Oakland, CA- On Saturday, February 20, 2016 at the West Oakland Youth Center, the JusticeReinvestment Coalition of Alameda County, a coalition of local community groups representing thousands of East Bay residents, will host a town hall meeting about the problem of “mass incarceration.”
The town hall will allow community members to air concerns about public safety and the current criminal justice system and to build a unified vision for a new public safety system that invests in community-based programs and alternatives to punishment and jails.
Following the town hall, a resource fair will be held to provide direct services and other community-based supports to formerly incarcerated residents. There will be housing services, DMV services, veterans services, legal services for immigration and to help erase felonies under California’s Prop 47, Medi-Cal and EBT enrollment, employment services, etc.
“Spending the County’s scarce resources on locking up community members has created a lot of other problems in our families and neighborhoods and it hasn’t made our communities safer,” said Prince White from Urban Peace Movement. “We need a new vision for investing in solutions that help people get access to the things that we know make safe and healthy neighborhoods such as jobs, education, and mental health support.”
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WHAT: Justice Reinvestment Community Town Hall & Community Resource Fair
WHEN: Saturday, February 20, 2016
10:00am – Town Hall Meeting
1:00pm – Community Resource Fair
WHERE: West Oakland Youth Center, 3233 Market Street, Oakland, CA 94608
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The Justice Reinvestment Coalition of Alameda County is comprised of community-based organizations who are committed to creating a fair and just public safety system based on effective practices that invest in our communities, our families, and our people. We believe it is time for Alameda County to rethink its spending priorities where instead of widely spending on ineffective programs and services in the corrections system, public funding should be reinvestedinto communities that have been most impacted by mass incarceration policies.
The following organizations are members of the Justice Reinvestment Coalition:
All of Us or None/Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, East Bay Community Law Center, Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ), Urban Peace Movement, Bay Area Black Workers Center, Oakland Community Organizations, Oakland Rising, People United for a Better Life in Oakland, Urban Strategies Council, Causa Justa :: Just Cause.