meet Ben

In 2004, while studying at the University of Colorado, Ben had a run in with police. He was given a choice: Boulder Municipal Court or Restorative Justice.

To his surprise, a dozen neighbors stood in to replace the single judge. These were mothers and grandmothers mostly; woman who had raised families on all sides of his apartment in what he had mistaken for a purely college neighborhood.

“So, you want to live in our community?” They said.

“Prove it.”