Those nickels, dimes, quarters and dollars one throws in the FIKA café tip jar make a big difference.
Every year FIKA’s café “Tips for a Cause” jar contributes to projects, which help the community.
This fall the recipient of this community building fund is the Cook County Restorative Justice (CCRJ) program, which is very thankful for this honorable and generous gift of $1,400.
The Cook County Restorative Justice program is an approach that includes both justice and reconciliation for harms through crime or relational conflict. CCMNRJ is driven by a group of compassionate community volunteers trained to help victims and offenders find solutions that promote accountability, healing, and reconciliation with a focus on of juvenile cases. It works this way.
When one person harms another in a way that requires law enforcement to get involved it might be determined that the best way to get a good result for all parties is to use restorative justice. Through this process offenders are held directly accountable to the people they have harmed.
The goal is to restore, to the extent possible, the emotional and material losses of those harmed by providing a range of opportunities for dialogue, negotiation, and problem solving.
Cook County Attorney Molly Hicken, and Cook County Victim/ Witness coordinator Leah Eckstrom, have been key stakeholders in assisting the program with policy and procedure that is necessary to have clear communications with various case assignments to CCMNRJ. We work in partnership with the Cook County Attorney’s Office and the Cook County sheriff to help build a solid foundation.
Restorative Justice is about accountability, restitution, restoration and where diversions can be an alternative to court sentencing, saving money for the county.
Participation requires strength and courage for both parties to learn about the other and set themselves on a path to move forward in a more positive way.
Early interventions can set a young person’s life on a more constructive path and offenders have higher rates of restitution and lower rates of recidivism. Ultimately, victims have a voice in the process and express higher satisfaction with outcomes that brings about true community healing and kids get second chances to change the course of their life.
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