Community Service Diary: A Great Community Partner

NCS staffers Raul, Janet and Johnathan with Sid Walters (middle) from Bethel.

A community justice initiative, like Newark Community Solutions, by definition will only succeed with the support of strong community partners. One of our best is Bethel Family and Youth Resource Center.  In addition to providing community service opportunities, they offer substance abuse treatment services for some of our participants. Pastor Reginald Osborne and his wife Marian Osborne, the operators of Bethel, have committed decades to serving the community. So, back in 2007, we were understandably thrilled that Pastor Osborne and other community and religious leaders stepped forward to lend us a hand while we planned the project that would become Newark Community Solutions. Six years have passed and the Osborne’s are helping our participants achieve their goals.

Recently, several Newark Community Solutions staffers visited Bethel. Among the familiar faces on hand that day, was a former Newark Community Solutions participant. She’d completed her court imposed mandate two weeks earlier and decided to continue working with Bethel voluntarily. More importantly, she proudly and enthusiastically told them that she had remained substance-free for the last 24 days! She also asked the staff person to relay the good news to Judge Pratt, the judge who’d mandated her to work with Newark Community Solutions. She wanted to tell the judge that she was “very grateful to have been given the opportunity to change her life around.” Thankfully, this isn’t an isolated occurrence. In Judge Pratt’s courtroom in the Newark Municipal Court, defendants do what is often unheard of, they thank the court, on the record, for holding them accountable while guiding them towards the help they need.