Find us here: RestorativeJusticeontheRise

Or on the NC4RJ Network.

Thanks to our Sponsors:

National Center for Restorative Justice

AND

Restorative Justice Foundation

Restorative Justice on The Rise (RJOTR) and the National Center for Restorative Justice (NC4RJ) are delighted to welcome Joe Brummer and enthusiastically syndicate his podcast, Joe Brummer Podcast, beginning with this conversation with educator Ken Craig.

For more than a decade, RJOTR has been proud to support and globally amplify Joe's work, publications, and expertise in trauma-informed restorative practices. We are thrilled to celebrate the launch of his podcast and welcome it as an ongoing contribution to the RJOTR podcast stream, established in 2011.

This collaboration reflects an exciting expansion of RJOTR's longstanding mission to elevate diverse voices, perspectives, and innovations across the global restorative justice field. In partnership with NC4RJ, which will host selected collaborative podcasts, we look forward to welcoming additional hosts and programs while continuing to produce original conversations and programming with RJOTR founder Molly Rowan Leach and the RJOTR team.

Founded in 2011, RJOTR is expanding its longstanding commitment to restorative justice education, dialogue, and storytelling through an intentional collaboration with a growing community of podcast hosts, practitioners, and thought leaders representing diverse areas of practice across the global restorative justice field.

We are especially grateful for our partnership with the National Center for Restorative Justice (NC4RJ) Together, we look forward to amplifying diverse voices, sharing innovative practices, and fostering meaningful dialogue across the field.

About This Episode

---

Ken Craig is the principal of Samuel Webb Elementary School in Wethersfield, Connecticut. With 20 years of experience in education, Ken's journey has taken him from music teacher to school principal.

His school offers a compelling example of trauma-informed restorative practices in action. Academic performance and attendance have improved, students are arriving eager to participate, and the school's facility dog provides a welcoming presence with a wagging tail.

In this conversation, Joe and Ken explore the challenges facing today's children, the importance of relationships and belonging in schools, and the inner work involved in implementing trauma-informed restorative practices.

Or on the NC4RJ Network.

Thanks to our Sponsors:

National Center for Restorative Justice

AND

Restorative Justice Foundation

What does it truly mean for restorative justice to be community-centered and held?

In this powerful conversation, Molly Rowan Leach is joined by Lindsey Frischer (Southwest Community Justice Coalition), Cristina Cabeza (Colorado Coalition for Restorative Justice Practices), and Ames Stenson (Restorative Rainbow Alliance) & Englewood Municipal Court RJ Program) for a deep dive into coalition-building, relational accountability, and the living practice of restorative justice across Colorado.

This is not a theoretical discussion.

It is a grounded, hard-earned exploration of what it takes to build restorative infrastructure — inside systems, beyond systems, and sometimes in partnership with them.

Together, they unpack:

• What “community-held restorative justice” actually looks like in practice
• Building coalitions across municipalities, courts, and grassroots spaces
• Asset mapping and capacity-building as alternatives to over-reliance on punishment
• Moving “at the speed of trust”
• Why restorative justice must actively dismantle harm — not replicate it
• The creation and impact of Colorado’s updated RJ Practitioner Guidelines
• The groundbreaking work of the Restorative Rainbow Alliance and LGBTQ+ inclusion in restorative practice

As Cristina reminds us, community is not idyllic or abstract:

From statewide policy work to small-town circle practice, this episode reveals how justice becomes sustainable when it is relational, intentional, and collectively stewarded.

You’ll hear how community agreements, harm processes, and values-based organizing create real alternatives to punitive systems — and how restorative justice expands when it embraces transformative justice, equity, and shared power.

This conversation is a masterclass in what it means to build justice together.

If this episode moves you, please share it widely.
Grassroots led stories shift culture.

Host: Founder & Executive Producer Molly Rowan Leach (she/her), and Post Production Credits to our Social Media and Marketing Manager Logan Ward (he/him), who is also an accomplished Award-Winning Documentary Filmmaker (Remarkable, 2024)

About: https://restorativejusticeontherise.org

Or on the NC4RJ Network.

Thanks to our Sponsors:

National Center for Restorative Justice

AND

Restorative Justice Foundation

LIFER: One Man. One Dog. Transformed.

With Director Raul Perez & Brian Michael James. [Proof Video]

In this extraordinary episode of Restorative Justice on The Rise, Molly Rowan Leach sits down with Brian Michael James, who served 29 years and two months in prison beginning at age 16, and Raul Perez, director of the upcoming film LIFER.

Brian opens the conversation with stark clarity:

What unfolds is not simply a story of incarceration — it is a story of belonging, trauma, accountability, radical forgiveness, and transformation.

Brian shares the childhood wounds that shaped his early path, the split-second decision that took a life, and the decades that followed. He describes the night that changed everything:

He speaks candidly about prison violence, addiction, solitary confinement, and the death of his beloved grandmother — the moment that forced him to choose whether to live or die:

Years later, a poster on a prison wall changed the trajectory of his life: a dog rescue program.

After 25 years incarcerated, Brian knelt down and touched a dog for the first time:

The rescue dog, Flynn — who had been scheduled for euthanasia — became part of Brian’s healing. Through the program, he discovered purpose, responsibility, and connection:

In a powerful restorative arc, Brian also shares his participation in Healing Dialogue & Action (HDA), where he sat with mothers of murder victims. In one unforgettable moment, after asking how he could ever live with what he had done, one mother stood and said:

Brian describes that experience as life-altering — a release that allowed him to move forward with accountability rather than self-annihilation.

When he finally appeared before the parole board decades later, he told them:

He was granted parole in 2022.

Today, Brian works to give back, speaking to incarcerated individuals and communities about hope, transformation, and responsibility:

Director Raul Perez shares why telling stories like this matters:

LIFER is more than a film about prison.
It is about radical forgiveness.
It is about the power of dogs to restore dignity.
It is about the possibility that no human being is beyond transformation.

About Our Guests

Brian Michael James served 29 years in California state prison and now dedicates his life to restorative work, advocacy, and speaking about transformation and accountability.

Raul Perez is the director of LIFER, a film inspired by Brian’s journey and the life-changing impact of prison dog programs.

If this episode moves you, please share it widely.
Stories like this shift culture.

Host: Founder & Executive Producer Molly Rowan Leach (she/her), and Post Production Credits to our Social Media and Marketing Manager Logan Ward (he/him), who is also an accomplished Award-Winning Documentary Filmmaker (Remarkable, 2024)

About: https://restorativejusticeontherise.org

Or on the NC4RJ Network.

Thanks to our Sponsors:

National Center for Restorative Justice

AND

Restorative Justice Foundation

In this episode: Mika Dashman, Founding Director of Restorative Justice Initiative, in its tenth anniversary year celebration whose mission is to build a community of New Yorkers who reflect the diversity of our city to expand healing and non-punitive responses to harm at the personal, neighborhood and systemic levels. 

Arguably RJI's reach is MUCH beyond New York, with deep international ties creating essential connections between communities and trusted practitioners, and providing essential resources and programs that inspire, inform, and connect. Thus, the topic of this session: the unseen--and arguably under-rated, impacts of networks like RJI. What is their place in the field, and why is it critical to support networking organizations? We discuss this and much more, with host Molly Rowan Leach.

Who is RJI?

At the core of our vision for social change through restorative approaches is the centrality of relationships. RJI helps to lay the groundwork for a cultural shift from punishment and retribution to healing in New York City’s neighborhoods and systems by nurturing relationships among practitioners and advocates.  We also distribute resources to strengthen practice and promote ongoing learning, and facilitate strategic planning.

Although restorative justice is often placed in a “criminal justice reform” or “school climate” box, its philosophy—which is based on indigenous spiritual beliefs and practices—goes to the heart of how we live and work together in community, building trust and understanding. Restorative justice processes give voice to those directly impacted by harm, and encourage deep listening across differences; these restorative processes encourage storytelling that illustrates the complex, and sometimes contradictory realities of our lives.

Our Operating Principles: 

1. All life is interconnected.
2. We value and center relationships.
3. We value and center authentic self-reflection.
4. We treat all people as capable of healing and transformation.
5. We believe that harm occurs on both interpersonal and systemic levels and must be addressed on both.
6. We center and champion conditions that invite people to take accountability for harm.
7. We see restorative justice as part of a larger movement toward a healthier, safer city.

Who We Work With

RJI works with people interested in Restorative Justice across NYC’s 5 boroughs, including:

 | People living and/or working in NYC & NY metro region RJ Practitioners RJ Advocates Philanthropists Community organizers Community based organizations | NYC Government agencies Educators Lawyers Social Workers Healers Parents Youth |   Faith Community & Clergy Families Survivors of violence Individuals who have caused harm Returning citizens School administrators and staff

Significant Achievements:

• In spring 2021, the NYC Commission on Human Rights tapped RJI to join an advisory group to guide the incorporation of restorative justice principles and practices into the Commission’s litigation, policy, and community-based work.
• RJI provided thought leadership to help develop a model of robust accountability for those that have caused or contributed to sexual harm that is both survivor-centered and based on powerful inclusivity, rather than based on “othering” and public shaming.
• Since 2018 we have partnered with The Center for Creative Conflict Resolution at the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH) to host a series of Citywide Roundtables on Restorative Approaches, where we convened diverse stakeholders to begin developing a vision for a restorative city.
• Trinity Church Wall Street has called on us more than once to help design and facilitate retreats and events related to restorative justice.
• In February 2023, we held the 5th Citywide Roundtable on Restorative Approaches, marking the first Citywide Roundtable held in-person since January 2020, and the first Citywide Roundtable held in Queens.
• In March 2023, we launched our Storytelling for Collective Healing program, which paired artists and storytellers to amplify reconciliation, transformation, and healing stories.
• We created the Practitioner Spotlight, a digital interview series that shines a light on novel approaches to restorative justice from across our network.
• In 2022, we established our inaugural Youth Advocacy Council that ran for the 2022-23 academic year. The Council designed personal community projects, including facilitating conversations on restorative justice at their previously attended middle schools, current high schools, and community bookstores, and preparing to facilitate community circles with their mentors.
• We curated and hosted a series of circles on the topic of grief and grieving, that allowed for participants to be seen as they move through the many challenges of the current moment.
• Also in 2023, we began hosting online gatherings for RJ Consultants and Independent Contractors, forming a community of practice to combat isolation and share resources and support.

HOSTED BY: Founder & Executive Producer Molly Rowan Leach (she/her), and Post Production Credits to our Social Media and Marketing Manager Logan Ward (he/him), who is also an accomplished Award-Winning Documentary Filmmaker (Remarkable, 2024)

RJOTR believes strongly in this program and was deeply honored to host this very special episode that you won't want to miss. Listen in now to hear how youth -- directly from their voices and lived experiences -- are advocating and practicing on-the-ground!

Who are The Circle Keepers?

The Circle Keepers started in 2017 as a volunteer-run after school program for high school students to learn restorative justice practices such as peer mediation protocols, conflict resolution circles and community building activities as well as to hone their leadership skills, engage in political education, civic participation and produce community service/social justice projects and thus, create change in their school and in their neighborhoods.?

Significant Achievements:

• 100% of student participants surveyed report that The Circle Keepers program made their school experience more meaningful

• Started youth-led restorative justice cohorts in 8 different public schools, across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Bronx.

• Helped reduce suspensions by 95% at one Manhattan borough school in District 2 in the span of 4 years (2019-2023)

• Testified for City Council to successfully restore over $32M of funding cuts towards restorative justice justice programming in NYC Public Schools from 2022-2024.

• Developed a comprehensive Restorative Justice Curriculum for grades 6-8 and grades 9-12, currently offered as semester long electives in a D2 and a D15 school.

• Trained over 1000 students as restorative justice peer mediators,

  Trained over 100 NYC Public School staff in school based restorative justice practices.

  Traveled to Austin, TX to present a sold-out workshop at the SXSWedu 2023 conference of over 100 guests.

• Traveled to Washington, DC to meet with Leader Charles Schumer to learn about federal policy and  explored the National Museum of African American History and Culture to develop a stronger sense of Black epistemologies and ontologies.

• Produced a “Green New Deal for Public Schools” roundtable with Congressman Jamaal Bowman at Sarah Lawrence College.

• Produced youth led conference for 250+ NYC youth, rooted on the theme of “peace and justice”, bringing together 50+ stakeholders, including youth development organizations, city agencies, elected officials and even private businesses donating food and supplies!?

HOSTED BY: Founder & Executive Producer Molly Rowan Leach (she/her), and Social Media and Marketing Manager Logan Ward (he/him), who is also an accomplished Award-Winning Documentary Filmmaker (Remarkable, 2024)

ABOUT MOLLY: https://restorativejusticeontherise.org/about-us/host-executive-producer/

Molly’s writing: https://medium.com/@mollyleach

ABOUT LOGAN: https://www.loganward.net/about

Logan’s portfolio: https://www.loganward.net/

ABOUT RESTORATIVE JUSTICE ON THE RISE

The world's first restorative justice podcast and public lives platform, since 2011, reaching and connecting 6 continents and tens of thousands of listeners and practitioners per episode.

RJ on The Rise LinkTree: Follow, Subscribe, and Engage in one place!

Support 15 years of global independent restorative media efforts here.

For anyone questioning the viability of restorative justice as an alternative to violent crime prosecution, here's your evidence. Join us for a conversation that is inspiring and informative.

ABOUT TRISTEN:

Tristen Edwards is an attorney at Metropolitan Public Defender, where she represents
individuals charged with major felony crimes and works on policy issues related to promoting
the use of restorative justice as an alternative to prosecution.

ABOUT RESTORATIVE JUSTICE ON THE RISE

The world's first restorative justice podcast and public lives platform, since 2011

RJ on The Rise LinkTree: Follow, Subscribe, and Engage in one place!

>>>We need your help! Support 15 Years of Global Independent Restorative Media Efforts Now

Featured Educator's Podcast packed with over 40 key points in less than one hour, with two of the world's most beloved authors, trainers, and guides in "RJE": Restorative Justice in Education.

Joe and Marg hit the ground running in their typical fun, informative style that has won the hearts and minds of thousands worldwide, sharing potent insights as they discuss the birth of their new book, and the reasons for its existence.

Tune in to hear all about the following key points and more:

Behavior development not behavior management
The role of the brain
Allostasis
Brain as predictor not as responder
Sensory input and past experiences as self-perpetuating
Fight flight freeze faint are preparations
Responding, not reacting, to trauma
Unlearning our socialization of punishment
“PBIS”: what’s wrong with it, where it came from (Levoss)
Managing each other’s body-budget
Connection-orientation as driver
Co-Regulating or Co-Escalating
Code Switching and adaptation to environment
The myth of lowered expectations when RJE is introduced
Neural pathways and brain re-structuring
Transactional or Transformational
If you are in the problem, you should be included in the decision making
Restorative starts with us
Ako, the teacher is also the student (New Zealand word)
Prevention-focused instead of trained as conflict/behavior system
Cues of relationship
Cues of safety
Relationship block - 20 m comm building circles
Shame’s role

...and much more

Becoming a Trauma-informed Restorative Educator  – June 21, 2024 by Joe Brummer (Author), Margaret Thorsborne (Author)

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Maybe you have heard the terms 'trauma-informed' and 'restorative' - but how do you go about becoming a trauma-informed, restorative educator?

This practical book outlines the values, ideas and neuroscience behind trauma-informed restorative practice and its proven effectiveness. It clearly explains key theories relating to shame, trauma and your autonomic nervous system, and explains how to apply this knowledge in practice. Examples and stories of restorative practice feature throughout to inspire and emulate, as do practical protocols, tools and systems to develop your skills as a trauma-informed educator. Critically, it also explains the personal and professional qualities you need to nurture to truly engage in trauma-informed, restorative practice, with reflection points to aid learning and self-development.

