LCJP is now BRITE Collaborative!
Today, the Longmont Community Justice Partnership is officially embarking on the next chapter of the organization's storied 30 year legacy. LCJP is becoming BRITE Collaborative.
BRITE is an acronym for Bringing Restorative Interventions To Everyone. Shalene Onyango, the organization’s Executive Director, states that “our long standing partnership with the City of Longmont and Longmont Public Safety have given us an incredible opportunity to bring this work to other cities throughout Boulder County. We also want to increase access to restorative interventions for EVERYONE in the community, not just those who are already involved in the criminal justice system. If we can provide restorative interventions early, we significantly decrease the likelihood people will cause significant harm that requires law enforcement involvement.”
Originally founded in 1994 as Teaching Peace, by Dr. Beverly Title, a former teacher in SVVSD. Dr. Title noticed that punitive responses to school infractions led to cascading events in the lives of youth - mostly Black, Latino, and Indigenous. She formed the organization to combat bullying and suspension, to repair the harm done and restore relationships. Ramone Sanders, BRITE Collaborative’s Deputy Director shares, “BRITE CO will continue to be the backbone of modeling what our community could look like when transforming conflict and our approach to harm for all community members.”
In the early 2000’s the organization partnered with the police department, led by former Police Chief Mike Butler to offer pre-file deflection restorative justice. If a low level responsible party engaged in a restorative conference and completed all requirements, the infraction never appeared on their record; this program continues to today. Other programs have included RESTORE and Your Story, Your Power, both group restorative interventions that allow people to take responsibility with accountability to address shoplifting, vandalism, and other low level offenses.
As the organization grew, the partnership with the police became just one part of the organization's programs along with the work it offers in training and consultation with other organizations like I Had a Dream Foundation of Boulder County, Boulder Housing Coalition, and Boulder County. These training offerings allow members of these unique communities to become experts in restorative practices which lead to deeper empathy, more connections with caring adults, improved mental health outcomes, and stronger resilience.
BRITE Collaborative wants everyone to have access to restorative tools and so our mission is: to strengthen communities and relationships, while contributing to equity, justice, and access by bringing restorative interventions to everyone. An integral component of increasing access is to provide all of BRITE Collaborative’s trainings in Spanish and continue offering more conferences and programs in Spanish only, allowing for everyone in the program to show up more authentically and have the ability to be heard and understood in the language they are most comfortable using.