The National Institute for Restorative Justice
"Educating for Advocacy"
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Core Socio-Economic Concerns
15226 Lakeshore Blvd
Cleveland, Ohio 44110

rjusticeinc@aol.com


Social Justice

Economic Justice

Legal Justice
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"Many are attracted to social service -
the rewards are immediate,the gratification quick.
But if we have social justice, we won't need social service."
Julian Bond


Municipal
& Local Media
Monitoring Movement

A Movement Toward
Taxation With Representation
Sustainable
Community
Controlled
Development
"Jobs. Not Programs."
Community Design & Development
By The People, For The People
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The Municipal and Medial Monitoring Movement is an
initiative to identify, organize, train and engage a nationwide
network of individuals and organizations to document public
official's actions in public legislative meetings, and reporting
patterns of local print and broadcast news media.  

Individual participation is passive, and for the sole  purpose of
establishing a physical presence and systematic, united front in:
a) gathering data and information regarding the policies and
practices of elected and appointed local officials, as it relates to
the issues and concerns of the electorate and taxpaying citizens
who they are appointed to represent;
and, b) reviewing and documenting patterns of local news print
and broadcast agency reporting.

Municipal Monitors will attend public meetings of councils,
commissions and boards.  Media Monitors will review print, and
radio and television broadcast reporting in a place of their
comfort.   

