David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

officer with children of his own.
She was also obsessed, from the very
beginning, with meeting the families of
her J-RIPpers. She wanted to know
them. It turned out to be surprisingly
difficult. In her first attempt, she sent
letters to every home, inviting the
families to come to a local church for a
group session. No one showed up. Then
Jaffe and her team went door-to-door.
Once again, they got nowhere. “We
ended up going to each family, one
hundred and six kids,” she said. “They
would say, ‘Fuck you. Don’t come into
my house.’”
The breakthrough finally came months
into the program. “There’s this one kid,”