Read this book and take your first steps to creating a trauma-informed, restorative classroom - even if your school isn't doing it!

ABOUT RESTORATIVE JUSTICE ON THE RISE

The world's first restorative justice podcast and public lives platform, since 2011

The Redemption Project Discussion Series in alliance with Van Jones & REFORM/CNN

Latest Enewsletter

Breaking: RJ on The Rise Selected from Global Applicant Pool to Attend Multi-Year Academy on Media's Role in Belonging. READ MORE

Support our 13 Years of Global Independent Restorative Media Efforts Now

Additional Links of Interest:

Apple Podcast since 2011: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/restorative-justice-on-the-rise/id918262205

Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/7x7tE5xX9bYBAgRgpolKn9

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs-VP0RojAaTCT6jdMZyvqg

RJOTR hosts CNN's Redemption Project Dialogue Series: http://www.restorativejusticeontherise.org/discussion-series

EFRJ Presentation Recording/Resources: https://padlet.com/rjonrise/efrj-pamplona-restorative-justice-in-colorado-y0wjclo6uxwzyq3d

Heart-Brain Coherence & Restorative Justice:

This feature panel discussion is in collaboration with the Restorative Rainbow Alliance, Restorative Justice on The Rise, and Director and Producer Logan Ward to uplift the incredible film: Remarkable: Voices From The Trans Community. {Watch Now}

In this conversation we get to hear from trans man and creator of the film, Logan Ward, as well as a major voice in the film, Hami Samba, who both share about the comfort they found in being able to tell their own narratives. Logan's film illustrates distrust towards the trans community and proposes that community-centered and participatory practices could assist in rebuilding that trust.

All of these ideas are discussed, and the RRA's restorative justice and queer lens helps us consider these ideas within context.

In addition, we want to highlight the RRA's code of conduct, and their overall efforts, within the restorative justice field.

Please let us know if you'd like to contact any/all of our panelists for possible engagement in your community! To contact Logan Ward directly, click here

Length: 1:12

REMARKABLE on Insta: www.instagram.com/remarkablefilm

Restorative Rainbow Alliance: https://www.restorativerainbowalliance.org

***

Restorative Justice on The Rise is the very first live and standard podcast since 2011 focusing on Restorative Justice and Peacebuilding, from the personal to collective, demonstrating powerful stories, cases, and insights from a robust range of diverse voices, and reaching every continent in our world. We can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and our collaboration for this podcast episode is a result of our Fellowship status with the Salzburg Global Media Academy, a program forging critical pathways forward in the age of AI.

Support our 13 Years of Global Independent Restorative Media Efforts Now

Apple Podcast since 2011: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/restorative-justice-on-the-rise/id918262205

Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/7x7tE5xX9bYBAgRgpolKn9

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs-VP0RojAaTCT6jdMZyvqg

RJOTR hosts CNN's Redemption Project Dialogue Series: http://www.restorativejusticeontherise.org/discussion-series

EFRJ Presentation Recording/Resources: https://padlet.com/rjonrise/efrj-pamplona-restorative-justice-in-colorado-y0wjclo6uxwzyq3d

Heart-Brain Coherence & Restorative Justice: https://padlet.com/rjonrise/heart-brain-coherence-and-restorative-justice-gu4xobpg7bm4okry

Paul Mihailidis is a professor of civic media and journalism and assistant dean in the school of communication at Emerson College in Boston, MA, where he teaches media literacy, civic media, and community activism. He is founding program director of the MA in Media Design, Senior Fellow of the Emerson Engagement Lab, and faculty chair and director of the Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change. His work has been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Scientific American, Slate Magazine, the Nieman Foundation, USA Today, Newsweek, CNN, and others. Mihailidis holds a visiting professorship at Bournemouth University in England and the Catholic University of Argentina, Buenos Aires.
Paul is also the Co-Editor of Transformative Media Pedagogies (Routledge, 2022).  We jump right into the purpose of the 17 Year Media Academy Efforts, the irrevocable connection between media and social justice, "Radiant mojo" and the powerful impact of the life of Moses Shumow, and much more.  Listen in to discover Paul's insights into how media may just be the most impactful part of changing global narratives, systems, and individual lives. Host: Molly Rowan Leach

Length: 44m

Salzburg Global Seminar Website: www.salzburgglobal.org

Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change: https://www.salzburgglobal.org/multi-year-series/media-academy

***

Restorative Justice on The Rise is the very first live and standard podcast since 2011 focusing on Restorative Justice and Peacebuilding, from the personal to collective, demonstrating powerful stories, cases, and insights from a robust range of diverse voices, and reaching every continent in our world. We can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and our collaboration for this podcast episode is a result of our Fellowship status with the Salzburg Global Media Academy, a program forging critical pathways forward in the age of AI. 

Breaking: RJ on The Rise Selected from Global Applicant Pool to Attend Multi-Year Academy on Media's Role in Belonging. READ MORE

Support our 13 Years of Global Independent Restorative Media Efforts Now

Additional Links of Interest:

Apple Podcast since 2011: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/restorative-justice-on-the-rise/id918262205

Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/7x7tE5xX9bYBAgRgpolKn9

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs-VP0RojAaTCT6jdMZyvqg

RJOTR hosts CNN's Redemption Project Dialogue Series: http://www.restorativejusticeontherise.org/discussion-series

EFRJ Presentation Recording/Resources: https://padlet.com/rjonrise/efrj-pamplona-restorative-justice-in-colorado-y0wjclo6uxwzyq3d

Heart-Brain Coherence & Restorative Justice: https://padlet.com/rjonrise/heart-brain-coherence-and-restorative-justice-gu4xobpg7bm4okry

In this deeply powerful 45m conversation he dives into:

• The importance of art as intervention instead of representation
• The confines of plot in film
• The invitation of spaciousness in film
• Questions that arise when expressing oneself
• How to belong in a digital age

Pablo Martínez-Zárate is a media artist, documentary filmmaker and scholar living and working in Mexico City. His work explores the interconnection between memory, body and territory through experimental media practice. In 2022-23 he is Artist in Residence at The Netherlands Film Academy, part of Amsterdam University of the Arts. He is considered one of the pioneers and foremost exponents of web and interactive documentary in Mexico and Latin America. His films, interactive projects and installations have shown in important museums in Mexico and festivals such as DocsMX and Ambulante in Mexico City, MIDBO in Bogota, or IDFA in Amsterdam. He is Professor at Universidad Iberoamericana Mexico City, where he founded IberoDocsLab.org, a platform for critical innovation in documentary practice. He has published several non-fiction books that seek to reflect on the power of art in a world in crisis, as well as artist publications.

Co-Hosted by Molly Rowan Leach and Liz Nass

Salzburg Global Seminar

with Camilo Eduardo Umaña Hernández - Deputy Minister of Criminal Policy and Restorative Justice for the Ministry of Justice and Law, Colombia [Website]

Camilo was a plenary keynote presenter at the European Forum for Restorative Justice's 12th International Conference in late May, 2024, in Tallinn, Estonia. His presentation made key links between restorative and transitional justice on the ground in Colombia, and how his work as a practitioner and government official alike has spurred much-awaited efforts to provide RJ as a viable systemic and community practice in his country.

He may very well be the first high-ranking government official in the world to have "Restorative Justice" within his official title.

Host Molly Rowan Leach sat down with Camilo in a park adjacent to the conference in beautiful Tallinn to discuss behind-the-scenes reflections of the panel, insights into the link between RJ and Transitional Justice at the micro- and macro-levels, and to share a little about his own experiences as a survivor of his father's murder, and the work he does to further RJ in Colombia.

More Information at the Colombia Official Ministry site: https://www.minjusticia.gov.co/ministerio/Paginas/Viceministerio-de-Pol%C3%ADtica-Criminal-y-Justicia-Restaurativa1.aspx

• Subscribe and Tune into Restorative Justice on The Rise on Spotify
• or, on Apple Podcasts

VISIT European Forum for RJ WEBSITE

Listen to this exclusive interview with Co-Founders Christoph Schoenbeck and Alireza Rismanchian to hear why Music truly is a universal language of belonging, of honoring diversity, and of bringing people together!

During this Podcast we:

• Correlate the meaning of music as a way of global connection and belonging
• Hear the unique, one-of-its-kind story behind the Bahnhof's inception as an International Center
• Contemplate the meaning of "safe spaces" and territories of authentic belonging--what makes a place feel inclusive, what are the parameters to set, and how does music set such a strong foundation for that?
• Learn about how Cultural jams can and do restore connections with global musicians and communities
• And much more

Background: Leisnig station is a thriving cultural centre - a cultural station - a vibrant place for culture, exchange and encounters. There is close co-operation with the town of Leisnig, the university towns of Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz, as well as with the supra-regional cultural network and the international ethno-network. The project is recognised for its high-quality cultural events, concerts, music and dance workshops and attracts well-known lecturers from all over Europe. The cultural centre also creates a space for local cultural initiatives, youth clubs and cultural workers in the region. The station provides a framework for local businesses to offer products and services and creates jobs in the region. In addition to the cultural centre, there is a café, a restaurant, a beer garden and rooms for rent. The project is sustainably integrated into the local community and beyond and brings great added value to the Central Saxony region. It is known for its openness, respect and tolerance and epitomises a successful collaboration between local communities and an international cultural network.

The Leisnig train station is an example of how cultural initiatives can shape, influence and change local conditions in a positive way, and how mutual give and take can create a positive synergy effect for the city.

Music is a universal language

From the very beginning, our dream was to create a place where musicians from different countries could come together to share their music.

We offer high-quality cultural events as well as music and dance workshops with well-known artists and lecturers from all over the world.

Through music lessons, workshops and events, we offer musicians and music enthusiasts, whether beginners or professional musicians, a platform and the opportunity to realise their potential.

For more information:

VISIT BAHNHOF LEISNIG WEBSITE

www.restorativejusticeontherise.org

• Listen on Apple
• Listen on Spotify

A Discussion based on recent research and hands-on practices in the Criminal Justice and Higher Education Sectors.

Celebrating our second podcast conversation with Ian Marder (2012 & 2024) on Restorative Justice on The Rise.

Dr. Ian Marder, Assistant Professor in Criminology at Maynooth University, Ireland sat down with us in Tallinn, Estonia during the European Forum for Restorative Justice 12th International Conference alongside two Ph.D Candidates who also are Research Assistants and Practitioners on this project, Triona Kenny (Criminology) and Katharina Kurz (Anthropology and Education).

What you'll hear in this episode is an incredible blend of findings from hands-on RJ work within two different communities - one within a prison, and one within a community involving youth of color and police.

Here are links to two of their papers, open access:

https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/17876/

https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/17233/

www.restorativejustice.ie  to learn more about restorative justice in the criminal justice system in Ireland

RJ Strategies For Change Ireland Website

The award-winning “radically original” (The Atlantic) restorative justice leader, whose work the Washington Post has called “totally sensible and totally revolutionary,” grapples with the problem of violent crime in the movement for prison abolition

“Profoundly necessary.” —Michelle Alexander, The New York Times

A Conversation with Bestselling Author and Founder of Common Justice, Danielle Sered

IN THIS HOUR EPISODE, Danielle Sered, a survivor of violence herself, shares with us insights into what her hopes were in writing the globally-esteemed book Until We Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration and A Road To Repair (New Press, 2019) and some insights into her process five years ago that led to one of the restorative justice world's most game-changing tomes, bridging us from theories and evidence into the deeply intimate details of practices that meet the needs of survivors of violence, independent of the traditional justice systems in the US and beyond. She introduces us to four key areas that are to this day the foundation of her work with Common Justice, and reflects on what she has observed since the 2019 publication.

Common Justice develops and advances solutions to violence that transform the lives of those harmed and foster racial equity without relying on incarceration.

In New York City, we operate the first alternative-to-incarceration and victim-service program in the United States that focuses on violent felonies in the adult courts. Locally and nationally, we leverage the lessons from our direct service to transform the justice system through partnerships, advocacy, and elevating the experience and power of those most impacted.

Rigorous and hopeful, we build practical strategies to hold people accountable for harm, break cycles of violence, and secure safety, healing, and justice for survivors and their communities.

VISIT WEBSITE: Common Justice

WATCH The Zoom Recording of this Live Dialogue on our YouTube Channel

★ Support this podcast ★

Personal coherence is a critical aspect of working within any human services position, and perhaps even more critical when offering restorative justice practices of any kind. The clear intersection between facilitator coherence and the potential for optimal support and potential best outcomes is evident, and in this conversation with Deborah Rozman we cover the science behind heart-brain coherence and how it impacts not just ourselves, but those in our proximity and beyond, in ways that are now quantified. In plain words, if you are coherent, you are present, able to listen, able to stay neutrally oriented, and offer depthful facilitation. The implications are limitless in the field of social justice, and beyond....

Dr. Deborah Rozman is a psychologist, business executive, educator, author and a researcher in the psychology of consciousness. Dr. Rozman has written numerous books, including the award-winning Meditating With Children and co-authoring with Doc Childre the Transforming Series — Transforming Anger, Transforming Stress, Transforming Anxiety and Transforming Depression. She helped Doc Childre found the Institute of HeartMath and currently is president and co-CEO of Quantum Intech Inc., the HeartMath technology company that develops and manufactures emWave® coherence feedback technologies. Prior to her involvement with HeartMath she was executive vice president of a biotech company where she directed sponsored research projects with Harvard University. Dr. Rozman serves on the HeartMath Institute’s Global Coherence Initiative Steering Committee and is a key spokesperson for the HeartMath System, giving keynote addresses and media interviews on HeartMath research and applications.

Visit the Institute of HeartMath Website

In this hour dialogue we open with a "Quick Coherence" guided meditation, then cover the following areas:

• To open us up, share about your vision, passion, and entry point that landed you studying the science of the heart and with HMI
• What discoveries excite and inspire you the most that you think would help people better understand science-backed human capacities?
• Tell us a bit about your specific research over the past decades--a synopsis of some of it and what most inspires you about the findings
• There is a growing movement, globally, surrounding the power of intention and coherence that is beautifully demonstrated in a recent film that shows how we have the power to influence the "field" regardless of time and space--can you speak to that, and also let us know what your definition of "the field" is?
• How does heart brain coherence affect our ability to listen?
• Does heart brain coherence impact our openness to receive new information, ie, bring us out of assumptions into new levels of understanding?
• Many Indigenous refer to dialogue as a "field" -- can you share how this relates for you, and for your findings?
• As it concerns restorative justice and dialogue work, how can heart-brain coherence drastically improve the ability for a facilitator to impact the dialogic field?
• How does heart brain coherence directly impact trauma survivors?
• The intersection of personal coherence of dialogue leaders and their teams with restorative justice process is an edge area in this field, but it seems that it is an absolute no brainer that facilitators and keepers would adopt this as a regular, ongoing practice. Can you speak to how easy it is to shift, even on the fly, into coherence?

Interview and Conversation with the amazing Jabali Stewart of Huayruro

In this hour and thirty minute dialogue we look at:

• How we must value and truly be relational-focused with adults and the youth we work with. We must slow down and really do the work of relating, or our systems of "RJ" will be built on unstable ground.
• How some teachers utilize circle to teach, even subjects such as math
• The tier structures for schools: The Map is not at all the territory
• Presence and restorative work
• And much more...

VISIT Huayruro WEBSITE

Tim Chapman had a lengthy career in the Probation Service in Northern Ireland rising to a
senior management position. He spent 10 years as a lecturer and course director of the
Masters programme in Restorative Practices at the University of Ulster. He now teaches at
the University of Sassari, Italy, as a Visiting Professor and at The University of Strathclyde as
a Visiting Professor. He also offers training, research and consultancy in restorative justice.
He has conducted training in restorative justice theory and practices from foundation level
to specialist training throughout the world. He has published widely in effective probation
practice, youth justice and restorative justice. He is currently conducting research into
victims’ experience of restorative justice. He has been a board member and chair of the
European Forum for Restorative Justice. He continues to practice and is leading two major
restorative justice programmes addressing institutional sexual abuse.

