Who We Are
Community Passageways (CP) is a Seattle based nonprofit founded in 2017 with a vision for zero youth incarceration. As a felony diversion and prevention program, CP is leading the way in reimagining and actively creating an alternative to today’s criminal legal system.
Over the last 20 years in Seattle, we have seen a sharp decline in the number of young people in detention. But even as the overall number decreased, our current juvenile legal system has a disproportionately harmful impact on youth of color, particularly black youth. While only 10% of King County’s 2 million residents are black, they now make up almost half of the detention population on any given day, and more than half of felony offenses.
We have a four-pronged approach to community justice:
Prevention: Keep youth on a good path. Show them new paths.
Diversion: Keep people out of the prison system and in community.
Support: Support people already in the prison system.
Reintegrate: Ensure a smooth, successful integration into the community.
Our community-centered and evidence-based model provides an alternative to the current criminal legal system. We collaborate with families, schools, the court system, correctional center staff, religious institutions, policy makers, and community members to support adolescent youth of color. We provide youth mentors and access to programs focused on personal healing, identity development, and leadership building.
We employ men and women from the community who share similar racial, cultural, and socio-economic backgrounds with our young people who have lived experience navigating the full spectrum of the school-to-prison pipeline to act as credible messengers and Ambassadors. Our Ambassadors work with heart, humility, and compassion, to lead community and school-based healing circles, individual and family case management, court advocacy, and youth leadership opportunities.
Young people kept in the community through their dedication and our support have gone on to enroll in college, start businesses, graduate from high school, and help rebuild our communities.
Our Founder
Dominique Davis is the founder and CEO of Community Passageways. He received his PhD in the streets, from the University of Rainier and Henderson. Dominique was a gifted football player, who had to make the decision between his dream to play professionally or survive, he chose the latter. Even though he was involved in making quick money, he had a desire to give back through coaching and personal training. In time, he decided he needed to do no more harm to the community and he was going to be a positive contributor. Dominique served as Co-Director of the Choose 180 Program from 2011 to 2016, which was named 2015 Best New Nonprofit by Seattle Foundation and Seattle Met Magazine under his leadership.
In 2016, Dominique established Community Passageways, after multiple gun related deaths and incidents on Rainier Avenue. He knew felony diversion would be a foundational and life changing juncture for young people and he developed a four-prong approach – prevention, diversion, incarceration (support) and re-entry. The first program started in 2017 with a few youth and young adults, to date, Community Passageways serves over 500 young people a year with multiple programs, including school based, court advocacy, diversion, community support (emergency response), gang intervention, healing circles, youth advocacy, and family support.
Dominique often says it will take the community to heal the community--we are the ones we have been waiting for. Community Passageways is driven by the belief that guidance and support are more effective in inspiring people to make positive choices, seeing their unlimited potential and envisioning a future where they can live their lives fully. We want to break institutional racist systems. Dominique believes those closest to the problem can solve the problem!