NCJ Number
197245
Journal
Perspectives Volume: 26 Issue: 3 Dated: Summer 2002 Pages: 34-37
Date Published
2002
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article discusses a training module designed to help correctional practitioners engage the community in dialogue and collaborative actions.
Abstract
The Center for Community Corrections was created in 1987 to promote the concept of community-based sanctions. The Center is a broad coalition of citizens, researchers, correctional professionals, and former public officials representing local, State, and Federal concerns. The four goals of the training are to identify and assess the participants’ issues and concerns about community outreach; examine six steps to building successful agency/community relationships; review elements of successful collaborative efforts; and develop individualized plans for a community outreach project. “Community” is broken into various component parts, including business, education, civic, religious, and neighborhood; and those segments of community most relevant to correctional needs are identified. Through self-analysis and creative imaging, the participants face both their own feelings about working with the community and those of their agency colleagues and leadership. Creating a viable outreach will be difficult without an understanding of these dynamics. Participants are asked to think of a project involving the community that they might undertake. They then keep the project in mind as they proceed through a discussion of a series of steps. These steps include determining the project and purpose, selecting and engaging the appropriate segment of the community, and developing preventive strategies to minimize barriers. The training ends with a discussion of likely obstacles in creating connections with the community and brainstorming how to deal with them, a creative exercise in bridge building, a discussion of some successful examples of community collaborations, and the development of at least the first three or four steps of a plan to involve a segment of the community. The content and the process of the training module were tested in order to make sure the content was responsive to the needs of potential participants. The results were positive. The training module and accompanying materials are available without cost to anyone interested.