New York state justice coordinator honored for turning courts into a community center

Justice Coordinator Hillary Warner has turned the Onondaga County court system based in Syracuse into a thriving hub for sharing essential resources. Walking into the family court’s lactation room, mothers can find bags of diapers. In drug treatment court, boxes of Narcan, the medicine that can reverse an opioid overdose, hang in wall-mounted boxes. Warner, who came to the court system in 2024 from a career in community health at Planned Parenthood and ACR Health, found the court system to be an intuitive place to offer these services. In transitioning into the role of justice coordinator for the court system’s 5th Judicial District, she took on a role that is geared to making the court system easier to navigate for everyday people but is subject to interpretation of the individual needs of the judicial district. Naturally, she called on her extended network of community connections for the task. For her efforts to help meet the needs of litigants, Warner was honored on Oct. 6 as o