In this deeply powerful 90m conversation he dives into:

• Dynamics within power structures specific to his research, and his work, with survivors of sexual abuse with the Catholic Church.
• The Power of Relationships and Relationships of Power
• The "Seven P's" of restorative (People, Purpose, Place, Period of time, Process design, Protocols (guidelines), Practitioner, Preparation (support)
• The importance of listening deeply
• The importance of allowing stakeholder choice around who keeps/facilitates
• Victim/Harmed parties elemental needs
• The importance of RJ and Human Dignity and how these interweave in practice
• The "ecosystem" of a circle

Quote from podcast:

"To restore one's own power within one's own life, to give meaning and reconnection, as well as autonomy and control, justice..." (referring to supporting harmed parties of sexual abuse within the church and what he has found they need)

Tim is former Chair of the European Forum for Restorative Justice, and you are cordially invited to join them as they host an International Conference in Tallinn, Estonia in May 2024. For more information:

VISIT EFRJ WEBSITE

From Pamplona, Spain (June 2023) at the European Forum for Restorative Justice Symposium

Petra sat down with host Molly Rowan Leach for an informal but powerful dive into the particulars of restorative justice, from a local to global perspective. She is the founder and director of the Institut pro Restorativni Justici, Prague and serves as the Secretary of the Board for EFRJ (European Forum for Restorative Justice)

In this 32m discussion, we cover a wide range of territory, including her reflections on the conference, the growth of restorative justice in our world,  the principles of our work in the field, and the particulars about the program she founded, that is fast-growing in the Czech Republic (IRJ).

VISIT IRJ WEBSITE

SUPPORT OUR MEDIA WORK: CONTRIBUTE ANY AMOUNT TODAY

A Conversation with honored guest Dina Thompson, Executive Director and Founding Member, Erie County Restorative Justice Coalition….on the simplicity …of returning, to Circle.

RESTORATIVE MEDIA NEEDS YOUR LOVE! DONATE ANY AMOUNT

You won’t want to miss interacting with Dina and we want to encourage questions as we always make time for interaction and dialogue. Dina’s experience implementing, collaborating cross-professionally, and supporting processes that secure a felt sense of common vision and goals based in RJ practices, that grow RJ practices, will be helpful for anyone wishing to hear insights from a deeply seasoned guide who has faced all forms of pushback and challenges, and has helped alongside and with others to build flourishing systems within communities in the Eastern US region. More importantly, Dina will help us remember to simplify and connect, and ways that have worked well for her in any arena of human services.

VISIT Erie County Restorative Justice Coalition WEBSITE

and an introduction by Molly Rowan Leach, Host/Founder of Restorative Justice on The Rise and RJ Practitioner/Facilitator including work with Therapy Dog teams.

Bringing therapy dogs together with victims and offenders of social and criminal justice to create a healing environment that frees people from their traumas.

Paws 4 Peace is a book for animal lovers and peacebuilders in the world of restorative justice. Those who love dogs already appreciate the benefits of canine companionship!

Taking this inherent human-animal bond to a higher level and exploring the powerful connection of therapy dogs with victims and offenders in social/criminal justice scenarios is a powerful and affirming read.

Author Patty LaTaille writes:

“When asked to explain how this concept of a cross-collaboration of the species in a social justice initiative evolved, my response is deceptively simple: “It just made sense.” Being an 'Animal Person', and one who regards our fellow creatures on this planet as sentient beings who connect with humans on many levels, I've always had a strong belief in the 'Power of Paws'.”

Our Therapy Dog Teams are happy to share their experiences - both human and canine:

“Hi, my name is Abby, and I’m a certified therapy dog. One of my favorite jobs is when I’m part of a restorative justice circle. Since dogs are very sensitive to the energy that people give off, I usually sense some fear, tension, and a lot of anxiety! But I’ve come to help these people. I’m not sure what I do exactly, but when these people see me, the energy shifts, and they are able to smile and relax, at least just a little.”

Paws 4 Peace - Enhancing Restorative Practices with Therapy Dogs, provides a framework and specific guidelines on how to incorporate Therapy Dogs Teams into Restorative Justice practices.

Enjoy this entertaining and educational background of the Paws 4 Peace approach; complete with cute canines & their human's pics ? - while appreciating this detailed manual for implementing similar programs in RJ organizations worldwide!

You will find this book useful if you have read or plan to read other restorative justice books like: Beyond the Surface of Restorative Practices, The Little Book of Restorative Justice, or The Big Book of Restorative Justice.

VISIT Paws For Peace WEBSITE

Why me? Transforming Lives through Restorative Justice, Director

Lucy Jaffe is the Director of the UK charity Why me? Transforming Lives through Restorative Justice. She has built the organisation over the last 11 years to become an influential voice promoting restorative justice in UK and Europe. She has campaigned in Parliament, with regional governments, police, prisons and probation to ensure that anyone affected by crime can have access to restorative justice. She has had great success in supporting the people directly affected to speak to people in power, which, in turn, has led to increased budget allocation, strengthened legal provision and an increasing awareness and uptake of restorative justice in the UK.

She is a member of the Advisory Board to the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Restorative Justice, contributing to the 2021 Inquiry Report and the second 2022 Inquiry. She has strong fundraising and finance skills and sees this as a priority foundation stone for a stable and successful organisation. In 2015 she established a direct national restorative justice service and strives to run Why me? on restorative principles.

In the last 2 years she has been a member of the EFRJ Working Group on Violent Extremism, attending regularly and being a co-editor on the Policy and Practice Papers.

VISIT WHY ME WEBSITE

VISIT EFRJ 2023 Pamplona Conference & Website

Board Member of the European Forum for Restorative Justice and Co-Host of the 2023 EFRJ International Conference. On location for the EFRJ Conference, June 22, 2023 in Pamplona, Spain.

In this 22 minute conversation with Jorge Peran, we hear the essential elements from him as to how RJ is universal, and how it is essential to speak face to face, listen deeply, and take our part in responding to harm and conflict. Jorge opened up this year's conference with a poem from his hometown in Navarre Spain, to set a tone of restoration and sharing of voice, which has potency beyond written communication.

Jorge shares about Ongi Etorri, a traditional greeting originating from the Basque country in Spain, and its meaning and similarities with the core values of restorative practices.

It was a true honor and pleasure to host Jorge and to be a part of this extraordinary convening. Thank you, Jorge, and EFRJ.

VISIT EFRJ WEBSITE

Interviews with and essays by Dr. Zehr?— plus, for the first time, details and photos from his personal journey.

Here, Howard Zehr offers his most complete view of Restorative Justice as an approach to all of life. Zehr made his initial contribution in the area of criminal justice by pointing out that victims are sidelined in the Western justice system. He emphasized, too, that society’s laws for handling crime have often resulted in increased violence, more prisons, and unresolved human cost.

In this book he:

• Distills his pioneering and influential work in Restorative Justice as a game-changer for the criminal justice system and conflict of all kinds.
• Joins his RJ work with what he’s discovered in his additional career as a professional photographer and gatherer of people’s stories.
• Demonstrates how RJ practices can extend to all of human interaction—through Respect, Relationships, and Responsibility, along with Humility and Wonder.
• Shows how RJ can change our personal lives, as well as our communities.

This collection of Zehr’s seminal thinking is approachable, convincing, and inspiring. A powerful guide to sustaining our life together.

VISIT WEBSITE

Website

Guests Book Website

Guest Websites: www.livingjusticepress.org and www.kesslerkeenerfoundation.org

Born in Toronto, Canada, Jeff Brown did all the things he was supposed to do to become successful in the eyes of the world. He was on the Dean’s Honor List as an undergraduate. He won the Law and Medicine prize in law school. He apprenticed with top criminal lawyer Eddie Greenspan. It had been Jeff’s lifelong dream to practice criminal law and search for the truth in the courtroom.

But then, on the verge of opening a law practice, he heard a little voice inside telling him, ‘stop, just stop.’ With great difficulty, he honored this voice and began a heartfelt quest for the truth that lived within him. Although he didn’t realize it at the time, Jeff was actually questing for his innate image, the essential being that he came into this lifetime to embody. He was searching for his authentic face.

As part of his journey, Jeff surrendered to his confusion and explored many possible paths. He studied Bioenergetics and did session work with co-founder Alexander Lowen. He practiced as a body-centered psychotherapist. He completed an MA in Psychology at Saybrook Graduate School in San Francisco and co-founded the Open Heart Gang, a benevolent gang with a heartfelt intention. He started his own business and became a successful entrepreneur.

The most important thing Brown did, however, was the inner work. By going inside and connecting his spirituality with his emotional life, he learned essential lessons. By learning to surrender to the ‘School of Heart Knocks’ (the school of life), he found his authentic face and embraced the call to write Soulshaping. Although he resisted it at first, he soon realized that honoring the call was his best defense against sleeplessness. If he wrote, he slept. If he didn’t, he lay awake all night. This is in the nature of a calling.

Brown self-published the first edition of Soulshaping in December 2007. Titled Soulshaping: Adventures in Self-Creation, the book was sold on a street level by a homeless man in Toronto and met with a tremendous response. It was picked up by North Atlantic Books soon thereafter and a beautiful new edition, distributed by Random House, entered bookstores in August 2009. Now named Soulshaping: A Journey of Self-Creation, this edition includes a new preface written by Brown that speaks to the grassroots energy that moved the book into the world so quickly, validating his own intuition about the book’s connective and heartfelt nature.

After writing a series of inspirations for ABC’S ‘Good Morning America’ in early 2010, and appearing on Fox News.com and dozens of radio shows, Brown wrote the viral blog ‘Apologies to the Divine Feminine (from a warrior in transition)’ that autumn, catapulting him to a greater degree of notoriety, particularly in social media. Soon thereafter, he released his first film, Karmageddon, an award winning spiritual documentary that highlights his journey with spiritual teacher Bhagavan Das. Also featuring profound interviews with Be Here Now author Ram Dass, yogis Seane Corn and David Life, and chanters Wah, Deva Premal and Miten; Karmageddon is a courageous, self-revealing, unforgettable film about spirituality, integrity, and emotional healing.

Jeff’s second book Ascending with Both Feet on the Ground was published in October, 2012. Strongly endorsed by Oprah ‘Soul Series’ Radio host Elizabeth Lesser and best-selling authors Oriah Mountain Dreamer and Katherine Woodward Thomas, Ascending is a collection of some of Jeff’s most popular spiritual graffiti–quotes, soul-bytes and aphorisms frequently shared in social media.

His third book Love It Forward was published on Valentine’s Day, 2014. In this subsequent book of spiritual graffiti, Jeff includes a number of his most popular and profound love and relationship quotes. Endorsed by best-selling authors Carolyn Myss, Andrew Harvey and CNN’S Father Edward Beck, this book also includes a series of inspirations that Jeff wrote for ‘Good Morning America.’ Also in 2014, Jeff formed his own publishing house Enrealment Press (www.enrealment.com) and signed a deal with New Leaf distribution. His fourth book- a higher consciousness love story called An Uncommon Bond—was published to rave reviews in May, 2015. An audio version—published by the Grammy-award winning Blackstone Audio—soon followed. Jeff’s fifth book, a quotes book aptly named Spiritual Graffiti, came out in December, 2015. His latest book, Grounded Spirituality, was published in March, 2019.

Anthony also speaks to a workshop he attended during the conference called "Finding Power in Darkness".

From the NACRJ conference in Oakland, CA. 2017

Or on the NC4RJ Network.

Thanks to our Sponsors:

National Center for Restorative Justice

AND

Restorative Justice Foundation

Honoring the roots of restoration and transformation starts with acknowledging ancestral wisdom. Jerry Tello is Co-Founder of the National Compadres Network and Director, National Latino Fatherhood and Family Institute and author of the new book, Recovering Your Sacredness

In this potent keynote, thanks to the NACRJ and RJOY Oakland for the conference in 2017 in Oakland, "Moving Restorative Justice from Margins to Center", Jerry calls out imperative question, who is blessing our children? Whose justice is this? And blends humor and precise, lived wisdom in this 45 minute keynote.

Credits to the incredible Jerry Tello

Jerry's new book is Recovering Your Sacredness

And to the NACRJ and RJOY

Credit: NACRJ, Production & Edits RJ on The Rise.

Dame Rangimarie Naida Glavish is a highly respected Iwi and Community Leader. Naida is currently employed as the Chief Tikanga Advisor/General Manager Maori with the He Kamaka Waiora, Maori Health, Waitemata and Auckland District Health Board.

Houhou Te Rongo 2018

In 2009, the late and extraordinary Dr. Barbara Marx Hubbard spoke at a conference we produced with an extraordinary and devoted community team in Boise, ID. Dr. Hubbard was a candidate for Vice President and an author of multiple best sellers outlining our moment in time--crisis--as a natural element of conscientious growth.

This is a special, exclusive feature from our archives. In honor of the beauty of Dr. Barbara Marx Hubbard and her visionary and grounded evidence that we are in fact in the midst of an essential transformation: systemically, personally, globally.

Originally titled "Roots and Stars", we wanted to illuminate the fullness of this hour as a prophetic message for us all during these times. Packed with humor, storytelling, citations of major mystics and philosophers alike, and anecdotes from our world's most blatantly heinous atrocities.. of which James himself almost died, we come to a place of "tea among strangers, amidst the rubble", or the humanity that resides in all of us even amidst suffering and loss.

This podcast is a very special feature, and an honoring, of our dear colleague and friend James O'Dea.

#restorativejustice #metowe #dialogue #heartresonance #gibran

Since that life-altering day in October 2016 Eric has worked to further the possibility of VOD & restorative justice program implementation and is a national speaker advocating for restorative justice as a surviving family member and brother to Matt whose life was cut way too short.

Matt was an inspiration for the many lives he touched while living. After he passed in 2016, his friends and colleagues continued to spread his “Blessed For Another Day” messages through social media. In his honor, Eric created this website to focus on positivity.

Eric continues to spread Matt's contagious positivity and is a speaker, writer, and advocate for forgiveness, personal healing, and avenues for restorative justice. Since his brother's murder in 2016, he has been on a journey of self-reflection and finding his place again in the world, constantly looking at new ways to approach the hardships that life can bring. By openly sharing his story, he has found a way to re-channel his love for Matt to positively influence friends, family, and anyone else who will listen. Through speaking events at churches, universities, and podcasts, he tells a powerful story about how forgiveness has given him the freedom to move forward and cut any ties that would bind him to self-defeat.

Eric has collaborated with respected RJ practitioner and Michigan State University professor Derrick Franke, whose facilitation and VOD support for another family was part of the CNN Series The Redemption Project with Van Jones. Their collaborative work has included a lecture and discussion on VOD implementation steps in states in the US without that option. Eric is available to speak via web or at your community center or campus by contacting him via the website.

 In this very special and intimate discussion with Ram Tiwari, we take a deep dive to look at the historical context of community justice in Nepal, and discuss how Ram and others have catalyzed community-owned and community-based restorative justice over the past years and are seeing it grow quickly.

Some of the nuggets from our dialogue include:

• Anecdotal Measurement of RJ Success
• Nepali Peoples' resonance with RJ
• Local struggles and needs
• How to support NFRJ
• The 3rd Annual Conference Nov. 22-24 focusing on Gender Based Violence
• Ram's work internationally with the UN and with the US OJJDP Group
• And much more

Connect with NFRJ on Facebook NFRJ Website & 3rd Annual Conference Information This Special Feature will drop at our website & iTunes podcast streams within the next few days! Ram pictured below with the USA OJJDP Restorative Justice Working Group.

"After 20 plus years working to bring humanity and healing to our criminal legal system, I developed a framework to help understand and transform the policies and practices that perpetuate intergenerational trauma and community suffering.

