Community Passageways
Organization Details
We serve youth and young adults who are at-risk or are impacted by criminal legal involvement and community gun violence. We’re advocates at every stage of the criminal legal process - prevention, diversion, detention and re-entry and in every setting - the community, classroom, and courtroom. We support those who are shot and those who shoot and believe both are victims of gun violence.
We leverage our street credibility while implementing a strategic response to individuals vulnerable to violence. We’re Community Intervention Professionals trained and certified in multiple safety and support disciplines to protect and develop our communities.
We’re partners with human services, public health and public safety agencies to utilize a trilateral approach that includes before, during, and after attention and tactics to deescalate conflict. We're critical components of the Seattle Public Safety system.
We’re connectors for individuals and families to needed resources and support services.
Impact Story
Youth who show unproductive behaviors are almost always troubled young people who don’t have enough connection in their lives or who have suffered past traumas, such as racism. Perhaps their families are dysfunctional or abusive, or they’re suffering from mental illness and no one has helped them get treatment. They may be exhausted, chronically stressed, and anxious due to living in poverty.
We believe that criminalization and ostracization are ineffective deterrents to undesirable behaviors and that the carceral system—policing, jail, and state supervision—further harms young people who have already been negatively impacted by trauma.
Our work is driven by the belief that guidance and support are more effective in inspiring young people to make positive choices, seeing their unlimited potential and envisioning a future where they can live their lives fully and thrive.
Our aim is to replace the school-to-prison pipeline with a school-to-life success pipeline. Instead of suspensions and expulsions, we strive for restorative and culturally relevant programming. Instead of police, prosecutors, and judges, we operate with mentors, counselors, and circle keepers. Instead of frustration and denial, we build purpose and opportunity. Instead of jails, we will have homes, schools, jobs, and a community that stands with our youth.
Community Passageways works with young people facing felony charges in the juvenile and adult criminal courts. The legal system has recognized and commended our success at engaging and changing their trajectory. Of the collective 370 years our young people were facing, 311 years were diverted from jail time—an overall 84% reduction in length of sentencing and 70% received no prison time at all. The young people who have been able to stay in the community have gone on to start businesses, graduate from high school, attend college, and actively participate in changing the narrative of not only their own lives, but their communities.
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