Community Justice Center for the City and County of San Francisco

The Edward Byrne Memorial Discretionary Grants Program (Byrne Discretionary Program) helps local communities improve the capacity of local justice systems and provides for national support efforts. This project is authorized and funded through a line item in the FY 08 Congressional Budget. Funds should be used for purposes recommended by Congress.

The City and County of San Francisco's Department of Public Health will support the Community Justice Center (CJC) of San Francisco. The CJC is an innovative program that seeks to solve neighborhood problems of drugs and crime, as well as address other community needs, and targets the Tenderloin, Union Square, and South of Market districts. The CJC will offer a restorative justice, coordinated approach to clients' problems, allowing an assessment of immediate service needs and helping them navigate the essential services. The CJC judge will have an array of services and sanctions at his or her disposal, including community improvement projects, on-site educational workshops, anger management, G.E.D. classes, substance use treatment, mental health counseling, and public benefits. Neighborhood residents also will be involved in this intervention and the CJC will engage the community in aggressive crime prevention, solving local problems before they even come to court. The CJC will handle all types of low-level criminal cases, excluding violent felonies, domestic violence, and D.U.I. cases.

NCA/NCF