What does “public safety” mean? To elected officials, the words often mean buying or managing buildings - like jails. To people in bureaucracies it’s all about money…for it refers to the Public Safety department; so it's about budgets, police, and equipment.

From childhood, we learn what safe or safety means from our protectors. So we have a bias and this bias pre-conditions how we see the world.

Let’s chat about where our money goes as different from where we think it goes. Times have changed - and so do the services that used to exist. There are big gaps, and those gaps are often unseen - for the words used before do not match reality today.

Is what we think happens within the criminal justice system ACTUALLY happening? As a community member, taxpayer, and contributing person, are our ideas of the justice system equal to the reality of how it works today?

Our coalition has figured out there are BIG gaps. It's time to find out what they are and to make changes and course corrections to get a better return for the taxpayer's trust.

We CAN intercept mass incarceration and violence at the pre-jail/pre-prison level.

In this episode, we are talking about ‘hard stuff’ that gets swept under the rug of the judicial system. Unchecked, we have found that the pre and post effects of any interaction with the justice system creates a breeding ground for oppression, fear, and unchecked recidivism.

Our guest Chene Keltz shared the impact of her past incarceration experience and how she worked through her own intergenerational trauma history, healing, and understanding. Using her invaluable lived, learned knowledge, Chene discusses how she is now able to support clients as they navigate the stressful complexities of court appearances and understand that as citizens their voice and their rights matter.

In this conversation, we expose the smoldering inferno of Civic Unrest. The key to repairing harm and rebuilding the community is using Restorative Justice principles and practices and understanding THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL IMPACTS OF OUR PUBLIC INVESTMENTS IN PUBLIC SAFETY.

Join us as we share raw, real incidences where errors and inconsistencies were blatant and disregarded. Court navigation curriculum is essential to all public persons and we share a bit about how it works.

Paradigms, puzzles, and paradoxes. A minefield of confusion. Are the law and justice system working for or against the people’s safety, for or against the police? What is public safety anyway? How much does it cost us? Let’s talk about it.

What is the common good? How can we challenge our minds to see predicaments as opportunities to think differently about justice, rehabilitation, recovery, employment, jobs? Why can’t we put people to work rather than into jail?

Through years of advocacy, working with defendants in the justice system we have found that it is often not the defendant’s issues that made the system harder than it needs to be. Often it is the administration of the system that creates conflicts and problems. Administration can be changed. Join us as we call out some of these inconsistencies, share research and real experiences we have used to navigate the system. Our claim is that we can change the system so it will work in favor of our public safety, in favor of our communities, counties, states, and even countries. There IS a way to balance consequence with restoration, it is called Restorative Action!

Stories, facts, and truth collide in the world of justice, jails, and prisons. How does it work? Local people talk about how an arrest changes reality. What we are told is filled with misinformation, misperceptions, and preconceptions.
Real human beings are paying the price - as taxpayers, as employers, as a community.
What’s the real cost - the real price we pay for the phrase, “Commit a crime, do the time”? Who really pays the bills? Where does the money come from and where does it go? Let’s take down the walls of silence and listen to what is really going on, so we can re-learn how to be a human and function in a world that cares about others.
Facing false beliefs about criminals and justice can be uncomfortable, yet it is critical we look and listen. We have hundreds of years of pre-conditioned habits of how we think about criminals, courts, laws, and justice. It is easy to gloss over the rhetoric and defend the systems we do not understand. We’ve been taught to avoid talking about our problems, to follow the laws no matter what, and to never question their word.

What’s the word bullying mean to you? Does it mean something personal, or it is a news story? How does the word relate to justice? Has it changed in the past few years as we deal with police protests, violence in schools, racism, the riot at the nation’s capital?

In this episode, we dig deeper into bullying as it applies inside the criminal, civil and legislative systems. Let’s talk about its effects in the workplaces, around the issues with police and riots this past year, or how it affects cultural and religious groups. What about the class bullying between the homeless and the law? Bullying comes in many forms ranging from practically invisible to flat-out assault. For 800 years the law and justice system has developed, become institutionalized…and now is challenged with abuse of power, privilege, and prestige issues. Join us as we discuss our personal experiences and how we, in our community, have a new opportunity to reverse the increasing violence…and to restore justice!

iChange podcast-Why does it matter?

Why on earth would we want to expose the ‘justice system’ inconsistencies? Why risk our individual freedoms and reputations?

Why are we willing to step out and speak up about sensitive information which can ignite so many perceptions?

What difference does it make if we do or don't speak up about the injustices with the system?

There are many layers of the effects the system has on families, communities, and even as a country or world! Recidivism is real, it is continuing to grow and yet it is correctable through evidence-based practices which is our hope to implement directly into the system.

Using our times of trauma, restoration, and education to speak up for the millions of others who are frozen with fear, fear of condemnation by a system that rules with power and fear. Let's work together to drop the false beliefs and learn to do things differently.

Join us as we speak our truth and put it out into the universe so the power can then be shifted and put back into the hands of a healed and healthy system. Humanity is alive and we owe our next generations the knowledge and empowerment to continue to grow closer through our differences.

What is justice anyway? It depends on the eye of the beholder. Four people from the Restorative CommUnity Coalition with lived experience in the field talk about justice in America from their perspective.

Series 1 of many to come, this show is all about dropping the veil on the criminal justice system.

Over 800 years and the system has not budged on restoring anyone, in fact, quite the opposite. Why do we have over 9 million people in prison in the US? Who is paying for all of the ins and outs of the system? Why do people, more times than not, end up back in prison for sometimes up to 10-20 or more times? How can we speak up about changing the system processes so our country can thrive?

If you are at all ignited with curiosity then please bring your open mind and heart to hear from community members from all walks of life. We will have corporate, non-profit, public service, students and those who have been affected by the system firsthand comment on their experiences, beliefs, and hope for the future.

Are we all just continuing to do what our ancestors taught just because they said it is so? Where does the insanity stop? When are we as a country, as a world, going to be ready to say to ourselves, “Maybe what I was told, taught, and believed  is wrong?” A heavy question! Join us in the discussions and sign up for membership to access exclusive research, training and upcoming events.