TWAICB Executive Director Sandy Sohcot talks with Rex Foundation Executive Director Cameron Sears and Board Member Nick Morgan about the Rex Foundation’s interest in social change, and what that means to different people. Then she talks with Hilary Bass and Marty Neideffer of the Alameda County Deputy Sheriffs’ Activity League about its work, a real-life example of achieving social change through building trust and community.
Alan Trist writes:
On my way over to the interview with Marty Neideffer and Hilary Bass of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) and its non-profit the Alameda County Deputy Sheriffs’ Activities League (DSAL), the car radio was all about the Ferguson police shooting, which had occurred a day or two before. More than most such events in recent years, this one galvanized the nation. Talk pundits and newscasters all over the dial had the same answer to The Problem of crime and police brutality: forging relationships between the deputies and the community.
But I heard not one example or suggestion about how this might be done in the poisonous atmosphere of mutual suspicion, which is the common state of the street.
Then I walked into the interview and a living tale of a successful program unfolded. Moreover, the interview was conducted in the REACH Ashland Youth Center, the heart of the program.
