The CPG Program is designed to engage the community in helping to redirect young adults away from prison. It provides a structured, community-centered alternative to incarceration. This program specifically targets individuals who have never been charged with a crime but are currently facing charges for possessing an illegal firearm.

Participation in the program must be approved by a Judge, an Assistant District Attorney (ADA) and a Defense Attorney. Candidates undergo a screening process through a structured Diversion Board. Once accepted, eligible participants aged 18 to 25 who are charged with felonies can take responsibility for their actions, repair any harm caused to victims and become positive contributors to the community, without the stigma of a felony conviction or time spent in state prison. The program involves community members, outreach workers and staff from the District Attorney's Office, including personnel from our Criminal Justice Outreach Center.

The Felony Youth Diversion Program aims to engage the community in steering young individuals away from a life of crime. It offers a structured, victim-centered alternative to incarceration, providing youth with the opportunity to avoid a criminal conviction while equipping them with tools to transform their lives. Eligible cases will be reviewed on an individual basis and may include "non-violent" felonies committed by defendants aged 18 to 25. Successful completion of this program can lead to participants having their records dismissed and sealed, with no criminal conviction.

LEAD is an initiative designed to reshape public safety efforts, reduce racial inequities and enhance public health by decreasing reliance on the traditional punitive criminal legal system for individuals facing challenges such as mental illness, substance use, poverty, and homelessness.

The program prioritizes pre-arrest diversion as the ideal entry point. If capacity permits, after addressing pre-arrest diversions, Albany LEAD will also accept referrals from social contacts. This social contact referral aims to prevent future harm by diverting individuals from the punitive criminal legal system through the support offered by LEAD.

This referral option was established because LEAD stakeholders often know individuals who could benefit from coordinated support, to reduce their ongoing contact with the traditional punitive system. Social contact referrals can be made by various traditional legal stakeholders, including police officers, sheriff deputies, prosecutors, public defenders, judges, probation officers, and parole officers, in their roles as system actors.

Legal Lives is a program founded in 1990 by Charles J. Hynes, the District Attorney of Kings County, in response to the rising incidence of drug-related and bias-related crimes. Former District Attorney Sol Greenberg brought the program to Albany County, and DA Kindlon decided to bring it back.

The program runs throughout the school year and involves Assistant District Attorneys (ADAs), staff, defense attorneys, law enforcement members, judges, and teachers who collaborate to teach students

about the law and its role in their lives. Students participate in mock trials, taking on various roles to explore the judicial process. The Legal Lives curriculum is specifically designed to enhance students' understanding of the law and to prevent juvenile delinquency by developing critical and analytical thinking skills. Lessons in the curriculum cover relevant case materials related to drug possession, shoplifting, violence, gun possession, domestic violence and bias crimes

Rev. John U. Miller founded the South End Community Outreach Center in the 1980s to assist individuals in need within Albany's South End neighborhood. The District Attorney’s Community Justice Outreach Center (CJOC) aims to empower the community through outreach efforts, re-entry services and community justice practices. These practices involve collaboration between local law enforcement, public officials, community organizations, and residents. All community initiatives from the District Attorney's Office are managed through the CJOC.

The CJOC is staffed and managed by representatives from the District Attorney's Office and is open to the public Monday through Friday from 9:00AM to 5:00PM.