BUILDING COMMUNITY
Creating thriving communities requires understanding the needs of those communities. For the District Attorney, that means engaging with community members at every level of the Office — because it is impossible to work for a community without working with it. Sign on if you agree!
Under Lucy’s leadership, community engagement will be an Office-wide priority. Community engagement has traditionally been the responsibility of a separate unit within the DA’s Office, removed from the practice of most Assistant District Attorneys (ADAs), the people responsible for interfacing most often with community members. The propensity to silo community engagement prevents offices from serving their communities to the fullest, and obscures the mandate of the DA: to promote and support communal thriving.
Office-wide community engagement fosters greater understanding and accommodation of the particular problems, priorities, and needs of all Manhattan communities. Equally important to understanding these needs is building confidence in the system and trust with the public. This trust will lead to increased reporting of crime in communities that are historically distrustful of law enforcement, and a higher likelihood of witness cooperation, thus leading to more precise law enforcement that responds directly to the needs of community members. Community engagement also allows communities to have their voices heard and included in the setting of Office goals, and can help shift focus to affirmative promotion of safer, healthier communities and away from retroactive prosecution.
The only way the Office can engage on a deep level is through sustained listening and learning on the part of every member of the Office.
To facilitate this process, Lucy will:
Create an affinity-based Advisory Council comprised of Office leadership, community leadership, members of the Community Partnerships Unit, ADAs, and formerly incarcerated community members. These Councils will serve as trusted advisors and influential thought partners within the Office. Crucially, these Advisory Councils will not replace direct forms of community engagement like attendance at gatherings but will serve as an extra point of contact with community leaders. The Advisory Councils will also help make determinations about allocation of resources and support to neighborhoods and issues where they are most needed.
End Office policy preventing ADAs from participating in community boards and associations. To date, ADAs have been prohibited from serving their communities by joining community boards and associations. This policy prevents ADAs from participating directly and is an obstacle to their engaging with community members in informal contexts. Lucy will not only end this policy but will actively promote opportunities for ADAs to serve their communities outside of day to day responsibilities.
Engage with Faith-based institutions and leaders. Lucy recognizes that faith institutions are central pillars and support networks for many justice-involved and directly impacted community members. As District attorney, Lucy will ensure the entire District Attorney’s Office will seek input from Manhattan’s religious and spiritual leaders. These relationships will be bidirectional, with both parties working together to build safer, flourishing communities.
Incorporate community work into performance review structure in order to promote true Office-wide community engagement. Community interaction must become an important metric on which ADAs will be evaluated. ADAs will thus be strongly encouraged to frequent community events, participate in community programming, and attend community meetings as part of their performance evaluation. By changing the metrics of evaluation in this way, Lucy will make clear to all staff members that participating in and serving the community is the Office’s lodestar.
Embed community advocates in the Trial Bureaus to collaborate with attorneys in dealing with neighborhood-specific issues. Having community advocates in all trial bureaus ensures that neighborhood issues and communal needs are considered at all stages of a case. These advocates will serve as partners to the ADAs, providing additional context and understating of both the community as a whole and the justice-involved people with whom the ADAs are engaged. This invaluable information will help ADAs make better, more appropriate, and compassionate decisions throughout the lifecycle of a case.