The premise of my book which launches FEBRUARY 4th, WE KEEP US SAFE: Building Secure, Just and Inclusive Communities is that we are safer together when we shift the conversation about public safety away from fear and punishment and toward growth and support systems for our families and communities. As we build public safety systems that recognize our connection to each other, we also give ourselves our best chance to rescue democracy.

2020 will be a pivotal point in the history of humanity and for the survival of our species. Will we come together to reject division and scapegoating and instead affirm our interdependency and humanity?  If we are to shift the direction of this country, we must present a compelling vision for how our communities can heal and thrive."

She is also co founder of the College of Idaho's Prison Experience Seminar and Course, which has evolved over the past 20 years and has been a leading catalyst within the state of Idaho towards education, advocacy and action. Students have the ability to opt into working within prisons to teach writing and to participate in profoundly insightful forums and discussions on-campus, that have featured leading advocates in the justice transformation movement.

IN THIS DIALOGUE (1:09) Diane shares anecdotes of the power of working creatively to recover voice, self worth, and value in a world of punishment and shame. She shares stories from how she founded the prison writing program, and the impact it has had on everyone involved, including herself equally with the inmates she has workshopped writing with, into discoveries and insights that have brought immense healing and balance.

Join Diane October 24 & 31 as she offers a 2-Part Webinar Series on creative partnerships and writing programs within prisons. She will offer insights into how to start, what the classes explore specifically, and how she works from Class one through the duration of a "semester" within a prison course.  More info coming shortly! Be sure to join the RJ on The Rise Mailing List to get updates and information!

Diane Raptosh’s fourth book of poetry, American Amnesiac (Etruscan Press), was longlisted for the 2013 National Book Award and was a finalist for the Housatonic Book Award. The recipient of three fellowships in literature from the Idaho Commission on the Arts, she served as the Boise Poet Laureate (2013) as well as the Idaho Writer-in-Residence (2013-2016). In 2018 she won the Idaho Governor’s Arts Award in Excellence. A highly active ambassador for poetry, she has given poetry workshops everywhere from riverbanks to maximum security prisons. She teaches creative writing and co-directs the program in Criminal Justice/Prison Studies at The College of Idaho. Her most recent book of poems, Human Directional, was published by Etruscan Press in 2016. Her sixth book of poems, Dear Z: The Zygote Epistles will be published by Etruscan Press in 2020.

More About Diane & Published Works

She designs, implements, researches, writes and publishes on a variety of innovations including restorative practices and solution focused approaches. Her purpose is to improve the justice system and individuals’ access to justice. She has a special interest in helping disenfranchised people including foster youth, homeless people, crime victims, incarcerated people, people with substance abuse problems, loved ones of all affected, find what they need for healing.

Much of her research and work is conducted as director of Hawai’i Friends of Restorative Justice, which she has worked with for over 20 years www.hawaiifriends.org. Since 1994, she has been a University of Hawai’i system lecturer teaching a variety of courses including ethics, criminal justice, public and personal speaking.

• To move Lawrence toward a city where justice rolls down like a mighty river
• To surface, understand, and address issues of justice in the region
• To strengthen understanding of the scriptural imperative to do justice

We were lucky to have the opportunity to sit down with Marko, Akeem and Stephan, all a part of Circles and Ciphers, located in North Chicago, during the 7th Conference on Community and Restorative Justice hosted by the NACRJ and by RJ Colorado, in Denver (June 2019)

Circles & Ciphers is a hip-hop infused restorative justice organization led by and for young people impacted by violence. Through art-based peace circles, education, and direct action we collectively heal and work to bring about the abolition of the prison-industrial complex.

In this short interview, Marko, Akeem and Stephan all share insights into how creativity and hip-hop answer to serious gaps in society, and how circles support strengthening youth empowerment and community. Truly inspiring.

Adam dives in to answer Sen. Lee's poignant and direct questions about stumbling blocks, misperceptions, and how restorative justice can better answer to both "lower level" cases as well as more serious ones, and how that supports persons harmed as well as the rehabilitation of parties committing offenses. This 15 minute segment also covers ACEs and how we look at justice from childhood onward using Trauma-Informed practices and restorative practices that are implemented as "upstream of conflict" practice, answering to these critical needs.

"A New Perspective for Prosecutors" -- one of Prosecutor Impact's driving principles, is also explained thoroughly. Adam Foss presented as a Keynote at the June conference, opening with a driving and powerful reminder that we must get uncomfortable to do justice. Special thanks to Senator Lee and Adam Foss and their subsequent and dedicated efforts.

Griffen and Yota are Youth Leadership with a National Committee of Youth in Restorative Justice that convened to present a featured Pre-Conference day-long workshop leading into the NACRJ's 7th Conference held in Denver, CO last month. Both Griffen, as a Student Adviser, and Yota, as a Student Board Member, also work with the OUSD School Board and additional key community teams to ensure that restorative justice continues to grow within this district which many consider to be the lead for this work within schools in our country.

In addition to their work mentioned above, both are involved in offering trainings and were on the main stage at the conference to provide updates. Both mention how to get in touch with them within our interview, towards the close at around 35m.

Key areas we covered: OUSD's Budget Cuts, The importance of bridging Youth and Adults in the work we do, and more
 Interview Conducted at the NACRJ Denver Conference, June 14-16, 2019.

In this Roundtable from the National Association for Community and Restorative Justice's 7th Conference, held in Denver, CO, June 14-16, 2019, host Molly Rowan Leach sat down with the people behind the exponential expansion of restorative justice cross-sector in our nation's capital. We talk restorative justice in schools, and how the Prosecutor's office in DC realized how effective RJ is, and has grown its program which started in 2016 to include a wide range of cases. We also talk resistances, doubts in implementation, and how Restorative DC, a cross-profession hub for restorative justice took root almost a decade ago and has spurred powerful collaborations and systems work, expanding rapidly within human systems from schools to federal courts and beyond.

Honored Guests: 

Seema Gajwani is a 2019 Obama Foundation Fellow and Special Counsel on Juvenile Justice Reform at the Office of The Attorney General (OAG), District of Columbia. Seema played a founding role in the implementation of restorative justice in 2016.

Robert ("Roman") Haferd is the Restorative Justice Coordinator, Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia. For more information about the Restorative Justice Program at the Office of The Attorney General, Washington DC please go to  https://www.npr.org/2019/07/02/735506637/d-c-prosecutors-once-dubious-are-becoming-believers-in-restorative-justice”

Rashid Hughes is the Restorative Justice and Youth Leadership Program Specialist for Restorative DC
 

Tarek Maassarani Tarek Maassarani is the founder and one of the team members of Restorative DC. www.restorativedc.org

About The Organizations:

In 2016, Attorney General Racine launched OAG’s Restorative Justice Program to address the root problems of crime and conflict, and offer juvenile prosecutors an alternative to traditional prosecution. Restorative justice conferencing is a way to resolve conflicts by focusing on repairing harm to victims. This program brings those affected by a crime together with the offenders for a discussion to hold offenders accountable, empower victims and repair the harm caused by crime.

Nationwide statistics show restorative justice programs have better success than traditional prosecution at rehabilitating offenders, increasing victim satisfaction and lowering costs.

With the help of a U.S. Department of Justice Smart Prosecution grant, OAG has expanded its use of restorative justice and has hired five full-time staffers for this program. By expanding this data-driven program in communities around the District, OAG is addressing community conflicts directly in neighborhoods experiencing violence. While other jurisdictions have implemented restorative justice programs, OAG is the first public safety agency to do so in-house, where restorative justice specialists work alongside prosecutors. This innovative approach to juvenile justice helps reduce recidivism and support better outcomes for District youth.

Restorative DC emerged from the DC Alliance for Restorative Practices (DCARP), a broad-based network of educators, police, agency officials, restorative practitioners, community-based organizations, youth workers, and juvenile justice advocates that formed in 2012. Since its establishment in 2015, Restorative DC has carried forward this collaborative spirit, cultivating interagency cooperation and partnership with other community-based organizations. Restorative DC is a project of SchoolTalk, a local nonprofit with over a decade of working with youth to improve conflict resolution and special education in the District. Restorative DC currently supports restorative change in dozens of DC schools with onsite technical assistance, as well as offering District-wide professional development and restorative services to education, juvenile justice, and other agencies.

Key Links:

For more information about the Restorative Justice Program at the Office of The Attorney General, District of Columbia, please go to https://oag.dc.gov/public-safety/restorative-justice-program

For more information about Restorative DC, go to www.restorativedc.org

David coined the term traumagenic,and it is a framing piece setting the tone for this highly recommended article on healing historical harm

As David mentions in this dialogue, he is working with the Equal Justice Initiative's Community Remembrance Project, to collect soil at all lynching grounds in Fulton County, GA (Atlanta), and invites people from anywhere in the US and beyond to submit soil samples as well.

David is author of The LIttle Book of Transformative Community Conferencing, as part of the Little Books on Justice & Peacebuilding Series

David speaking on Traumagenics--short video:

As general manager of Boston’s Dance Umbrella and First Night, and later as an elementary school teacher in Cambridge, Massachusetts, she struggled to make sense of racial tensions she could feel but could not explain. In 2009, Debby took a graduate school course, Racial and Cultural Identities, which gave her the answers she’d been looking for and launched her on a journey of discovery. Now, speaking and leading workshops around the country, Debby devotes herself to exploring the impact white skin can have on perception, problem solving, and creating culturally inclusive communities. A graduate of the Winsor School in Boston, she holds a BA from Kenyon College and an MBA from Simmons College. Her first book, Waking Up White, tells the story of how she went from well-meaning to well-doing.

Waking Up White is the book Debby Irving wishes someone had handed her decades ago. By sharing her sometimes cringe-worthy struggle to understand racism and racial tensions, she offers a fresh perspective on bias, stereotypes, manners, and tolerance. As she unpacks her own long-held beliefs about colorblindness, being a good person, and wanting to help people of color, she reveals how each of these well-intentioned mindsets actually perpetuated her ill-conceived ideas about race. She also explains why and how she’s changed the way she talks about racism, works in racially mixed groups, and understands the racial justice movement as a whole. Exercises at the end of each chapter prompt readers to explore their own racialized ideas. Waking Up White's personal narrative is designed to work well as a rapid read, a book group book, or support reading for courses exploring racial and cultural issues.

Reviews for Waking Up White

“ What a provocative read. There’s so much in [this book]… about what it means to be in the white race.” Robin Young, Here & Now

"...a remarkable and, at times, emotionally searing look at one white woman's struggle to understand racism. It is part memoir and part guide to changing how we think about race...one of the most important books on race in recent memory." Readers + Writers Journal

“With eloquence and a sense of urgency, Irving takes us on a journey into the heart of what is arguably the American issue….Waking Up White is a provocative, persuasive call to action. Readers may squirm at some of its arguments, but they will find themselves thinking hard about them. And they will take them to heart.” Kenyon College Alumni Bulletin

“Debby Irving’s powerful Waking Up White opens a rare window on how white Americans are socialized. Irving's focus on the mechanics of racism operating in just one life -- her own -- may lead white readers to reconsider the roots of their own perspectives -- and their role in dismantling old myths. Readers of color will no doubt find the view through Irving's window fascinating, and telling.” -- Van Jones, author, Rebuild The Dream, The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems; President, Rebuild The Dream; Co-host, CNN Crossfire

"I read Waking Up White in one sitting. To say I loved it is an understatement. It's such a raw, honest portrait …. Irving's experience on display - warts and all - will help white people, who haven't noticed the role systemic privilege has played in their lives, start to see the world in a new way." -- Jodi Picoult, author, Small Great Things

Join Rivera Sun and Dominic Barter to explore these questions and emergent best practices for an online conversation, moderated by Kit Miller and hosted by Molly Rowan Leach.

These online skills can also translate into a toolbox that we can use in the street or around the dinner table to shift from fighting to opening hearts and minds.

This event is a benefit to support Nonviolence Now, a global media project dedicated to introducing nonviolence to the planet’s 7 billion residents.

Host:  Molly Rowan Leach hosts and produces Restorative Justice on The Rise, a creative-commons advocacy, education and narrative-tipping platform that has captured the global restorative justice movement's growth since 2011. Her written works have appeared at TruthOut, Daily Good, HuffPost, and Democracy Now.

Moderator:
 Kit Miller serves as director of the MK Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence in Rochester, NY and facilitates the Nonviolence Now project team. She teaches and works on projects related to restorative justice and anti-racism as applications of nonviolence in Rochester.

Awesome guests:
 Rivera Sun is the author of The Dandelion Insurrection and other novels and essays. She is a trainer in strategy for nonviolent movements and has been a social media for social change coordinator for Campaign Nonviolence, Metta Center for Nonviolence, and others.

Dominic Barter designs social systems that promote dialogue, empathy, innovation and partnership. Over 23 years his work has been applied in 48 countries. He is part of ‘Redes Cordiais’, which brings together social media influencers from opposing political tendencies

https://instantteleseminar.com/Events/112106451

Martha is President and Founder of RJAE Consulting, Consulting Services for Social Impact organizations.

View the webcast segments synchronized with Slides on the NC4RJ Network

 Both will be Guides during the Connection Series at Level 2 and up!

Key Points:

How empathy changes the brain
 How our brains retain neuroplasticity no matter our age
 Left-Right Hemispheres
 Shifting out of a punitive mindset
 Receiving ourselves and others in resonance and empathy
 Where fear takes us--the effect of fear on our brain

This research confirms that listening, speaking and interacting in a restorative way helps conflicted individuals and groups move through difficult, emotionally-charged and often traumatic situations with clarity, purpose, dignity, and empathy.

Probably the most hopeful sign in today’s world is the way nonviolence and the knowledge of how it works is spreading. The knowledge, however, often lags behind the practice. Our culture is simply not “tuned in” to a power that draws upon the unity of life instead of the competitiveness and alienation that are the prevailing image of humanity and its lack of meaning. Here a little knowledge can be a safe thing, for with it people who find themselves caught up in a potentially nonviolent struggle—as they are right now all over the Middle East as well as in far less heralded movements in places like Honduras and Mexico—can act both more safely and more effectively. This effect is far from limited, as is sometimes thought, to insurrectionary struggles. Gandhi experimented with principled nonviolence in literally every walk of life from health care to national defense, so it is possible for every one of us to engage this great power not just against unwanted regimes but as a way of changing cultures so that such regimes could be denied a grip on societies (provided we understand well enough what are the basic principles and how to apply which ones). This is where we at Metta come in. As a friend of ours said recently, we are a “small but mighty” group of people with a burning passion to develop for ourselves and others an ever deeper understanding of the potential and power of nonviolence. We work with students, educators, activists, the media and military personnel from around the world who see, however far off in the future, a vision of healing, respect, justice and compassion based on a much higher image of the human being and the meaning of life. We welcome the opportunity to work with you in building a more nonviolent world. In peace, Michael Nagler, Founder and President, Metta Center for Nonviolence (www.mettacenter.org)

David is on the Board of Directors for the National Association for Community and Restorative Justice. He has previously served as Associate Dean of Student Affairs, Chair of the Department of Sociology, and Director of the Program in Law and Society. David received a B.A. in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of California at Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Washington.

About Our Guest

Sheryl R. Wilson has been described as a resourceful Facilitator and mediator consistently recognized for excellence in building effective relationships. She has a background in all aspects of organizational communication, specifically in providing constructive feedback. Known for exceptional presentation and training skills with the ability to work on a national or international scale, Sheryl is a self-directed, assertive professional who loves a challenge.

Sheryl has been a practitioner, trainer and educator in restorative justice for over fifteen years and has had the honor of working with individuals from around the world in her practice. She holds both a Bachelor of Science degree in Mediation and Communication Studies and a restorative justice-based Master of Liberal Studies degree from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

FULL BIO AT KIPCOR

Bring questions, challenges and inspirations to share during the hour! We will be exploring the edge of restorative justice in schools.

