Harm Free Zones
What is a Harm Free Zone?
Genuine security derives from strong relationships between community members, an understanding of power and inequality inside and outside our communities, and spaces for dialogue and growth.
The purpose of the HFZ is to reduce our community's reliance on police and prisons as a solution to social, economic and political problems.
The HFZ project has four components:
* Collaboration
* Popular Education
* Action
* Documentation/evaluation
We are working to expand the reach of the HFZ to citywide community organizing. We believe that the model accommodates multiple groups with multiple issues, and provides a base for citywide campaigns.
The Harm Free Zone (HFZ) project provides tools and trainings to local communiites to both strengthen and develop their capacity to confront and transform state violence and interpersonal conflict.
The goals of the project are:
1. To facilitate community-driven strategies and methods to prevent or intervene in incidences of interpersonal conflict and state violence.
2. To uncover and document intervention practices that already occur within distinct communities and/or networks.
HRZ Organizing Partners:
* SpiritHouse NC
* Critical Resistance
* The Ella Baker Women's Center for Leadership and Community Activism
* SCSJ
* Ubuntu
* Youth Noise network
Resources
For more information on Harm Free Zones, visit:
www.harmfreezone.org
www.creative-interventions.org
The Sentencing Project has just published a new edition of "Reducing Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice System," a comprehensive manual for practitioners and policymakers. The publication provides insight into how racial disparities develop in the criminal justice system, and workable solutions to address and reduce disparities. The manual provides strategies for addressing disparities at each stage of the system, as well as 17 "best practices" illustrating practitioner approaches for enhancing fairness.
