DRAFT

425 Main Street

Greenfield, MA 01301

Main Number 413-774-5533

contact : Lucinda Brown

Program Purpose: The aim of the Reinventing Justice Initiative is to support innovations and improvements in the administration of justice in Massachusetts courts based on consultation with the community. Programs designed to accomplish this actively involve the community and court personnel in their planning and implementation. Programs, if successful, become integrated into the court's everyday routines and represent another step in their commitment to serving the public in a new, more responsive way.

Since 1994, the Franklin County Reinventing Justice Project has developed a number of collaborative programs, based on input about problems and priorities perceived by the public. Much of the work since the 1994 Town Meetings has focused on how the courts do their work. As the Franklin County Project has matured, project leaders have identified arenas where the courts need community responses. The "Court and Community Counterparts" conference gave participants an opportunity to identify needs that court users have that cannot be met by the courts. New liaisons have begun as a result of the conference that are collaborative explorations into ways that community groups respond to the work of the courts and needs of court users.