REGISTER NOW

Eric Butler is a Restorative Justice Educator and Activist.

A Hurricane Katrina survivor, he relocated to Oakland, California where he rebuilt a new life, successfully facilitating Grief Circles in response to homicide and extreme violence in area schools as part of Catholic Charities’ crisis response program. He also worked as a lead mediator with Youth Uprising, where he mediated conflicts on the ground in Oakland neighborhoods and schools.
 

Eric was first introduced to the world of activism as a child, joining Selma Alabama's 21st Century Leadership Camp with his mentor Ted Quant, where he was involved in unfair education protests and sit in's, and learned a lot about politics and social injustice happening in America.
Eric was also a victim of a failing school system that fast-tracked its African American students from schools to prison. Later, experiencing homelessness after Katrina struck, Eric’s built a belief in the ability to overcome hurdles, which has propelled him forward to make a difference in the lives of young people across the US.

While in Oakland, Eric gained prominence for his impactful Restorative Justice work with youth in West Oakland as the School Coordinator at Bunche High School with Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth (RJOY). Today, Eric travels from New Orleans to Texas, to New York, to California and all around the country with a personal mission to spread Restorative Justice around the globe. Eric Butler Website

"CIRCLES CAN BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER TO  INVOKE CHANGE"

-THE OXFORD EAGLE

 BRING CIRCLES TO YOUR COMMUNITY

Cassidy Friedman directs and produces character-driven documentaries that call attention to unsung social justice pioneers of our time. Cassidy recently produced the feature documentary Voices Beyond the Wall (2017) with Executive Producer James Franco. Since founding his production company, Stories Matter Media, he has directed a score of documentary shorts, and is in post-production with producers Van Jones and Glen Zipper on the feature Soledad.

Cassidy's DIRECTORS STATEMENT on CIRCLES: "Circles tells the story of Eric Butler, a restorative justice coordinator who believes that by deepening communication and building trust with students at a continuation high school in Oakland, California, problems can be more easily and justly resolved.

The film focuses on Eric's struggle to do what few adults ever do with kids: to assume positive intent and learn where behavior stems from by being in conversation."  READ ENTIRE STATEMENT and PRESS KIT

Circles (Trailer) from Stories Matter Media on Vimeo.

Please be sure to visit www.restorativejusticeontherise.org for iTunes podcasts, training clips, and more from our public dialogues based in creative-commons and open-source, now in its 7th year and featuring RJ and Peacebuilding Educational webinars, free dialogues/conversations, and more. RJ on The Rise aims to leverage technology to cultivate conversations and opportunities for connection, inspiration, and grounded learning.

Joe Brummer Website: http://www.joebrummer.com

Life Comes From It is a grantmaking circle facilitated by eight long-time practitioners and leaders who have 134 years of combined experience in restorative justice, transformative justice, and indigenous peacemaking.

Rita Marie Johnson shares how the Connection Practice supports restorative justice practices and conflict resolution by creating safe spaces for uncovering the root of why harms are done, and helping all involved to find connection points via empathy, insight, and coherence.She draws on her depth of experience in a lifetime dedicated to peacebuilding.Rita Marie Johnson is creator of the Connection Practice.

She is founder and CEO of Rasur Foundation International, which sponsors the Connection Practice.

In 2009, she initiated a Ministry for Peace bill in Costa Rica, which passed in 2009.

Her book, Completely Connected: Uniting Our Empathy and Insight for Extraordinary Results is an Amazon bestseller.

www.connectionpractice.org

• What the Seven Core Assumptions are of a restorative process
• Why a restorative school community is unique in its inclusiveness of participants
• Insights on integration and how to manage overwhelm
• The importance of cultural diversity and inclusivity in processes
• How to distribute power with equanimity in a circle --as facilitator and community owners of a process
• Ways in which systems are collaborating beyond schools
• And much more...

Carolyn Boyes-Watson is Director of Suffolk University’s Center for Restorative Justice and Associate Professor of Sociology at Suffolk University. Professor Boyes-Watson has been on the faculty since 1993.

Boyes-Watson has published in the area of restorative justice, criminal justice, technology and social control and drug policy.

She is currently Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services, the prisoners’ rights organization of Massachusetts.

Her current research interests include restorative justice and criminal justice policy and she teaches in the areas of criminal justice, juvenile justice and restorative justice. 

Her most recent book is Circle Forward: Building a Restorative School Community with Kay Pranis (2014), with whom she also co-authored Heart of Hope.  Peacemaking Circles & Urban Youth: Bringing Justice Home (Living Justice Press, 2008). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-ccZfOQJ2s

Kay Pranis teaches and writes about the dialog process known as 'peacemaking circles.'  Kay learned about peacemaking circles in her work in restorative justice in the mid-90s  Her initial teachers in the circle work were Barry Stuart, a judge in Yukon, Canada, and Mark Wedge and Harold Gatensby, First Nations people of Yukon.  Since that initial exposure to the use of peacemaking circles in the justice system Kay has been involved in developing the use of peacemaking circles in schools, social services, churches, families, museums, universities, municipal planning and workplaces.

Kay has authored or co-authored several books about circles:  Peacemaking Circles - From Crime to Community;  The Little Book of Circle Processes – A New/Old Approach to Peacemaking;  Doing Democracy with Circles – Engaging Communities in Public Planning;  Heart of Hope – A Guide for Using Peacemaking Circles to Develop Emotional Literacy, Promote Healing & Build Healthy Relationships; Circle Forward – Building a Restorative School Community.

Kay works primarily as a trainer in the peacemaking circle process.  She is a Senior Associate at the Center for Restorative Justice at Suffolk University in Boston.  She is also an adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University, Eastern Mennonite University and Southwest Minnesota State University.

Kay has a particular interest in the use of circles to support social justice efforts addressing racial, economic, class and gender inequities.  That interest includes the use of peacemaking circles to understand and respond to historical harms to groups of people.  The peacemaking circle process has been a source of energy, inspiration and continuous learning for Kay

He has conducted research for a number of organisations, including Restorative Solutions, the Restorative Justice Council, Search for Common Ground and the United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs.

He is also the founder of the Community of Restorative Researchers, a new research network which aims to enhance communication and collaboration between researchers, practitioners and policymakers in the field of restorative justice.

David serves on the board of the Peace and Justice Studies Association.  Additionally he is the United Nations Representative for the International Peace Research Association. Over the past 13 years Dr. Ragland has taught at Bucknell University, Vassar College, Hofstra University, University of Toledo, Eastern Michigan University, Teachers College Columbia University Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville and Washington University in St.Louis, Mo.

Dr. Ragland’s research focuses on Restorative Justice,  School & Social Violence, the School to Prison Pipeline,  Peace Education, Philosophy of Education, Coloniality and Critical Race Theory.  His most recent publication is a chapter titled "Peace Education as an Ethical Framework to Situate Restorative Justice: Locating the Concerns of Communities of Color in Peace and JusticeDiscourse" in Peace Studies between Tradition and Innovation.  David writes frequently for PeaceVoice and is currently working on a volume entitled "The Intellectual and Political History of Peacemakers of Color"

She has written about the prison-industrial complex for Truthout, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Nation, Salon, Ms. Magazine, and others. She is the recipient of a Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Chi Award, an Independent Publisher Book Award, the Women's Prison Association's Sarah Powell Huntington Leadership Award, and a Lannan Residency Fellowship. Maya also serves as chair of the Media Consortium's board, and is active with the Chicago-based abolitionist group Love & Protect and the Chicago Community Bond Fund. Previous to her work at Truthout, Maya was Contributing Editor at Punk Planet magazine and served as media coordinator for Voices for Creative Nonviolence.

Through a partnership with Pierce County Center Dispute Resolution we have reached out to local schools in Pierce Co. as well as beginning to support Pierce Co. Juvenile Justice.  We are looking forward to a rich working relationship.

Our work is focused on system level change.  We are developing whole school (agency) approaches to dealing with painful conflict.  From preventative community building practices that borrow from circle practice and ropes course type activities.  We have developed tools and approaches to the middle level harm.  These tools are challenging and are often tailored to the particular school or classroom.  These tools seek to address minor disruptive behavior in an effective way that engages youth and teachers.  Finally we use the traditional Restorative Conferencing for the most severe cases of harm.

We are working with schools to create strong systems that students, teachers, and administrators have ownership over in order to create long-lasting change and results.

Please check out Jeanne's website for her new book, Change of Heart, as well as for further information about her. http://changeofheart.wjkbooks.com/

Don't miss this compelling podcast that provides profound insights shared by someone who has endured the very worst, and the spirit underlying it all that allowed her to come to a place of forgiveness with the killer, and further, to see him as a human being with a humanity to him regardless of his actions.

40min--via Pacifica affiliate KHEN Salida, CO recorded live Feb. 17, 2015

Lisa Rea has diverse and broad experience in legislative advocacy, public policy development, and grassroots organizing. She is a former legislative staff person to three members of the California Legislature. Lisa has served in the public and private sector as a legislative advocate on a range of subjects including criminal justice reform, healthcare, welfare reform and environmental public policy.

She is a restorative justice expert and lecturer with over 20 years’ experience at the state, national and international levels with special expertise working with crime victims. Lisa worked for two national organizations promoting systemic criminal justice reform as a legislative advocate, and policy strategist. In 1998 she directed one of the first intensive in-prison restorative justice projects in the U.S. inside a Texas medium security prison.

In 2001, she founded the Justice & Reconciliation Project, a national nonprofit seeking to educate and organize victims of violent crime around the benefits of restorative justice. Lisa is the president of Restorative Justice International (RJI), an international association and network founded in 2009 through social media (Linkedin.com) with over 3700 members and affiliate members globally working for victims-driven restorative justice.

Ms. Rea is president of Rea Consulting based in California providing government relations, online grassroots organizing, media relations and restorative justice consulting guidance.

Restorative Justice International can be found @ http://restorativejusticeinternational.com  as well as a robust and active discussion group at LinkedIn here

In 2009, Van worked as the green jobs advisor to the Obama White House. There, he helped run the inter-agency process that oversaw $80 billion in green energy recovery spending.

www.vanjones.net

http://www.righttoknowcolorado.org/

http://www.parentingthemovie.com/about

Description: This fantastic exploration with James O’Dea takes us to high-conflict areas, including in the U.S., and how models of restorative justice have been set in motion. James has visited numerous processes worldwide, and shares insights about Rwanda’s gacaca courts, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, processes in the Middle East, and a convening in the U.S. of facilitators from around the world who are actively involved in transforming individual, local, and global justice practices one dialogue at a time.

Brief Bio: James O’Dea is an internationally known author and teacher. His most recent book, Cultivating Peace: Becoming a 21st Century Peace Ambassador continues to receive critical acclaim and is used as a guide and manual around the world. He is lead faculty for The Peace Ambassador Training, an online certification course that convenes the wisdom of outstanding faculty representing the many pillars of peacebuilding work, including conflict transformation, nonviolent communication, social healing, restorative justice, systems theory, and much more.

James O’Dea Website: www.jamesodea.com

Description: This dialogue titled “Occupy the Dream: MLK and the Power of Love” held on MLK Day 2012 and as the Occupy Movement was still in full motion, covers “Crow”’s firsthand experiences in NYC’s Zuccotti Park from the outset of the Occupy Movement. The people’s mic, the global movement, what it represented then and what it incited on glocal levels is all a part of this timely discussion that interweaves justice, transformation, and true revolution.

Brief Bio: Velcrow Ripper is a Canadian Academy Award (Genie) winning filmmaker, writer, sound designer and public speaker. He creates powerful, cinematic documentaries that deal with the central issues of our times. Occupy Love is the culmination of his epic “Fierce Love Trilogy” which began with Scared Sacred, named one of Canada’s Top 10 movies of 2004, and winner of the 2005 Genie (Canadian Academy Award) for best feature documentary. It continued with 2008?s award winning Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets Action.

Ripper’s earlier films include In The Company of Fear, a documentary on non-violent resistance to the “dirty war” in Colombia; Golden Gate Award-winning Open Season, about bear hunters and the activists who “hunt the hunters”; and the multi-award-winning non-fiction feature Bones of the Forest, (co-directed with Heather Frise) about the struggle to save the ancient forests of British Columbia (Best of the Festival, 1996 Hot Docs! Festival; and Best Feature Doc, 1996 Genie Awards).

Velcrow’s films are stylistically innovative, engaging and moving. Particular attention is given to the sound design. He is well known for his award-winning sound design of such films as The Corporation (Best Sound, Leo Awards), and A Place Called Chiapas (Best Sound, Hot Docs!; Best Sound, Leo Awards). He was recently named “one of the top ten filmmakers to watch in 2012? by the Independent Film magazine.

Occupy Love website: occupylove.org

Filmography & Official Site: velcrowripper.com

Description: As Editor-in-Chief of the extraordinary YES! Magazine, Sarah van Gelder spoke with us about the then-in-motion Occupy movement, our transforming systems and the paradigm nested underneath the changes we are seeing. Her take on justice and restorative systems has informed special editions of YES! and as she shares in this dialogue, it is fully in motion as an exponential movement changing within and on the ground. We discussed the media’s role in social change, and learned how Sarah embarked on her own path to become one of the country’s leaders in media distribution that puts first truth, social change, tools, and powerful stories from the day to day ground of change.

Brief Bio: Sarah van Gelder is editor of "This Changes Everything: Occupy Wall Street and the 99% Movement" and co-founder of YES! Magazine and YesMagazine.org.

YES! reframes today's crises, showing how a radically different approach can bring about a more just and sustainable world. Each issue highlights the leadership coming from grassroots communities, social movements, and activists who are building a future that can work for all.

Sarah has interviewed Pete Seeger, Winona LaDuke, George Shultz, Harry Belafonte, Vandana Shiva, Chris Hedges, Danny Glover, and many other known and unknown leaders who are working to create a better world.

In addition to her regular features in the printed magazine, Sarah blogs at www.yesmagazine.org/svgblog, lectures nationally and internationally, and interviews regularly on radio talk shows nationwide.

Description: This conversation takes a deep dive into the powerful work Belvie and Dedan do through their organization, Growing a Global Heart, revisiting slavery’s legacy and taking profound and tangible steps to honestly address, and heal, open wounds that have been covered up. The social healing and collective wound component of restoration and balance is a key theme to this powerful conversation. For anyone looking to honestly address socio-cultural wounding from the lens of truth and reconciliation, healing, and new possibilities.

Brief Bios: Belvie Rooks is Co-Founder of Growing a Global Heart. She is a writer, educator and producer whose work weaves the worlds of spirituality, feminism, ecology and social justice. She is a former board member of Bioneers, The Urban Habitat Program, and the Positive Futures Network/Yes Magazine and is currently Chair of the Board of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and a board member of the Institute for Noetic Sciences, and the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation. She is a Core Faculty member of Holy Names University's Culture and Spirituality Program.

Her published works have appeared in a number of books, publications and anthologies

Dedan Gills Co-Founder of GROWING A GLOBAL HEART has pioneered the idea of "Green Recovery"--a concept that combines stewardship and restoration of blighted urban areas with an engaged dialogic process designed to restore the integrity of souls wounded by the crush of modern urban reality. His work incorporates the principles of sustainability, permaculture design, environmental awareness and the greening of the inner spirit as critical aspects of the recovery and healing process. For the past ten years he has worked with people victimized by efforts at survival in our modern urban environment including people who are homeless, suffering from drug addiction and incarceration. He also serves as a surrogate male role model and mentor to young men growing up in these challenging urban environments.

Dedan is a writer and poet and associate producer of Watts Up! a documentary film (in progress) about a young man's transformative journey.

