March 19, 2025
The Vital Role of Credible Messengers — Police Chief MagazinePolice Chief Magazine featured the vital role Credible Messengers play in this latest article.
The Redirect Collective is a community-led initiative dedicated to strengthening the ecosystem of healing-centered alternatives to juvenile detention. We focus on equipping and supporting credible messenger organizations and other community-based efforts that empower system-involved youth. Through training, mentorship, and capacity-building, we help those working directly with young people to create sustainable, effective pathways away from incarceration and toward healing, growth, and opportunity.
As a collective, we offer three key programs aimed at strengthening credible messenger organizations and enhancing community-based support for at-risk youth.
Words from those behind the effort, dedication, and hard work.
"Credible messengers are essential to ensuring the progress and development of Juvenile Justice involved youth because they have been there themselves. Their lived experience coupled with their commitment to uplift and empower young people makes them essential to the work of youth development. The work of the Redirect Collective ensures that Credible Messengers have access to support, resources and training to most effectively redirect young people towards paths for success. By working in collaboration and being in community with Credible Messengers, the Redirect Collective is poised to make real, lasting and impactful change for both Credible Messengers and Juvenile Justice involved youth."
"As the Developer of Youth Programs for the Charleston Police Department I see the work of the Redirect Collective as paramount in the fight against youth violence. Our most vulnerable youth need transformative mentorship that can empathize, humanize, and empower them. In my experience, Credible Messengers are best suited to do just that. But even a mentor needs a mentor, and that’s what makes the Redirect Collective’s work so necessary."
"Hope is a necessity for justice-involved youth. Hope is the foundation upon which change is built. Like the founders and charter steering committee members of The Redirect Collective—then known as Charleston Alternative to Detention—we believe that hope is best cultivated through the transformative mentorship of credible messengers whose lived experiences mirror those of the young people they serve. Through the Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Academy, Palmetto Project and The Redirect Collective stand firmly beside these credible messengers and our public safety partners, ensuring they have the tools to lead our youth and provide them with hope for a future. We are proud to stand up this Academy, to strengthen the ecosystem of community partners that sustain it, and to support the leaders who carry this work -- and our youth -- forward."
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