City of Boulder Community Court “On the Move”
In early June, the Boulder Community Court Program will be conducting its outreach at two new locations. Beginning Thursday, June 6, 2024, the program will operate weekly at the plaza area just west of the Penfield Tate Municipal building at Canyon and Broadway from 9-11 a.m. The Community Court Program will also be conducting a similar outreach program weekly at the Day Services Center at the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless facility on North Broadway.
The Community Court Program is a collaboration between the Boulder Municipal Court, the City Attorney’s Office and a number of community and criminal justice partners that provides outreach and case-resolution opportunities to Boulder’s unhoused community. This initiative helps resolve low-level petty offense and misdemeanor charges facing individuals experiencing homelessness. Individuals facing these low-level charges are offered the opportunity to resolve cases by fulfilling conditions that address the underlying causes of that individual’s involvement in the criminal justice system. This can include working with the program to secure assistance in becoming document-ready for housing, mental health and substance use support, and assistance navigating pending cases in the state court system.
Boulder Community Court began in 2020, after the municipal court secured a $400,000 grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). This BJA grant provided the municipal court with the resources necessary to implement this unique, people-centered approach. The program has been a great success. Boulder Municipal Court Administrator De’Von Kissick-Kelly, notes that “when an individual becomes housed, the number of citations that individual receives falls dramatically, a direct reflection of that individual’s improved stability. The collaboration between the various non-profit and criminal justice agencies focuses on housing as well as the wrap-around services that are often so necessary for an individual to succeed once housed.”
Over the past several years, the Community Court Program has conducted outreach in outdoor areas offered by Boulder’s faith community, most recently at the Trinity Lutheran Church at Broadway and Pine St. The upcoming change in locations represents an exciting opportunity for the program to advance its capability to assist Boulder’s unhoused population and further the Boulder Municipal Court’s and City Attorney’s Office’s mission of resolving low-level criminal offenses outside of the traditional criminal justice process while improving safety for the entire community.
For more information about Community Courts, visit the city’s webpage.