Growing a Global Heart Website: http://growingaglobalheart.weebly.com/

Brief Bio: Colorado Representative Pete Lee (House District 18) has championed Restorative justice in Colorado and was co-sponsor of HB 13-1254, The Restorative Justice Pilot Project, which just passed last week. He also was key in the passage of the first Restorative justice bill two years ago and serves as an adviser to many State councils and organizations in the field.

Rep. Lee has been a public servant in the truest sense for a good portion of his life and is also an attorney.

More about Rep. Lee

Rep. Pete Lee on RJ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFMyHaGo49Q

Description: For anyone who is working within Corrections or Law Enforcement, or interested in how RJ can span across and connect different civic areas to derail violence and provide viable solutions to mass incarceration. This interview is a strong example of how to start and implement an RJ program specifically within LE. It illuminates the nuances, the struggle and ultimately the value and results it has shown over a relatively short time span.

Brief Bio: A nationally recognized expert in criminal justice reform with 30 years of frontline experience as a lawyer, advocate and consultant, Sunny Schwartz has spent her career navigating all levels of the system and pioneering new policy initiatives for prisoner’s programs, as well as alternatives to incarceration. She is the author of Dreams from the Monster Factory, Hard cover Published 2009, Paperback version published 2010, which gives a comprehensive insider’s perspective on America’s failing prison system and recounts her own real-world implementation of a targeted strategy that both saves taxpayers’ money and dramatically reduces recidivism.

Sunny directs the design and operation of prisoner programs in six county jails. During her tenure, she has made significant changes to traditional incarceration operations, transitioning from an ineffectual system rooted in idling and “downtime” to one that requires inmates to participate in educational, vocational and therapeutic programs 10 hours a day, five days a week

Sunny Schwartz Website: http://sunnyschwartz.com

Description: Carolyn gives a sweeping and specific overview of RJP (restorative justice practices) currently being successfully implemented in schools across the country. She shares insights from the bestselling manual and practical handbook she penned with Kay Pranis, Heart of Hope: A Guide for Using Peacemaking Circles to Develop Emotional Literacy, Promote Healing and Build Healthy Relationships. This interview is highly recommended for any school administrator or staff who want to hear more about how to implement, challenges and opportunities, and more.

Brief Bio: Carolyn Boyes-Watson is the founding director of Suffolk University's Center for Restorative Justice and an associate professor of sociology at Suffolk University. Professor Boyes-Watson has been on the faculty since 1993. She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master's and Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University.

To see video of Dr. Boyes-Watson delivering a Chatauqua Institution Interfaith Lecture on "Restorative Justice" August 8, 2013, click here.

Description: We spoke with Dr. Galtung about many of the deep rooted processes from a global perspective that inform in one way or another the “lens” and approach of restorative justice that is growing in the U.S. and beyond. We looked at Huna traditions and other powerful examples that point to the core need of going to the root of what is causing imbalance and/or harm, and the universal human need to be heard and understood that underlies at the very foundation the process of restoration, balance, and even healing.

Brief Bio: Johan Galtung is a Norwegian sociologist, mathematician and the principal founder of the discipline of peace and conflict studies.[1] He founded the Peace Research Institute Oslo in 1959, serving as its director until 1970, and established the Journal of Peace Research in 1964. In 1969 he was appointed to the world's first chair in peace and conflict studies, at the University of Oslo. He resigned his professorship in 1977 and has since held professorships at several other universities; in 1993 he had been selected as a Distinguished Professor of Peace Studies at the University of Hawaii where he taught until 2000. He was awarded the Right Livelihood Award in 1987.

Johan Galtung Website: https://www.transcend.org

Video: A Day with Amy Goodman and Johan Galtung: http://www.envisionpeacemuseum.org/a-day-with-amy-goodman-and-johan-galtung/

Description: Fania Davis and Destiny Shabazz (a youth participant at RJOY-Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth) share powerful examples of how their program is making significant progress in the Bay Area and modeling a restorative justice program for schools and beyond. Destiny’s insights as to how it works for the youth she is working with, and how it supports and helps transform even the most challenging issues is inspiring, informative, and truly insightful. Hearing from youth voices such as Destiny’s is a great way to find out more about implementation and process, typical challenges and some victories.

Brief Bios: Fania Davis Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Fania E. Davis came of age in the 1950s, during the social ferment of the civil rights era. Two close childhood friends were murdered in the 1963 Sunday School bombing by the Ku Klux Klan. This crystallized within her a passionate commitment to social transformation, and, for the next decades, she was active in the civil rights, Black power, Black students', women's, prisoners', anti-apartheid, and socialist movements. Currently, she is an activist in the international restorative justice movement. She is currently Executive Director of Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth.

Destiny Shabazz is a high school freshman in Oakland CA and is an inspiring youth voice for Restorative justice. Her keynote at last year’s National Conference was received with a standing ovation. She is a participant and facilitator in restorative processes with RJOY.

RJOY Website: www.rjoyoakland.orgRJOY Videos (RJ In a Nutshell; RJ in Oakland Schools; more) http://rjoyoakland.org/videos/

Description: This powerful dialogue looks at the ground level and national issues we face, as well as the incredible possibilities and actual work happening to transform our criminal justice system. Bryan speaks eloquently to the heart of things, shows us solid evidence, and takes us on a deep dive into the human spirit to boot.

Brief Bio: Bryan A. Stevenson is the founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a private, non-profit organization headquartered in Montgomery, Alabama, and is a professor at New York University School of Law. He has gained national acclaim for his work challenging bias against the poor and people of color in the criminal justice system. Stevenson has assisted in securing relief for dozens of condemned prisoners, advocated for poor people and developed community-based reform litigation aimed at improving the administration of criminal justice.

Bryan’s full bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Stevenson
More about Equal Justice Initiative: www.eji.org

Bryan’s Viral TED Talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/bryan_stevenson_we_need_to_talk_about_an_injustice

Bryan on Moyers & Company: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmcAcy4XHKw

Description: We covered a great deal of ground during this conversation with Michelle sharing background from her internationally acclaimed bestseller The New Jim Crow, personal insights and motivators for her in her work, and her belief that restorative justice provides a powerful solution to many of the problems we currently face. This dialogue is packed with stats, facts, and inspiring all the way through.

Brief Bio: Michelle Alexander is an internationally-renowned author and lawyer. Her most recent book, The New Jim Crow, has gained global acclaim for its pinpointing of the very real yet hushed critical issue of racial profiling and mass incarceration. She has been featured in major media worldwide, including Moyers & Company, NPR’s Fresh Air, CNN, and many others.

Quotes/Highlights from Transcript:

“It wasn’t long into that work (with the ACLU Racial Justice Project) that I realized that even I, someone who cared a lot about racial injustice and thought that I knew a lot about our criminal justice system, that I was deeply misguided and in a lot of denial about the way in which our criminal justice system wasn’t just in need of reform but had become the primary vehicle for creating and sustaining racial inequality in our time.” (10:08)

“I think that what I’ve come to see and understand better in recent years is that the American dream is just not real for millions of Americans and its not a matter of not trying.” (15:45)

“It (restorative justice) is definitely not a pipedream. I’m so encouraged by the movement that is growing around restorative and transformative justice. I think that one of the reasons why it’s such a crucial part of the work to end mass incarceration and to break this cycle of caste like systems in America is because it helps provide an answer to, well, if we don’t have prisons, if prisons aren’t the answer then what, what are we going to do about the harms and people affected. I think there is kind of real harm that has to be acknowledged and addressed. People do violate each other’s rights, commit real crimes against each other that cause pain and suffering in our communities.” (55:29)

Open-Source Copy of Transcript:

Michelle’s full bio: http://newjimcrow.com/about-the-author

More about The New Jim Crow: newjimcrow.com

Michelle’s joint interview on Moyers & Company with Bryan Stephenson (jus
t below) of the Equal Justice Institute):
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04022010/watch.html

After Bob's murder on New Year's Eve 1997 Katy waited for five years while the police worked tirelessly to obtain the evidence to prosecute and convict his killers. During that period, Katy developed her perception of the societal forces and lack of understanding amongst young people that created the circumstances leading to Bob's death. She grew to recognize the need to advise and educate young members of the community about the risks that arise with the combination of young people, alcohol, and a lack of supervision.

Katy currently divides her time between working with her husband Michael in his law practice and her professional speaking career. She sits on the Board of Glenlyon Norfolk School and sat on the Board of Restorative Practices International.

Her book (shown at right) entitled Walking After Midnight: One Woman's Journey Through Murder, Justice and Forgiveness is published in Canada by Raincoast Books and in the US by New Harbinger Publications

In 2010 Katy's powerful story inspired Lifetime Network's movie Bond of Silence

Offender Victim Awareness Competency Development:

Workshop participants will learn about Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections Victim Awareness Offender Competency Development Curriculum. One essential component of rehabilitation is for juveniles to understand the effects their behaviors and choices have on others, and then to care enough about
those effects to alter their behavior. Without victim awareness, we find that adjusting behavior for juveniles is difficult and short lived. As part of the
Victim Empathy Curriculum at JCC-L, juveniles are required to complete the Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections - Victim Awareness Journal (created for Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections by The Change Company). Juveniles at JCC-L also participate in the "Victim Impact Listen and Learn" curriculum from U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs.

Developing Community Support Systems for Juvenile Justice Youth in Transition from Correctional Confinement: Individuals that are released back into the community after confinement will need support in: setting appropriate goals; creating structure in their lives; making healthy decisions; staying away from risky situations and people; and, learning to ask for help and then accepting the help that is provided. Support Networks assist in reconnecting youth to the community and may provide them with community services opportunities, job placement, assistance in creating means for positive structure in their lives, and provide means for improving the reputation of these juveniles.

Police Chief Bob Richardson was appointed as the Battle Ground (WA) Police Chief in January 2011 and currently oversees a staff of 22 commissioned officers and 4 professional staff.
Chief Richardson worked for the Irvine Police Department for 30 years, starting as a police officer and rising through the ranks as a sergeant, lieutenant and commander. Prior to working for the Irvine Police Department, Richardson served as a military police officer in the U.S. Army for three years.

He has a wide range of law enforcement experience including patrol, field training officer, traffic officer, crime analyst, criminal investigations, planning, research and training, crime prevention, emergency management and SWAT.

Chief Richardson obtained his Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Administration from California State University in Long Beach, California and a Master's of Public Administration from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. He has also attended the Supervisory Leadership Institute hosted by California State University Long Beach, the administrative officer's course hosted by the Southern Police Institute in Louisville, Kentucky.

Chief Richardson is also an active member of many boards and commissions throughout Clark County, WA including the Clark County Public Health Advisory Council, the Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency Board of Directors, the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI), Prevent Together Coalition, Law Enforcement and Autism Community Network and she currently serves as the Chair of the Clark/ Skamania County Law Enforcement Council.

Erin Freeborn and Jennifer Larson-Sawin (L to R) flanked by Sen. Jamie Eldridge and Rep. Ken Gordon at recent event in MA supporting Restorative Justice Practices.

Photo Credit: Communities for Restorative Justice

Topic: There is a lot brewing in the State of Massachusetts.

Recently we caught up with Erin Freeborn of the Juvenile Court Restorative Justice Diversion Programs and Jennifer Larson-Sawin, former Executive Director of Communities for Restorative Justice. Both programs are a part of the greater MA Restorative Justice Coalition and have built steady and influential programs. They have also been working to raise awareness and educate citizens in MA and beyond about the efficacy of "RJ", most recently with concerted and successful efforts surrounding S. 2078: An Act Promoting Restorative Justice.

Enjoy this fresh short interview with Erin and Jennifer, a shorter version of our regular ongoing dialogue series. In it we discuss the reframing language of justice, the key influences of their experiences in S. Africa and New Zealand, what's happening in MA and how their respective organizations are growing by leaps and bounds, as is restorative justice in MA as well as the U.S. We also share how you can support the bill and how you can get involved more directly in MA with a Peace Alliance Action Team!

January 23, 2014
Creating Restorative Spaces with Barb Toews and Deanna Van Buren
Topic: Barb and Deanna discuss how the setup and design of a space can proactively support restorative processes, including Deanna’s experience designing space for Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth (pictured above). An excellent body of work and a growing new field that also resembles other countries who are re-thinking justice architecture.

Deanna Van Buren is the founder and Design Director of FOURM design studio in Oakland California and recent Loeb Fellow at Harvard's Graduate School of Design. Her practice focuses on the investigation and application of design innovations to the punitive justice system and alternative forms of justice that embrace reparation. Recent projects include a peacekeeping room and design guidelines for restorative spaces in schools with Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth and the design and construction of a Peacemaking Center with the Center for Court Innovation in Syracuse, New York.

Barb Toews is an experienced practitioner and educator in restorative justice. Publications include Critical Issues in Restorative Justice, co-edited with Howard Zehr, and The Little Book of Restorative Justice for People in Prison. Barb holds a MA in Conflict Transformation and is a PhD candidate at Bryn Mawr College's Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research.
Her research concerns the relationship between environmental design, especially that of correctional institutions, and psycho-social-behavioral and judicial outcomes.

Glenn Aparicio Parry, PhD, is a writer, psychologist, educator, and entrepreneur, is the founder and past president of the SEED Institute based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Parry earned his doctoral degree in Humanities with a concentration in Transformative Learning from the California Institute of Integral Studies as part of his life-long passion to reform education into a coherent, cohesive whole.

He organized and participated in the groundbreaking Language of Spirit Conferences from 1999-2011, which have brought together Native and Western scientists in dialogue, moderated by Leroy Little Bear.

Parry is the author of the forthcoming book

Original Thinking: A Radical ReVisioning of Thought, Time, Humanity, and Nature.

Bryan A. Stevenson is the founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a private, non-profit organization headquartered in Montgomery, Alabama, and is a professor at New York University School of Law. He has gained national acclaim for his work challenging bias against the poor and people of color in the criminal justice system. Stevenson has assisted in securing relief for dozens of condemned prisoners, advocated for poor people and developed community-based reform litigation aimed at improving the administration of criminal justice.

A graduate of Eastern College (now Eastern University), Harvard Law School (J.D.), and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, he has won the American Bar Association's Wisdom Award for public service, the ACLU's National Medal of Liberty (1991), a MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Award, the Reebok Human Rights Award (1989), the Thurgood Marshall Medal of Justice (1993), the Gleitsman Citizen Activist Award (2000), the Olof Palme Prize (2000), Stanford Law School's National Public Service Award (2010),[1] and the National Association of Public Interest Lawyers named him the Public Interest Lawyer of the Year (1996).

He has received honorary degrees from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law and Georgetown University Law School. In addition to directing the Equal Justice Initiative, he has been a visiting professor of law at the University of Michigan School of Law and lecturer at Harvard and Yale Law Schools.

He is a co-recipient of the 2009 Gruber Prize for Justice. The Gruber Foundation Justice Prize is presented to individuals or organizations for contributions that have advanced the cause of justice as delivered through the legal system. The award is intended to acknowledge individual efforts, as well as to encourage further advancements in the field and progress toward bringing about a fundamentally just world. In 2010, the NAACP honored Stevenson by awarding him the William Robert Ming Advocacy Award for the spirit of financial and personal sacrifice displayed in his legal work.[2]

He spoke at TED2012 in Long Beach, California, and received the strongest standing ovation ever seen at TED.[3] Following his presentation, over $1 million was raised by attendees to fund a campaign run by Stevenson to end the practice of putting children in adult jails and prisons. [4]

Oscar Reed and Jamie Williams, MA, are Restorative Justice / Practices / Measures consultants with more than 50 years of experience between them working with young people in a variety of school and community settings. They have been trainers, classroom mentors and Circle Keepers for the Minneapolis public schools, suburban districts, charter schools, alternative learning centers, the University of Minnesota Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking (Dr. Mark Umbreit), school districts across the country, HennepinCounty, RamseyCounty, Amicus, the Minnesota Department of Corrections and many other organizations.

