In a move to mend the tears in the fabric of communities wracked by crime, the Healey-Driscoll Administration has ladled out a hearty $380,000 stew of grants to 13 local organizations dedicated to the art and science of restorative justice. The cash infusion, doled out through the Commonwealth Restorative Justice Community Grant Program and administered by the always-busy bees at the Office of Grants and Research, a subsidiary of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, aims to foster practices that heal both victims’ wounds and perpetrators’ wrongdoings, and while the funds might not be a panacea, these greens give community partners a fighting chance in their quest to tailor programs that fit like a glove to the needs of neighborhoods they know like the back of their hand as press released by the Mass.gov.
"Restorative justice practices can help those who have experienced harm and those who have caused it on their journeys toward healing and accountability," declared Governor Maura Healey in a heartfelt nod to the grueling journey toward reconciliation—or as Lt. Governor Kimberley Driscoll chimed in with a chorus spotlighting the program’s contribution to community safety and healing. As per the article of Mass.gov, it’s all about giving survivors of crime and communities caught in the maelstrom a way to cope with the trauma tailing crime’s comet and helping offenders steer their way toward accountability and rehabilitation.
Organizations vied for the grants via a competitive application process; non-profit solo acts could pitch for up to $20,000 while duos or larger groups had a shot at $40,000—these grants mark the second act in what’s becoming a beacon of hope for initiatives proving their mettle in mending broken lives, with Secretary of Public Safety and Security Terrence Reidy adding his voice to the chorus, noting the grants as a cornerstone in the grand designs to not only empower communities but to uplift the whole safety shebang in neighborhoods roughed up by crime.
And Kevin Stanton, the Executive Director of OGR, didn’t miss a beat, hammering home the importance of community-based programs in the larger blueprint for public safety; indeed, these groups snugly understand the needs of their communities as tenderly as a mother knows her child, in a way only those who’ve lived and breathed these streets could, he expressed, noting the restorative justice programs' value in aiding those harmed and those responsible as they stitch their path toward healing the Massachusetts government website reported.
