: a Participatory Defense Hub: We have been working with Silicon Valley De-Bug to establish a Participatory Defense Hub serving individuals charged with crimes and their families in Ramsey County and the wider metro area. Participatory Defense is a community organizing model that has been shown to reduce conviction rates, length of sentences, and isolation for individuals and families going through court proceedings. We recruited, trained, and assigned 8 community members to serve as Participatory Defense Advocates for individuals and their families. We also formally opened our Participatory Defense Hub to the public and have begun working with our first participants. Our Resolve weekly meetings give us a fresh center and focus for our community organizing, bring meaningful support to families as people face charges, and serve as a front door to our coalition building for policy and practice change.
REPAIR Community Circles: We laid the groundwork for reparative circles by hosting a community study and action-planning group, which engaged community members, elected officials, and key system leaders conversations about restorative responses to violence as a path for a next level of meaningful transformation in our criminal justice system. These conversations led to our decision to develop a Community Circles model rooted in Dakota thinking, problem solving principles, and values that can serve individuals from diverse backgrounds. We have convened a team that includes seven Dakota/Lakota practitioners and others from the Black, Hmong, and White communities. This team met for more than 55 hours in late 2020 and early 2021 to create a written plan for implementing the circles and to establish a timetable to advance this work in a thoughtful way in 2021.
Key lessons learned
As the year progressed, the terrain of our work changed significantly due to the unsettling and divisive national politics, the COVID pandemic, and the pain, unrest, and public awakening surrounding the killing of George Floyd. What we learned is that collective leadership needs to be nimble, flexible, and quick to adapt to changes in the landscape. The past year gave us an even deeper appreciation of the impact and effectiveness of collective leadership as we were seldom alone facing key decisions and, therefore, ideas for adapting and changing were easier than they otherwise would have been had we been working in isolation. Our partnerships helped steady our response, enabling us to keep our eye on what we call the horizon line so that we did not get disoriented and stumble. This horizon line was critical in navigating the challenging and rapidly shifting terrain. We constantly looked to those who are incarcerated, detained, and/or facing charges and their loved ones and asked: How are we doing? What else do we need to know or to do to be of the greatest help to you?
Like everyone else, we experienced a year that consisted of unprecedented and unpredictable challenges. Our typical practices around conversations, gatherings, and convening had to shift. By March, we had invested in a Zoom account that gave us unlimited meeting times and attendees. We also purchased a Survey Monkey subscription to aid with our collection of ideas, suggestions, and other feedback. At times, we needed more reflection to steer complex group decisions and direction and video meetings seemed to suck the life out of our connection and reflections. To combat Zoom fatigue and disconnection, we began holding a series of 1:1 conversations prior to large group video conferences. This strategy helped tremendously in keeping everyone connected to the work and ensuring broad voice was heard in every decision. The lesson we learned was the continual need for patience, trust in the collective thinking of all involved, perseverance, and flexibility.
Reflections on inclusive, collaborative or resourceful problem-solving
Where true innovation happens, inclusiveness, collaboration, and resourcefulness are interwoven. While we can’t easily separate one element from the other in our work, “inclusiveness” may have the greatest impact. In criminal justice reform, system sectors (e.g., probation, police, and prosecutors) have historically worked together, intending to improve outcomes for individuals and increase community safety. These systems have also been resourceful in securing funding for their work. What they have lacked, however, is true partnership with community or a deep understanding of community needs. What we bring to the table creates the conditions for true innovation and meaningful, sustainable transformation: a community lens that shows how system-driven practices play out for individuals and families. Does a child return from confinement restored and rejuvenated, or more isolated, destabilized, and vulnerable? Typically, the latter. How is the child’s family doing? Typically, worse. The process of including, rather than discounting, impacted community inspires hope in our families and leads to real and long-lasting solutions being put on the policy table for conversation and funding.
Other key elements of Community Innovation
Creating new models of and skills for community engagement also play an important role in our progress. The model we are experimenting with has been well received by both community and system representatives. It is practical and focused, in that system decision makers get their questions addressed, yet community-centric enough that those not usually in a policy conversation feel at ease to participate freely. While our model is built around an informal shared meal, it also provides a structured space where diverse community representatives have a defined role – whether on a presenting panel or in the audience. System representatives are invited to be present, break bread, and mingle, yet are asked to take an observation-only role during conversations. This structure ensures a safe space where community voice is robust, vulnerable, and honest, and system representatives have access to hear community concerns in a way that typically does not occur. Both the community and system players have been talking about crime and justice for a long time; the roadblock is that we speak our truths in different spaces and rarely to each other. Our model shows promise to bridge this divide.
Understanding the problem
Our work to date has contributed to an understanding in Ramsey County about the harms, poor outcomes, and high expense of facilities and confinement for youth and young adults and an agreement that this approach should no longer be our go-to answer for young people who commit offenses. The work still in front of us is now clear and must address three interrelated concerns: How does the community own and develop our spaces for healing and resiliency building? How do we support each other and strengthen our defense when we face criminal charges and proceedings? How can the system and community work together to build appropriate responses we can use when serious offenses occur?
While many have begun to see that incarceration is harmful, expensive, and ineffective at producing public safety, the general consensus views the response to offenses on a continuum of consequences, with tough-on-crime on one end to leniency (e.g., treatment or community service) on the other. What we have not yet created are ways to hold young people and adults accountable in relationships and responses that are meaningful to them. We intend to continue to lead and participate in this important work.
While many have begun to see that incarceration is harmful, expensive, and ineffective at producing public safety, the general consensus views the response to offenses on a continuum of consequences, with tough-on-crime on one end to leniency (e.g., treatment or community service) on the other. What we have not yet created are ways to hold young people and adults accountable in relationships and responses that are meaningful to them. We intend to continue to lead and participate in this important work.
If you could do it all over again...
Given the year we have endured, we would only say 'Watch out!, don't be caught flat footed! Be gracious and kind to everyone, and be flexible, refresh when needed and keep your eye on the prize!'