Their organization is called The Restorative Way...whose mission is to enhance and expand opportunities to help create restorative cultures in schools, communities, businesses, correctional systems, families and faith based organizations. It is also to create opportunities for people to make positive healing connections.

Oscar is currently the Multi-Cultural Director at St. Louis Park High School. His "Boys to Men" Circle has been in existence over 8 years. Oscar's mission is "to help save our children one child at a time" Oscar is a former Minnesota Viking who played with as much passion as he now serves people with.

Jamie is currently the Restorative Justice Coordinator for Bayfield School in northern Wisconsin and a support to Project Launch at Red Cliff Early Childhood Center. When Jamie heard the definition of a "calling" by F. Buechner "When a deep gladness in your heart meets a deep hunger in the world," she knew she was "called" to keeping the Circle strong and present in schools and communities. Jamie's Masters Degree is in Restorative Justice.

Nancy was a member of the design team for the National Institute of Corrections' restorative conferencing curriculum, Facilitating Restorative Group Conferences. She presented at the Restorative Approaches to Conflict in Schools Seminar at the University of Edinburgh.

Prior to coming to the Minnesota Department of Education, Nancy worked for twelve years with the Illusion Theater's Sexual Abuse Prevention Program, which created and toured educational plays on child sexual abuse, domestic violence and HIV/AIDS prevention education. She coordinated the adaptation of Touch, the child sexual abuse prevention play, for the Red Lake People, and trained high school students in twenty different school districts in eight states to present social issue prevention plays to their peers.

Nancy is author of Circle in The Square, a bestselling book published by Living Justice Press. She writes warmly and with long experience about the challenges facing school communities and how restorative measures¬ specifically Circles¬ create a safer space for learning and development for all. Using stories direct from the hallways, she brings heart to subjects that are often divisive and controversial: bullying and other violence, suspension, drug use, staff conflicts, and more. Throughout the book, Nancy s focus is on strategies that actually work for the whole school community: students, parents, administrators, teachers, and the community in which they live.

Carolyn Boyes-Watson is the founding director of Suffolk University's Center for Restorative Justice and an associate professor of sociology at Suffolk University. Professor Boyes-Watson has been on the faculty since 1993. She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master's and Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University.

She is the author of Peacemaking Circles for Urban Youth and Co-Author with Kay Pranis of Heart of Hope: A Guide for Using Peacemaking Circles to Develop Emotional Literacy, Promote Healing, and Build Healthy Relationships

This podcast archive features a snapshot into one of the successfully and longer-running programs in restorative justice. Particularly inspiring and informative, Fania and Destiny Shabazz share how the programs work in Oakland and beyond. This podcast can be used as a great tool for educators, principals and school officials, law enforcement and many others.

This podcast archive features a snapshot into one of the successfully and longer-running programs in restorative justice. Particularly inspiring and informative, Fania and Destiny Shabazz share how the programs work in Oakland and beyond. This podcast can be used as a great tool for educators, principals and school officials, law enforcement and many others.

Fania Davis is Co-Founder and Executive Director of RJOY (Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth)

Coming of age in Birmingham, Alabama during the social ferment of the civil rights era, the murder of two close childhood friends in the 1963 Sunday School bombing crystallized within Fania a passionate commitment to social transformation. For the next decades, she was active in the civil rights, Black liberation, women's, prisoners', peace, anti-racial violence and anti-apartheid movements. After receiving her law degree from University of California , Berkeley in 1979, Fania practiced almost 27 years as a civil rights trial lawyer.

During the mid 1990's, she entered a Ph.D. program in indigenous studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and apprenticed with traditional healers around the globe, particularly in Africa . Since receiving her Ph.D. in 2003, Fania has been engaged in a search for healing alternatives to adversarial justice. She has taught Restorative Justice at San Francisco 's New College Law School and Indigenous Peacemaking at Eastern Mennonite University 's Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. She writes and speaks on these subjects.

The search for a healing justice also led Fania to bring restorative justice to Oakland . A founder and currently Director of RJOY, Fania also serves as counsel to the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers. She recently received the Ubuntu award for service to humanity. Fania's research interests include exploring the indigenous roots, particlarly the African indigenous roots, of restorative justice. Fania is also a mother of two children, a dancer, and practitioner of yoga.

Matthew Hartman (MA) has extensive experience in organizational development, particularly related to the work of aligning a groups practices with their stated values and purpose. Working across the US and internationally, Matthew has offered facilitation, consultation and training in restorative justice, conflict transformation, and mediation to non-profit, public and corporate sectors.

Currently, Matthew is the Restorative Justice Coordinator of the Clackamas County Juvenile Department where he is providing in-house consultancy toward aligning the department's practices with restorative justice values and principles. Related projects include strategic planning, website enhancement, the development of the Victim Impact Program, and coordination of a Victim-Offender Dialogue Program. In addition, Matthew is also expanding and strengthening the capacity of Clackamas County communities to engage as a meaningful participants in responding to juvenile crime. Matthew is the Chair of the NW Justice Forum Planning Committee and a Steering Committee member for the Restorative Justice Coalition of Oregon.

Matthew has an undergraduate degree in Sociology and a Masters degree in Conflict Transformation. Additional areas of expertise include trauma healing; qualitative evaluation; conflict analysis and theory; and strategic peacebuilding. Matthew's natural style and ability to put individuals and groups at ease assists all parties in achieving their goals through listening, transformative dialogue and creative problem solving.

Website link for more information about CCJD and its programs or visit: http://www.clackamas.us/juvenile. Also visit the NW Justice Forum Website at www.nwjusticeforum.com

Sebastian Junger is internationally known for his book The Perfect Storm as well as War, his account of the year he spent with Tim Hetherington at Outpost Restrepo in Afghanistan, for which Hetherington and he also co-directed Restrepo, a powerful documentary that received wide acclaim and an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary. Tim Hetherington was tragically killed in Misrata, Libya while covering the uprisings of the Arab Spring and the rebellion against Khadafy and his troops.

We are honored to host Sebastian Junger for this special edition of Restorative Justice on The Rise, to discuss the film and the significance of Tim Hetherington's work and life, and role as a humanitarian and image-maker who brought great light and truths to our common humanity through his work and selfless service.

For most of his twenty-eight years as a practicing attorney he worked as a prosecutor "inside the system."

He learned much during those years but looking back says what he took away from the experience is that we can do much better when it comes to how we respond to crime and those who commit them.

Fred retired as a prosecutor in 2010 and worked for awhile applying Restorative Justice principles to workplace conflicts. He takes part-time classes in Conflict Transformation at Eastern Mennonite University and says he is fortunate to have Howard Zehr as his mentor.

He is in the early stages of writing a book exploring the experiences ordinary people have had with the justice system, traveling every month to a different part of the country to discover what justice looks like for the average person and those who have been caught up in the system.

For More Information visit:- www.thejusticediary.com

As a practitioner, he facilitates peace-building circles in the community between members of diverse cultures and restorative dialogues between family survivors of homicide and the offender in their quest for healing and strength. Mark initiated the first Palestinian-Jewish dialogue group in the Minneapolis/St. Paul community, as well as a Muslim Restorative Justice Engagement Project in the Twin Cities and beyond. He is working with colleagues in Northern Ireland, Italy, Liberia, and Israel/Palestine on peace building initiatives. He has helped establish restorative justice programs in hundreds of communities, including in nearly every state of the U.S. and numerous other countries. Dr. Umbreit's multi-site and multi-national research has contributed significantly to restorative justice policy development in the U.S. and other countries, as well as providing resource materials and guidance to practitioners. Mark is currently working as a Senior International Consultant with the United Nations Development Program and the Ministry of Justice in Turkey to support their legislative efforts to implement victim offender mediation throughout the country.

When it was first introduced, the restorative justice movement was met with widespread resistance and skepticism. Now, more than twenty-five years later, the movement has flourished and continues to make great strides in reforming the traditional justice system. Today the restorative justice movement is endorsed by many former skeptics.

-Excerpt from the Introduction to The Handbook of Victim Offender Mediation by Dr. Mark Umbreit

She serves as consultant and trainer for restorative justice programs having a victim offender mediation component.

She has worked in the field of victim offender mediation since 1984. She is faculty during the Summer Peacebuilding Institute's internationally-attended courses annually.

She has co-authored a curriculum entitled "Victim Offender Conferencing in Pennsylvania's Juvenile Justice System", The Little Book of Restorative Discipline for Schools, and is the author of The Little Book of Victim Offender Conferencing.

She also co-authored with Howard Zehr, pictured above together and with their book What Will Happen To Me which is a portrait of children who have at least one parent incarcerated.

She received her BS in social work from Eastern Mennonite University, where in 2002 she was awarded the Distinguished Service Award. She holds a master of social work from Marywood University.

Huffman's powerful recounting of Hetherington's profound life and tragic death is the topic of this evening's special edition of Restorative Justice on The Rise and we'll explore this extraordinary man's philosophies, the book's journey,

Huffman's insights and unpack some of the difficult questions about our world amidst seemingly endless war and multiple and distinctly coinciding cultural realities. It is an honor to host Mr. Huffman and we have webcast space for those wishing to join in via the worldwide web.

During each of nine recent trips to Afghanistan, Kathy Kelly, as an invited guest of the Afghan Peace Volunteers, has lived alongside ordinary Afghan people in a working class neighborhood in Kabul. She and her companions in Voices for Creative Nonviolence believe that "where you stand determines what you see."

They are resolved not to let war sever the bonds of friendship between them and Afghan people whom they've grown to know through successive delegations. Kelly and her companions insist that the U.S. is not waging a "humanitarian war" in Afghanistan.

Kelly has also joined with activists in various regions of the country to protest drone warfare by holding demonstrations outside of U.S. military bases in Nevada, upstate New York, and, most recently, at Whiteman Air Force base in Missouri.

From 1996 - 2003, Voices activists formed 70 delegations that openly defied economic sanctions by bringing medicines to children and families in Iraq. Kathy and her companions lived in Baghdad throughout the 2003 "Shock and Awe" bombing. They have also lived alongside people during warfare in Gaza, Lebanon, Bosnia and Nicaragua.

She was sentenced to one year in federal prison for planting corn on nuclear missile silo sites (1988-89) and spent three months in prison, in 2004, for crossing the line at

Fort Benning's military training school. As a war tax refuser, she has refused payment of all forms of federal income tax since 1980.
For more information visit: http://vcnv.org/speaker-bio/kathy-kelly

A nationally recognized expert in criminal justice reform with 30 years of frontline experience as a lawyer, advocate and consultant, Sunny Schwartz has spent her career navigating all levels of the system and pioneering new policy initiatives for prisoner's programs, as well as alternatives to incarceration. She is the author of Dreams from the Monster Factory, Hard cover Published 2009, Paperback version published 2010, which gives a comprehensive insider's perspective on America's failing prison system and recounts her own real-world implementation of a targeted strategy that both saves taxpayers' money and dramatically reduces recidivism.

Sunny directs the design and operation of prisoner programs in six county jails. During her tenure, she has made significant changes to traditional incarceration operations, transitioning from an ineffectual system rooted in idling and "downtime" to one that requires inmates to participate in educational, vocational and therapeutic programs 10 hours a day, five days a week. The specific goals of these programs are to facilitate successful reentry into society in a way that addresses the gaps and shortcomings of the old system (and to decrease further victimization on individuals and our community as a whole.)

Sunny also designed and established the Resolve To Stop the Violence Project (RSVP). A nationally renowned, award-winning restorative justice program, RSVP unites diverse community organizations and individuals to collaborate on the first-in-the nation correctional program offering services to everyone harmed by violence: victims, offenders, and communities, alike. As part of the program, Schwartz chartered a citywide Survivor Restoration Advisory Committee, comprised of representatives from local government agencies, non-profit organizations and the interfaith community. Her efforts to reform the criminal justice system and minimize crime through RSVP have been featured on national television, with appearances on the Discovery Channel, PBS, Larry King Live and the Oprah Winfrey Show. Her program is currently being examined for replication in various cities throughout the United States, as well as in New Zealand, Poland and Singapore. In July of 2004, RSVP was the recipient of the prestigious "Oscar's in Government" Innovations in Government Award, sponsored by the Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University and the Ash Institute.

Currently, Diane is the Director and Co-founder of Skyline Harvest. Skyline's projects include retreats and workshops at their Eco-contemplative Center, and out-reach through The Lioness Tale Prison Project, called LiT-uPP From the Inside Out. LiT-uPP awakens the inner freedom of women serving long term prison sentences, giving purpose to their lives, and lighting up the prison where they live from the inside out.

This spring Skyline is launching The Compassionate Leaders Program, designed to prepare leaders from across the planet to carry the in-prison program into their countries' jails, prisons and juvenile facilities.

Diane knows all things are possible through the Love that resides at the center of our expanding universe and at the center of our human hearts.

www.econcontemplative.org

www.thelionesstale.com

skyline@gotsky.com

Your support and networking of this bill is critical to its passage, as it is up for vote in mid-April.

Major support for the bill comes from the State Restorative Justice Council and working programs such as the Longmont Community Justice Partnership, one of Colorado's leading RJ programs offering Law Enforcement, Schools, and Community systems that have a proven track record in significantly reducing recidivism and saving the State a massive amount of money by diverting incarceration.

The bill is also supported by a network of Law Enforcement officials who actively speak as advocates for Restorative practices, such as Officer Greg Ruprecht of the Longmont Police Department.

The bill is up for vote mid-April, and its passage depends on mobilizing the power of our local and state networks to take actions

A prolific writer and editor, speaker, educator, and photojournalist, Zehr actively mentors other leaders in the field. More than 1,000 people have taken Zehr-taught courses and intensive workshops in restorative justice, many of whom lead their own restorative justice-focused organizations. Zehr was an early advocate of making the needs of victims central to the practice of restorative justice. A core theme in his work is respect for the dignity of all peoples.

Dr. Zellerer is founder and director of Peace of the Circle - an international organization that works with government, justice agencies, businesses, non-profits, schools and communities.

Over the past 20 years, Evelyn has taught and led projects in diverse cultural contexts, including the Arctic, southern USA, Caribbean, South Africa, Australia and the former Soviet Union.

Evelyn is also a professor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

She is the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters, and is also now a blogger!

For more information, visit www.peaceofthecircle.com.

Also check out RJ4ALL, a new resource web hub for international educators, academics, and for all things Restorative Justice.

He is a Master Police Officer (MPO) with a municipal Colorado police department, has 11 years police experience and currently serves as a Patrol Officer. MPO Ruprecht's current duties also include service as a department firearms instructor and "Play It Safe Program" elementary school presenter. MPO Ruprecht has previous experience as a SWAT Tactical Team Officer, SWAT Sniper, and Gang and Crime Suppression Unit Officer. MPO Ruprecht is a veteran of the U.S. Army.

His work includes strategic planning, producing videos, writing articles, and forging partnerships with groups working to make a positive difference in this field.

Previously a political campaign staffer and communications strategist for progressive causes, his work has covered an array of policy areas including climate change, campaign finance, drug treatment, and funding for social services.

Jesse was also the founding director of Faithful Democrats, a group that worked to reclaim the national values debate from the Religious Right.

He has a master's in public policy from Harvard and a bachelor's in government from Wesleyan University.

You can contact him at jesse [at] bravenewfoundation [dot] org.

Sequoyah Trueblood (enrolled with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) has contributed selflessly for many years in Canada, and the United States, and around the world as a role model for healthy leadership, bringing peace and joy to the hearts of many. As a pipe carrier and messenger of peace and with an "off the grid" style in his work he offers something most have never experienced: the genuine guidance of a supportive, profoundly inspired and diversely experienced Elder. His consistent ability to touch wounded hearts and sooth troubled minds with compassion and wisdom has endeared Sequoyah to both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people alike. He has a varied background in leadership capacities within Indigenous peoples contexts as well as Western institutions including the U.S. Army, World Bank, Institute of Noetic Sciences, Harvard University Program for Extraordinary Experience Research, and Correction Facilities across North America. Paramount in his work is always placing the needs of the young people first. Currently he spends most of his summers living from the Kankurwa Medicine Lodge (Place of Peace) at Cross River Wilderness Centre in the Kootenay Mountains of British Columbia.

