Hein checks the blueprint
KINGSTON – Ulster County Executive Michael Hein opened the doors to the county’s work-in-progress Restorative Justice and Community Empowerment Center, Thursday afternoon, to members of the county legislature and Kingston Common Council.
The 4,500 square foot project, sharing the same building as the existing probation center, represents an approximately $3.6 million investment on behalf of the county. Hein said the project is on time and under budget.
The idea is to provide what Hein calls a “case work on steroids” approach to youth offenders, treating them as young citizens to be fostered back into the community, rather than incarcerated individuals.
The center will offer mentorship, job training and have offenders and victims in the same place for mediation. There are no metal detectors upon entrance and although part of the building leading to probation is secure, the idea is to create a community-driven approach to youth offenders, who may have been dealt a bad hand in life, or just have unfortunately succumb to rash behaviors, not to be treated like adult career criminals.
In fact, a large part of the center will revolve around community driven programs, with a much of the input for the center being provided by the Restorative Justice Task Force consisting of community stakeholders.
Hein said what Ulster is doing with this center will become the gold
standard for other communities to follow. Rather than investing in detention
centers, as many counties are, he claims, Ulster is investing in their
youth.
“When a teenager makes a mistake, there needs to be a better answer than what happens today and this provides a lot of that,” said Hein. “It’s more than just a child who has just done something that will put them, now, in the criminal justice system; it’s a lot of other kids who are at risk. It’s about providing real alternatives for at-risk youth that can, ultimately, not just help them, but their entire family.”
Legislator for District 7, which includes Kingston, Brian Woltman, said
he sees the center as not only a place to benefit the community’s
youth, but a place where people who enter the City of Kingston will see
that the county and the city represent a place that cares for their youth
and wants to help them if they’ve gone awry.
“I think it’s wonderful for the community and as much as that this area of Broadway is a gateway entrance to the City of Kingston, but it’s also as people come off the Thruway and enter and come in Chandler Drive, it’s also a gateway entrance for many folks who come and visit Ulster County,” said Woltman. “For them to see that, right away one of their first impressions would be, how much we value the future of our children in Ulster County and the City of Kingston, I think, is a wonderful thing.”
