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Community Outreach

 

The U.S. Attorney’s office takes every available opportunity to communicate with residents in order to hear their concerns and priorities in the Northern District of Ohio. In 2010, U.S. Attorney Dettelbach created the position of Community Outreach Coordinator to better inform the public about the office's capabilities and activities, with the hope of building relationships and developing trust between the office and the broader community.

The ultimate goals are to better respond to the public needs, inform the public and explain to them how their money is being utilized. This includes convening community meetings, working with schools and other civic institutions, hosting training sessions and participating in broad community initiatives, just to name a few.

Some recent examples of our outreach efforts :

Building Relationships, Making Cases

The office appreciates that working with federal law enforcement can sometimes be daunting for members of the public. That is why the office tries, to the extent possible, to demystify what we do and explain the legal process, both civil and criminal, to the broader community. Recent examples include organizing small meetings with law enforcement and community organizations when the Justice Department announce the opening of an investigation into the Cleveland Division of Police. Another example includes working with members of the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo when the mosque was destroyed by an arsonist in 2012.

Community Meetings

The office hosts meetings open to the broader community to discuss a wide range of topics. In the past year alone, the U.S. Attorney has spoken to community groups about hate crimes, hosted meetings focused on ways to reduce bullying in schools and convened a meeting a local mosque to hear concerns to security restrictions at airports and border crossings, to name a few.

The Civil Rights Working Group

The U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI convene quarterly meetings with community leaders, interested stakeholders and members of Northern Ohio's minority communities. The office has partnered with The Diversity Center of Northeast Ohio and holds the meeting in important locations in the community, from a Sikh gurdwara to a center of Cleveland's Vietnamese community. By sharing our collective experiences and stories, we hope to continue to creat understanding and respect between all our various cultures.

Northeast Ohio Business Ethics Coalition Trainings

We have provided training to more than 900 area businesses on topics including making ethical business a core principle, establishing compliance programs and reporting misconduct. This program was developed following a massive public-corruption investigation that resulted in more than 50 convictions.

Supporting Regional Community Plans and Initiatives

We routinely help facilitate projects that bring federal funding and other support into the district. For example, the U.S. Attorney’s office played a leadership role in establishing a comprehensive play to prevent youth violence in Northeast Ohio, and provide treatment to kids and young adults who witnessed violence. The office also helped provide Nook e-readers to students in the Slavic Village neighborhood of Cleveland.

Martin Luther King Jr. High School

The U.S. Attorney’s office has adopted Martin Luther King Jr. High School in Cleveland. Attorneys teach courses on law and civics there, help tutor students, work with them on a moot court project, arrange visits to the courthouse and engage in many other mentoring activities.

 

Updated November 2, 2022