Civic Justice

The Civic Justice Corps (CJC), the first-ever national service initiative that affirmatively recruits people with criminal convictions to public service, makes it possible for formerly incarcerated and court-involved youth to make the transition to independent, productive lives, often with employment in the green economy. Through national service, a strategy that enrolls young people in programs meeting local needs, Corpsmembers engage in visible and valuable service projects designed to improve community health, safety, beauty, and sustainability. CJC Corpsmembers improve their communities by planting trees in bare urban landscapes, weatherizing the homes of their low-income neighbors, replacing sidewalks on dilapidated streets, installing green roofs on city government buildings, and generally meeting the needs of their communities.

Civic Justice Corps sets challenging goals and provides a support system through the time in the Corps, extending 18 months after the Corps experience, drawing on formal working relationships with justice agencies, employers, and other partners. Corpsmembers serve while earning a high school diploma or GED, an AmeriCorps education award scholarship based on hours of service, and while they prepare for transitions to careers and further education.

Strong Outcomes
CJC is data-driven: tracked outcomes provide hard evidence of substantial change. Fourteen sites, from California to Wisconsin to Florida, in their first 18 months reduced recidivism to 8.8%, exceeded outcomes for enrollment, and placed 72.9% of participants in jobs and/or continuing education-including almost 44% employed in high growth industries.

Effective Practices
CJC levels the playing field for a growing population-young men and women who, even before they were incarcerated or court-involved, often had left school, lacked jobs, were transitioning out of foster care, and were often homeless-enabling them to have the kind of success made possible by other means in middle-class families.

Through remediation and acceleration of learning, Corpsmembers can earn a high school diploma or GED while preparing for achievement in and through post-secondary education and credentials.

Through coaching, delivered by trustworthy adult guides, often missing in Corpsmembers' lives, they gain essential life skills, financial management skills, and structured career preparation.

Through service and service learning, they develop the ability to solve problems in their communities as well as in their personal lives. They also obtain work readiness skills as well as skills specific to high-growth industries, particularly those in the green economy. In all areas, they gain the satisfaction of competence and adulthood: becoming empowered, responsible for others and for themselves.

Through individual case management, CJC removes barriers to achievement and connects its Corpsmembers to education, employment, and the engaged presence of caring adults with high expectations. Corpsmembers receive living stipends, AmeriCorps Education Awards encouraging further education, and access to other vital support services, such as childcare, transportation, food, clothing, and healthcare benefits (which may include prescription medicine, doctor visits, and mental health care).

At the end of the term of service, the program provides internships for Corpsmembers and a full 18 months of post-program follow-up, coaching Corpsmembers through independent living, through education, through keeping a job and continuing to make healthy choices.

The Corps Network is working to expand the successful Civic Justice Corps model, which re-engages court-involved and formerly incarcerated youth, by passing the Civic Justice Corps Demonstration Act sponsored by Vice President Biden. We have recently released an important policy paper, Civic Justice Corps: Transforming Re-Entry Through Service, outlining the strengths and promise of the Civic Justice Corps model. We also continue monitoring the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act for other opportunities.