We are looking for interested individual and organizational
partners in the following cities and surrounding areas:
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In carrying out its mandate to "report on EZ, EC
and RC programs and their effect on poverty,
unemployment and economic growth," The
2004, 2006 and 2010 Government Accounting
Office Reports have each concluded that the
lack or limitations of the data collected by
the administering agencies - Housing and
Urban Development (HUD), Health and Human
Services (HHS), the Department of Agriculture
(USDA) and the Internal Revenue Services
(IRS) - has made it difficult to accurately
evaluate the overall program's effectiveness.  
For example, data collected from the individual
program administrators indicate that while
poverty and unemployments fell in some of
the designated communities, it could not be
determined that the rate of decline was
directly tied to the programs because census
information on these communities was only
collected every ten years.  Therefore the
possibility that the decline in the poverty and
unemployment rates could be tied to shifting
demographics, including the overall decline
in the population of the communities.  That
said, HUD's 2011 Community and Planning
Development EZ/EC/RC Summary
Statement on the initiatives reported $3.5
billion dollars in employment tax credit
claims allowed between 1999 and 2008.
While the GOA in Washington can not
determine the effectiveness of billions of
dollars being poured into municipalities for the
purpose of improving the socio-economic quality
of life of "economically distressed communities,"
with majority black and brown populations,
those of us living in EZ's, EC's and RC's can
resoundingly report that the money did not
make it to the predesignated existing
residents and businesses.
The majority of the money has gone to new
and rehabilitative construction, which did not
create significant or sustainable business,
employment or affordable housing
opportunities for the residents of the
designated zone.  And perhaps one of the most
startling disclosures in the GOA's report with
regard to the "Qualified Zone Academy Bonds"
was that there were  "no interest bonds
issued in the EZs/ECs by state or local
governments to finance school programs,
with purchasers receiving interest payments as
tax credits."  Yet, hundreds of schools have
closed in the zones.  
Individual Designated
Enterprise Communities
Renewal Communties &
Empowerment Zones
Official Reports
Akron - Canton, Ohio
Albany, New York
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Atlanta, Georgia
Augusta, Maine
Austin, Texas
Baltimore, Maryland
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Birmingham, Alabama
Bismarck, North Dakota
Boise, Idaho
Boston, Massachusetts
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Buffalo, New York
Camden, New Jersey
Carson City, Nevada
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, West Virginia
Charlotte, North Carolina
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Chicago, Illinois
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Columbia, South Carolina
Columbus, Georgia
Columbus, Ohio
Concord, New York
Corpus Christi, Texas
Cumberland County, NJ
Dallas, Texas
Denver, Colorado
Detroit, Michigan
Des Moines, Iowa
Durham, North Carolina
East St. Louis, Illinois
El Paso, Texas
Flint, Michigan
Fort Worth, Texas
Frankfort, Kentucky
Fresno, California
Gary, Indiana
Greensboro, North Carolina
Hamilton, Ohio
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Hartford, Connecticut
Helena, Nevada
Houston, Texas
Huntington, West Virginia
Indianapolis, Indiana
Ironton, Ohio
Jackson, Mississippi
Jacksonville, Florida
Jefferson City, Missouri
Kansas City, Kansas/MO
Knoxville, Tennesee
Lansing, Michigan
Lexington, Kentucky
Lincoln, Nebraska
Los Angeles, California
Lawrence, Massachusetts
Little Rock, Arkansas
Lowell, Massachusetts
Macon, Georgia
Madison, Wisconsin
Memphis, Tennessee
Miami, Florida
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Mobile, Alabama
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery, West Virginia
Montpelier, NH
Nashville, Tennessee
New Haven, Connecticut
New Orleans, Louisiana
New York, New York
Newark, New Jersey
Niagara Falls, New York
Norfolk, Virginia
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Oakland, California
Ouachita Parish, Louisiana
Paterson, New Jersey
Phoenix, Arizona
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pierre, South Dakota
Pittsburgh, Pennsyvania
Portland, Maine
Providence, Rhode Island
Pulaski County, Arkansas
Raleigh, North Carolina
Richmond, Virginia
Rochester, New York
Sacramento, California
Salt Lake City, Utah
San Antonio, Texas
San Francisco, California
Santa Ana, California
Savannah, Georgia
Schenectady, New York
Seattle, Washington
Selma, Alabama
Shreveport, Louisiana
Springfield, Illinois
Springfield, Massachusetts
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Paul, Minnesota
Syracuse, New York
Tacoma, Washington
Tallahassee, Florida
Tampa, Florida
Topeka, Kansas
Tucson, Arizona
Washington, DC
Winston Salem, NC
Yakima, Washington
Yonkers, New York
Youngstown, Ohio
Link To HUD
Back To Core Concerns
or Forward To:
www.restorativejusticeinstitute.org
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The Schott Foundation 50
State Report on Public
Education and Black
Males
Food For Thought
The University of
Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Center for Economic
Development Report:
Join The
Drum Majors
For Justice!
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Young men from the National Urban League's
"I Am Empowered" initiative are defying the odds against them!
Link To GOA
2011 Summary
On EZ, EC, RC Programs
Link To HUD CP&D
2010 Congressional Briefing
On EZ, EC, RC Programs
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While no funds or tax credits were utilized to help stabilize
traditional academic institutions, millions of EZ funds, combined
with Department of Labor funds were channeled into temporary
youth and adult vocational training programs that resulted in
no specific skills, and no permanent employment
opportunities.  Or as one young man so poignantly stated, "we
got programs, they got jobs."
Hundreds of academic reports, newspaper articles, and grassroots
advocate complaints make it very clear that the best interest of the
existing residents and businesses at the time of fund designation
simply went unrepresented in negotiating the disbursement of the
funds.  Abuse was rampant, including geographic expansion
of the designated zones to include businesses that would not
have otherwise qualified, and your basic "too many politicos -
and friends - hand in the till."  
Through the Sustainable Community Controlled Development's
Indigenous Community Leadership Development Initiative,  The
National Institute For Restorative Justice aims to advocate for a
shift from externally controlled community development
organizations, to true community controlled design, development
and implementation, with the actual residents of the community
receiving primary benefits from government infused funds.  
Planning for pilot Sustainable Community Controlled projects are
underway in three communities in three states.
Renewing Inalienable Rights, Rebuilding Communal Confidence, Re-energizing Sustainable Economy, Reviving Unbridled Spirit
Site Map
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Backs, Brains,
Bucks & Ballots!
Crafting Indigenous
Controlled Communities
In The Age Of Mass
Black Urban Removal

A Community Justice &
Indigenous Leadership
Empowerment Summit

Click Here For May 25 - 26 Summit
Overt the past twenty years, the US Congress
has passed legislation to establish over two
hundred  Empowerment Zones, Enterprise
Communities, and Renewal Communities to
reduce unemployment and "revitalize
high-poverty, economically distressed
communities."  Through both the Clinton
and Bush administrations, a series of
Congressional Acts in 1993, 1997, 1999, 2000
and 2004, allocated nearly $15 billion through a
mix of $5 billion in grant funds and tax benefits
for community development initiatives; loans
guaranteeing subsidized housing; and $11 billion
in tax break incentives for businesses to establish
and upgrade facilities for the purpose of
creating new jobs for EZ, EC and RC
populations. Funding for these initiatives were
extended by President Obama through 2011
by Tax Relief and Jobs Creation Acts to
"encourage and support business
investment, economic revitalization and
expansion of job opportunities for residents
in the designated high poverty and high
unemployment census tracts."  
In addition to proof of high levels in poverty,
unemployment and general distress, eligibility
requirements for the programs included
strategic plans based on four key principles:
1) economic opportunity;
2) sustainable community development;
3) community-based partnerships; and
4) strategic vision for change.