Her brother, Steve, was murdered a decade ago and she openly shares via the film, and her life, the journey she has taken in the aftermath of her brother's death

She is a voice for global peace and her paintings are created as tools for individual, earth, and global healing.

She has appeared in two documentary films: SEEDing Change and Journeying to Turtle Island and has presented at the International Healing Conference in Bali.

She lives in Taos, NM

She serves on several United Nations committees on indigenous people's issues and is a featured author, speaker, and educator on indigenous people's human rights, aging, mental health, addiction, and violence.

She is also the President/CEO and faculty of the Turtle Island Project, a non-profit program that promotes a vision of wellness by providing trans-cultural training to individuals, families, and healthcare professionals.

Grandmother Mona is one of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers, an extraordinary group of elders from around the world sharing prayers for healing and peace.

He was Head of the Prison Service from 1989 - 1993.

He is a graduate of Massey University, and has completed post-graduate study at the University of Southern California, and Stanford University.

He is currently a Senior Associate of the Institute of Policy Studies, Victoria University, and completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Religious Studies in 2011.

Mr. Galtung is one of the leading and founding pioneers of Peace and Conflict Resolution Academic programs worldwide.

He is referenced and honored across the board in Peace Studies and the ensuing movements over the past 5 decades.

He will join us to open a month of honoring Indigenous practices and views of Restorative justice.

Steve has extensive experience in the fields of mental health, drug and alcohol treatment, outpatient counseling and alternative education. He has also consulted with numerous leaders within faith-based organizations to facilitate restorative interventions for families dealing with the strain of an addicted family member.

She also is an Award-winning poet and academic. She is a social justice activist who teaches therapeutic writing to educate individuals how to write to find healing and transformation for themselves and those with whom they work. She is invited across North America to speak about the importance of poetry and narrative and how they are connected to shifting oft-times limited and limiting understanding of what living justice means.

Her most recent book, Sawbonna: I See You is a real life restorative justice story--her story of life from murder to meaning. It has garnered praise from Sr. Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, with whom Margot shared the stage in the both Kansas and Cleveland. And for which
Howard Zehr, PhD has written the Foreword.

Margot believes that one story can and does save and honour life.

Deb currently is the State of Colorado Restorative Justice Coalition’s Administrative Manager (rjcolorado.org)
Deb is also the previous Executive Director the Longmont Community Justice Partnership. They are dedicated to breaking cycles of violence and crime, and promoting civility in schools and communities. In partnership with the Longmont, CO Police Department, Restorative Justice is one of their truly revolutionary and most successful programs. Deb was also instrumental in producing the 2012 Restorative Justice Summit that featured sessions with Restorative Circles’ Dominic Barter, in Denver, August 2012.

[/vc_column_text][vc_video link="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te5z3DfKUuM"][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Building it from the ground up:
Restorative Justice and
how it is not only possible...it is happening.

Kris Miner is the Executive Director at
St. Croix Valley Restorative Justice Program (SCVRJP). Her professional work experience includes in-home family therapist, social worker, juvenile justice and child protection supervisor. SCVRJP provides a range of Restorative Justice services including victim-offender conferencing, victim impact panels, underage consumption panels, controlled substance intervention circles, teen driving circles, victim empathy seminars and restorative response programming. Restorative Response addresses sudden and traumatic death by providing support groups, circles, trainings and a guide for grieving families. SCVRJP provides trainings and workshops on Restorative Justice topics. SCVRJP has received local, state and national awards.

Fleet Maull, a longtime student of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, founded Prison Dharma Network (now Prison Mindfulness Institute) in 1989 while serving a 14.5 year mandatory-minimum sentence for drug smuggling at a maximum security federal prison medical facility. He led a twice weekly meditation group in the prison chapel for 14 years (1985 - 1999). He also helped start the first inside prison hospice program and provided daily care to dying prisoners until his release. In 1991, he founded National Prison Hospice Association, launching a movement that now includes hospice programs in over 75 state and federal prisons.

Fleet is an Acharya (senior teacher) in the Shambhala Buddhist Community. He is also a Sensei (Zen teacher) and dharma successor of Roshi Bernie Glassman in the Zen Peacemaker Order and a senior priest in the Soto Zen tradition.

Acharya Maull has written many articles and given numerous interviews on a variety of prison related topics in publications such as the Shambhala Sun, Tricycle, Tikkun, Hospice Journal and Turning Wheel. He has also been a guest on NPR's Fresh Air program and other radio and television programs. His story was included in Roshi Bernie Glassman's book, Bearing Witness . He is the author of Dharma In Hell, the Prison Writings of Fleet Maull and leads prison programs, meditation retreats, chaplaincy and hospice trainings, activist trainings, bearing witness retreats and street retreats throughout the world. He is also the founder and executive director of the Peacemaker Institute and co-founder of the Upaya Chaplaincy Program.

To learn more about Fleet Maull, read: "Prison Monk: Tricycle Interview with Fleet Maull" from Tricycle Magazine, Spring 2004

Sujatha Baliga's work is characterized by an equal dedication to victims and persons accused of crime. The convergence of Sujatha's interest in Tibetan ideals of justice and her work with women accused of killing their abusers drew her to law school and ultimately, criminal defense work. After several years as an appellate public defender in New Mexico and at the Office of the Appellate Defender in New York City, Sujatha relocated to California in 2006 to work on capital cases. In 2008, Sujatha was awarded a Soros Justice Fellowship, which she used to spearhead a successful restorative juvenile diversion program in Alameda County. Sujatha has served as a consultant to the Stanford Criminal Justice Center for a symposium titled "Rights, Needs, Power: The Victim in Criminal Justice." She has taught restorative justice at the college and law school levels, is a frequent guest lecturer at academic institutions and conferences, and has been a guest on NPR's Talk of the Nation.

She often speaks with groups of incarcerated people about her personal experiences as a survivor of child sexual abuse and her path to forgiveness. Today, Sujatha is the Director of the Restorative Justice Project at the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, where she assists communities in implementing restorative justice alternatives to juvenile detention and zero-tolerance school discipline policies. In her role as Senior Program Specialist, she provides technical assistance to the US Attorney General's Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence.

Sujatha earned her A.B. from Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges, her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, and has held federal clerkships with the Honorable William K. Sessions, III, former Chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission and with the Honorable Martha Vázquez. Sujatha lives in the Bay Area with her partner of 14 years, Jason, their son, Sathya, and their sweet dog, Django.

Read her TIKKUN Article, A Restorative Circle in The Wake of A Police Shooting

Andrea Brenneke (J.D. Harvard Law School ?92, BA University of Washington, ?88) is a passionate advocate for justice and facilitator of individual and community healing and empowerment. She practices civil rights and employment law at MacDonald Hoague & Bayless in Seattle. www.mhb.com. A tenacious litigator and strategic negotiator, the results she obtains compensate her clients for violations of their legal rights and dignity and secure other types of injunctive relief and policy changes that make a lasting difference in society. Her litigation successes include substantial trial verdicts and settlements in sexual harassment, disability accommodation and discrimination, gender and race discrimination, retaliation, police and government misconduct. She supports employees through all types of work place disputes, contract negotiations, accommodations and claim reporting procedures. Andrea also facilitates creative solutions and negotiated resolutions to legal and social conflicts. Originally trained in negotiation at Harvard Law School, she now is a certified LR 39.1 mediator, a Restorative Circles practitioner, and an apprentice to Dominic Barter.

More...In her own words and a few resources:

Seattle Times Article
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2014113565_diazreport03m.html

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2011/02/02/2014113681.pdf

Also, with regard to the healing after the shooting, the work of the JTW project is really important to link to for me. That was another restorative response to the shooting -- a public art project and the totem pole. Check out: http://www.thejtwproject.org/

Lauren Abramson is Founder, Executive Director, Community Conferencing Center and also Assistant Professor, Child Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She is a psychologist who has worked with children and families in communities for the past 25 years. She is the Founder and Executive Director of the Community Conferencing Center in Baltimore, Maryland and Assistant Professor (part-time) in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Lauren focused attention on Community Conferencing in Baltimore in 1995. She advances conferencing as a means of building social capital and collective efficacy on many levels, including:
• empowering individuals and communities to resolve their own conflicts
• keeping young people out of the criminal justice system, and
• mobilizing the existing untapped human assets in communities.
Lauren publishes articles on both the theoretical and empirical socio-political aspects of conferencing. The work of the Community Conferencing Center is groundbreaking for its multi-sector use of conferencing in highly distressed urban American communities.
Conferencing has helped Lauren learn that: while we can learn about conflict resolution through books and concepts, conflict--and personal--transformation happens through relationships and meaningful emotional experiences.

with Dr. Carl Stauffer of Eastern Mennonite University
Dr. Carl Stauffer teaches Justice and Development Studies at the Graduate Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, Eastern Mennonite University Harrisonburg, Virginia.

DOWNLOAD PDF OF CHAPTER
Finding Justice amidst the Rubble: Restorative Interventions in Post-war Contexts

Stauffer was born and raised amidst the war in Vietnam. In 1975, his family fled Vietnam and moved to the Philippines just as the Marcos regime was beginning to crumble. After completing his university education in 1985, Stauffer worked in the Criminal Justice and Substance Abuse fields.

In 1991, Stauffer became the first Executive Director of the Capital Area Victim-Offender Mediation Program in Richmond, Virginia.

In 1994, Stauffer and his family moved to South Africa under the auspices of the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), a faith-based international relief and development agency. In South Africa, Stauffer worked with various transitional justice processes such as the Peace Accords, Community-Police Forums, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Local Community Development structures.

From 2000 to 2009, Stauffer was appointed as the MCC Regional Peace Adviser for the Southern Africa region. His work has taken him to twenty African countries and ten other countries in the Caribbean, Middle East, Europe, and the Balkans.

Stauffer's academic interests focus on narrative studies, restorative/transitional justice, and post-war reconstruction and reconciliation. His research concentrates on the critique of transitional justice from a restorative frame, and the application of hybrid, often parallel indigenous community justice systems.
Stauffer is married to Dr. Carolyn Stauffer who teaches Sociology at EMU, and is the proud father of two university-aged children.

Since 2009, he has been a student and practitioner of Restorative Circles, a restorative practice developed in Brazil by Dominic Barter and associates.
Mikhail also writes a blog for Psychology Today called Between the Lines. This blog is primarily about race. The name comes from a DuBois quote: "The problem of the 20th century is the problem of the color-line."

Brief Bio: Michelle Alexander is an internationally-renowned author and lawyer. Her most recent book, The New Jim Crow, has gained global acclaim for its pinpointing of the very real yet hushed critical issue of racial profiling and mass incarceration. She has been featured in major media worldwide, including Moyers & Company, NPR’s Fresh Air, CNN, and many others.

Quotes/Highlights from Transcript:

“It wasn’t long into that work (with the ACLU Racial Justice Project) that I realized that even I, someone who cared a lot about racial injustice and thought that I knew a lot about our criminal justice system, that I was deeply misguided and in a lot of denial about the way in which our criminal justice system wasn’t just in need of reform but had become the primary vehicle for creating and sustaining racial inequality in our time.” (10:08)

“I think that what I’ve come to see and understand better in recent years is that the American dream is just not real for millions of Americans and its not a matter of not trying.” (15:45)

“It (restorative justice) is definitely not a pipedream. I’m so encouraged by the movement that is growing around restorative and transformative justice. I think that one of the reasons why it’s such a crucial part of the work to end mass incarceration and to break this cycle of caste like systems in America is because it helps provide an answer to, well, if we don’t have prisons, if prisons aren’t the answer then what, what are we going to do about the harms and people affected. I think there is kind of real harm that has to be acknowledged and addressed. People do violate each other’s rights, commit real crimes against each other that cause pain and suffering in our communities.” (55:29)

Open-Source Copy of Transcript:

Michelle’s full bio: http://newjimcrow.com/about-the-author

More about The New Jim Crow: newjimcrow.com

Michelle’s joint interview on Moyers & Company with Bryan Stephenson (jus
t below) of the Equal Justice Institute):
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04022010/watch.html

Arun Gandhi was born in 1934 in Durban, South Africa. Arun is the fifth grandson of India’s legendary leader, Mohandas K. “Mahatma” Gandhi. Growing up under the discriminatory apartheid laws of South Africa, he was beaten by “white” South Africans for being too black and “black” South Africans for being too white; so, Arun sought eye-for-an-eye justice. However, he learned from his parents and grandparents that justice does not mean revenge, it means transforming the opponent through love and suffering.

Grandfather taught Arun to understand nonviolence through understanding violence. “If we know how much passive violence we perpetrate against one another we will understand why there is so much physical violence plaguing societies and the world,” Gandhi said. Through daily lessons, Arun says, he learned about violence and about anger.

Arun shares these lessons all around the world. For the past five years, he has participated in the Renaissance Weekend deliberations with President Clinton and other well-respected Rhodes Scholars. In recent years his engagements included speaking at the Chicago Children’s Museum and the Women’s Justice Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He also delivered talks at the Young President’s Organization in Mexico, the Trade Union Leaders’ Meeting in Milan, Italy, as well as the Peace and Justice Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Sometimes, his journeys take him even further. Arun has spoken in Croatia, France, Ireland, Holland, Lithuania, Nicaragua, China, Scotland and Japan. Also, he is a very popular speaker on college campuses and in recent years, he has spoken at, North Dakota State University, Concordia College, Baker University, Morehouse College, Marquette University, and the University of San Diego, to name a few.

Arun is very involved in social programs and writing, as well. Shortly after Arun married his wife Sunanda, they were informed the South African government would not allow her to accompany him there. Sunanda and Arun decided to live in India, and Arun worked for 30 years as a journalist for The Times of India.

Arun and his late wife, Sunanda, rescued over 125 orphan children from the streets and placed them in loving homes around the world and began a Center for Social Change, which transformed the lives of millions in villages in the western state of Maharashtra. Together, Arun and Sunanda started projects for the social and economic uplifting of the oppressed using constructive programs, the backbone of Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence.

The programs changed the lives of more than half a million people in over 300 villages and they still continue to grow.

In 1987 Sunanda and Arun came to the US and in 1991 they started the M. K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence at the Christian Brothers University in Memphis Tennessee. In 2008 the Institute was moved to the University of Rochester, New York. In the 17 years of the Institute’s life the Gandhi’s took the message of nonviolence and peace to hundreds of thousands of high school and University youth around the US and much of the Western World.

In 1997, Sunanda and Arun began the Gandhi Legacy Tour of India, in 2012 Arun expanded the business and developed two additional tour itineraries, the Gandhi Lifescapes Tour of India and Gandhi Satyagraha Tour of South Africa.

Sunanda died in February of 2007 and the family is working to establish a residential-school in poorest rural India in her honor. Arun founded the Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute in 2008 headquartered in a suburb outside of Chicago, ILL. The Institute was founded to promote community building in economically depressed areas of the world through the joining of Gandhian philosophy and vocational education for children and their parents.

Arun is the author of several books. The first, A Patch of White (1949), is about life in prejudiced South Africa; then, he wrote two books on poverty and politics in India; followed by a compilation of M.K. Gandhi’s Wit & Wisdom. He also edited a book of essays on World Without Violence: Can Gandhi’s Vision Become Reality? And, more recently, wrote The Forgotten Woman: The Untold Story of Kastur, the Wife of Mahatma Gandhi, jointly with his late wife Sunanda and his bestseller Legacy of Love: My education in the path of nonviolence. In March of 2014 Grandfather Gandhi was released.  A picture book for all ages by Arun Gandhi, Bethany Hegedus illustrated by Evan Turk.