The Pajaronian published an interview CRC's Dany Torres and Alaya Vautier on December 22, 2021 about recruiting bilingual and bicultural volunteers for the DAOs Neighborhood Courts Program:

"A restorative justice-based program of the County District Attorney’s Office in partnership with the Conflict Resolution Center (CRC), NCP utilizes panels of trained citizens to determine outcomes for offenders of certain low-level misdemeanors. 

According to program coordinator Danitza Torres, the initiative has so far worked—successfully giving both offenders and victims in Santa Cruz County a chance to safely discuss the crime, decide on reparations and, eventually, heal.

“Out of 45 conferences … We had 35 participants who have so far completed their agreement, and they’re now completely out of the system,” Torres said. “Which is really good. We’ve had really good feedback. They’re appreciative of the program, and that they have a safe space where they can talk things out.”
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Read the whole article here. 

The California Health Report recently wrote an article about youth and restorative justice programs. CRC's Restorative Justice Programs Director, Alaya Vautier, was interviewed for the article.

"Coastal Santa Cruz County — a historically progressive region in the southern reaches of the greater Bay Area — has embraced restorative justice wholeheartedly. In Santa Cruz County, where 200-plus juvenile misdemeanor crimes are charged each year, the nonprofit Conflict Resolution Center runs two publicly funded youth diversion programs for minors charged with misdemeanor crimes such as shoplifting and minor burglaries. 

Last year, nine teens took part in the center’s victim-offender dialogue program, mostly held over Zoom. A total of 55 youth were referred to parent-teen mediation. In addition, 54 youth participated in victim awareness education classes.

Vautier said “there’s a will” among local officials to apply more restorative justice practices as a preventive measure, before youth even end up in detention. 

“Juvenile probation here is pretty progressive and very interested in keeping them out of juvenile hall as much as possible, to do things differently,” she said. “If we could reach the youth before they go through court, we might have better outcomes.”'
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You can read the whole article here. 

Community TV's (communitytv.org) Steve Pleich and Keith Gudger kindly interviewed our Neighborhood Courts Program Coordinator Dany Torres and our Restorative Justice Programs Director Alaya Vautier. They spoke about our work co-creating the Neighborhood Courts Program with the District Attorney's Office as well as a quick highlight of our many mediation and training programs. Check it out on on Community TV (communitytv.org) where it will be shown every Tuesday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 4:00 pm for all of August and always available on YouTube.

BY HUGH MCCORMICK
POSTED ON DECEMBER 18, 2018
GOOD TIMES SANTA CRUZ
​War took 13-year-old Lejla Bratovic and her family by surprise.