Using community insights to strengthen a community court in Georgia

Background

Courts and communities across the United States are looking to respond more effectively to traffic and misdemeanor offenses while addressing the underlying social and economic factors that contribute to repeated justice system involvement. Many jurisdictions have turned to community court models that emphasize problem-solving, collaboration, and community engagement as pathways to stability and improved outcomes for individuals and their neighborhoods.

In Albany, Georgia, the Albany Works! Community Court was launched in 2018 to expand alternatives to traditional sentencing and better connect individuals with community-based supports. 

Engaging the community

After five years of operation, the City of Albany and its partners sought to better understand how the program was functioning in practice, how it was experienced by participants and community members, and how it might continue to meet local needs. Rather than relying solely on administrative data or court-led research, the city chose to collaborate with community leaders and trained researchers through a participatory action research (PAR) approach.

Using PAR, NCSC conducted a study in collaboration with community partners, program stakeholders, and Albany residents. This approach empowers community members as co-researchers who offer essential insights for understanding program impact and identifying opportunities for improvement. By elevating community voices, the research aims to produce findings that are informative, actionable, and grounded in the realities of the community.

A shared research process

A team including program staff, a local researcher, Albany State University students, and NCSC researchers gathered information on residents' experiences with the court and Albany Works! program as well as community feedback on the program's model, resources, and needs. The research plan and protocols were discussed with the community advisory board at in-person and virtual meetings where members shared ideas to strengthen outreach and refine the research instruments. The municipal court was instrumental in supporting the research and providing access to program participants and night court proceedings at Albany Technical College.

Supporting sustainability & expansion

In our study of Albany Works!, funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, we identified effective practices for municipal court settings, offering valuable insights for other jurisdictions seeking to replicate person-centered, accountability-focused community court models. 

Recommendations for the sustained operation and strategic expansion of Albany Works! include:

• Ensure adequate staffing capacity for proactive communication and follow-up with participants throughout the program and to encourage use of available program services or resources.
• Collect data on service referrals and usage to identify patterns in the uptake and completion of services and insights into the accessibility of services and where service demand is highest.
• Deepen cross-sector partnerships, especially within the housing, education, and health sectors, to reduce barriers to completion and improve self-sufficiency and safety.
• Share program data and research findings in engaging ways like through data dashboards and participant success stories to build visibility and trust.
• Sustain the night court model on campus and strengthen direct pathways to educational credentials and employment in coordination with the college.