By Alisa Taruwitayakom, Court Watch Program Manager | June 30, 2026
It’s not every day that a conversation about Minnesota’s courtrooms draws interest from across the globe.
But on June 25, MFF welcomed a delegation of legal and civic leaders from the country of Georgia to discuss the role communities play in strengthening public institutions through transparency and accountability. The group — civil society leaders, academics, an attorney, and an entrepreneur — was visiting the United States through the Open World Program, a professional exchange sponsored by the Congressional Office of International Leadership (COIL). After spending time in Washington, D.C., they came to Minneapolis, where their visit was coordinated by Global Minnesota.
Around our conference table, we talked about a question communities around the world are asking: How do we build justice systems that are more transparent and accountable?
For us, that conversation starts with Court Watch.
Why Court Watch Caught Their Attention
Our conversation began with MFFs mission and the Free Campaign before turning to one of the biggest barriers to justice in our criminal legal system: cash bail.
Too often, a person’s freedom before trial depends not on whether they pose a risk to public safety, but on whether they can afford to pay for their release. Two people facing the same charges can have dramatically different experiences. One returns home to family, work, and community. The other remains in jail for weeks or months, not because they’ve been convicted of a crime, but because they lack the financial resources to secure their freedom.
That reality led naturally to the program our guests were most interested in learning about: Court Watch.
MFF’s Court Watch program trains community volunteers to observe public court proceedings and document what they see. By collecting observations and firsthand accounts from inside Minnesota courtrooms, Court Watchers help paint a clearer picture of how the pretrial system operates in practice. Those observations become valuable data and stories that inform advocacy for a more transparent and equitable justice system.
We also discussed what is known as the “Minnesota Paradox.” While Minnesota consistently ranks among the nation’s best states for quality of life, education, and economic opportunity, it also has some of the country’s widest racial disparities in wealth, housing, employment, and criminal justice. Understanding that contradiction requires more than statewide rankings or policy reports. It requires paying attention to how systems function in people’s everyday lives. That’s one reason Court Watch matters.
Local Work, Global Conversations
Throughout the discussion, our guests asked thoughtful questions about how Court Watch operates, what volunteers observe, and how those observations become evidence for policy advocacy. They also shared insights from their own work strengthening civic institutions in Georgia.
Although our legal systems differ, the conversation revealed a shared belief: public institutions are stronger when communities have meaningful opportunities to observe, participate, and hold them accountable.
We often think of Court Watch as a local program serving Minnesota communities. But conversations like this remind us that the idea behind it reaches far beyond our state.
Healthy public institutions depend on people who are willing to pay attention, ask questions, and bear witness. Whether those conversations happen in Minnesota or halfway around the world, they’re rooted in the same belief: transparency strengthens justice.
We’re grateful to the Open World Program, the Congressional Office of International Leadership, Global Minnesota, and our visitors from Georgia for a thoughtful exchange of ideas — and for reminding us that community-led accountability resonates across borders.
If you’d like to help bring greater transparency and accountability to Minnesota’s courts, Court Watch is always looking for volunteers. Sometimes meaningful change begins with something as simple as showing up.