Our Impact

For the over 100 young people we have worked alongside who were facing charges:

  • 70% of young people received no prison time and were able to be held accountable in the community

  • 310+ years have been diverted from the prison system

  • 84% reduction in length of sentencing relative to initial charges

    See below for personal testimonies from young person we have been able to work with

 
 
 

Maturity and Growth Mindset

“[The system is] trying to hold the old me against the new me so, I mean, I don’t really know what to say with that one. If they can’t tell from now and then, the there’s really something wrong because the mindset that I had then and now is different, totally different.”
—Jamari McDaniel, excerpt from Manifest Justice

Accountability 

“If you are going to be in [Community Passageways] you need to show up because it is going to affect everyone after you.”
—Young Adult Focus Group Participant

“I wasn’t doing what I am now. I didn’t have nothing going as much as I do now. I actually got something to lose more than before.”
—Jamari McDaniel, excerpt from Manifest Justice

School Engagement

“In Junior year of high school, I wasn’t really focused on school, wasn’t really going to be on track to graduate my senior year. That summer I was hired as an intern through Community Passageways […] That showed me that I should be doing something with myself. Starting my senior year, I enrolled into pilot school. And I graduated pilot school and I graduated high school with the equivalent of an AA degree.”—Andre Brewer, Excerpt from Seattle City Budget Public Hearing

In surveys of high school-based healing circles participants, 83% of students indicated that they were more motivated to be engaged in other classes after participating in healing circles.

 

 
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Opportunities

“I’m about to be 25% owner of a company, about to get my LLC, and these are words I never even knew, these were things I never even imagined in my life I’ve got my own apartment now and it’s all just thanks to everybody in [Community Passageways] and I’m just fully thankful.”—Kaeshon Adams, Excerpt from Seattle City Budget Public Hearing

Interpersonal Skills 

“Most skills I already knew but didn’t use them, so they helped coach and help me actually do them. Like a refreshment thing for me.”
—Young Adult Focus Group Participant

“I am more mature now. I also learned to be calmer, like knowing how to speak with people with power.”
—Young Adult Focus Group Participant

Facilitating Meaningful Conversations 

“I like the deeper, more meaningful conversations. I was able to gain information to give.”
—Young Adult Focus Group Participant, reflecting on Healing Circles

100% of surveyed healing circle students agreed that learning new information about black history and economics had an effect on how the young person understood and perceived themselves.