Grant Recipients – 2024
Impact Grant Recipients
Restorative Arlington (Arlington, Virginia)
Project Title: Restorative Peace Circle Training
Description: This project will create a Restorative Justice (RJ) Practices/Circle training for Arlington County and the Potomac Valley Region in response to dozens of requests for this service the past four years. The region’s history and particular role as a birthplace of the First and Second Harms requires culturally specific attention and contextual framing to successfully shift people’s hearts, habits, and practices towards a restorative framework. Training will be developed in partnership with stakeholders at George Mason University, Equal Justice USA, and regional RJ organizations in consultation with Indigenous Elders and in alignment with best practices in RJ and with the experiences of regional trainers in mind. Training enables local capacity building amongst community members for cross-sector RJ implementation, in schools, communities, and the criminal legal system, in alignment with Restorative Arlington’s Strategic Plan. Activities include partnership and planning to determine goals and outcome of the training, manual drafting and review, and graphics support.
Lyla Stettenheim (New York, NY)
Project Title: Restorative Justice Narratives: Peace Isn’t Passive
Description: "Restorative Justice Narratives: Peace Isn’t Passive” weaves a story of restorative justice across New England. Following Supreme Hassan in Boston and a high school boy in New York City, the film captures the struggle and healing that comes through restorative justice. Supreme has led great change in Boston, and he has also caused harm. He had to face this harm to find his path to walk. The film will contrast Supreme’s story with the story of a young man who has only recently committed harm. He is from New York City (just like Supreme), but is much earlier in his journey of facing his harm and of finding his path forward. The film will capture this young person at his crossroads and share Supreme’s story in parallel to show what can be possible. Interweaving these cross-generational stories will showcase the power of restorative justice and push viewers to believe in and root for transformation they would not have thought possible. The film will be shown locally and nationally through film festivals, public television, social media, and targeted screenings. “Restorative Justice Narratives: Peace isn't Passive” aims to elevate the voices of those most impacted by harm, raise awareness about restorative justice, and encourage its adoption by more people and organizations.
Please reach out to filmmaker Lyla Stettenheim at lylastettenheim@gmail.com if you’re interested in learning more!
Awake (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
Project Title: Bridge Dialogues
Description: The Bridge Dialogues will be a new Awake program bringing together clergy abuse survivors and non-offending priests for facilitated restorative conversation. Each Bridge Dialogue will include three abuse survivors and three priests, along with two facilitators. The facilitators will guide the group through a simple process of honest sharing and respectful listening, giving all participants the opportunity to speak from their hearts about the ways they have been impacted and what they hope for moving forward. These dialogues will take place on Zoom and last 90 minutes, followed immediately by a 30-minute debrief session with survivors and priests in separate groups. Awake has already hosted four pilot dialogues, which were very fruitful and demonstrated the importance and impact of the project. As one participant said: “The Bridge Dialogue is an extraordinarily important and groundbreaking step in seeking healing between victim survivors and priests.” Awake plans to host 9 dialogues in their July 2024 - June 2025 fiscal year.
Restorative Justice Collaborative Hub (South Bend, Indiana)
Project Title: Collaborative Justice Network
Description: This project will create a collaborative community network to support newly developed direct services for people affected by criminalized harm. The project will gather community members with relevant experience and people offering related services in a series of four half-day sessions where they can learn more about restorative justice and our organization, learn how the supports we bring can complement the supports they offer, tie our RJ services to community needs, and explore ways of better coordinating the range of services available to affected parties. The aim of this project is to develop a coalition of local service providers who share the work of repairing harm to community members, thus amplifying the Hub’s work toward transformation.
Mini-Grant Recipients
Eliot-Hine Middle School, DC Public Schools (Washington, D.C.)
Project Title: Building Restorative Foundations at EHMS
Description: This project supports restorative practices implementation at Eliot-Hine Middle School, a Title I public school serving approximately 400 students near Capitol Hill East.
The project includes starting a restorative justice staff committee, training staff in a restorative framework, building teacher capacity to lead community building circles and maintaining them throughout the year, creating a space in school where kids know they can come to resolve conflict, and involving families in restorative practices.
Circle Up Youth Restorative Justice Arts Inc “The Circle Keepers” (Brooklyn, New York)
Project Title: The 2024 Back 2 School Black Joy Party
Description: This project supports the 2024 Back 2 School Black Joy Party, a community gathering at Prospect Park, Brooklyn. This gathering brings together youth interested in restorative justice for a day of RJ circles, community building, educational workshops on the topic of abolition, restorative/transformative justice, arts, and healing practices.
Restorative Houston (Houston, Texas)
Project Title: Elder Circle Series
Description: This series aims to promote social connectedness among 10-15 elders from diverse backgrounds by creating a safe, inclusive environment for meaningful connection and engagement. Each two-hour Circle will feature restorative practices such as mindfulness, storytelling, and art. While fostering community through shared meals and companionship. To ensure accessibility, participants will be compensated for their time. The program is specifically designed to strengthen social bonds among seniors, who are often marginalized or overlooked. The project will use the Watts Connectedness Scale in pre- and post-surveys to assess the impact on participants. The curriculum, originally co-developed by Restorative Houston’s Executive Director and evaluated by Georgetown University for youth leadership, will be adapted to meet the unique needs of elders. Looking ahead, Restorative Houston plans to continue this initiative in the fall of 2025, with the goal of training some of the original participants to take on leadership roles and facilitate future Circles.
Alaina Jackson (Canton, Michigan)
Project Title: Students for Peace and Responsible Conflict Resolution (SPARC)
Description: This project seeks to support the development of Students for Peace And Responsible Conflict Resolution (SPARC), a peer-mediation restorative justice program at The School at Marygrove High School (TSM). TSM has dual commitments to social justice and principles of design thinking in the context of engineering, architecture, urban planning, and business, to support students in developing the skills necessary to identify and solve complex problems to become active participants in the creation of a more just and equitable future. SPARC will deepen these existing commitments by strengthening the knowledge and use of restorative practices within the school and beyond. Students in SPARC will gain a deep grounding and introduction to restorative justice theory and practice, experience a hands-on role in building and sustaining the restorative culture at TSM, and develop a stronger sense of what it looks like to engage in social justice through action.
Saeter Consulting, LLC (Fosston, Minnesota)
Project Title: Restorative Justice Pilot Program for Rural MN Police Force
Description: This project will introduce Restorative Justice Practices to our local police force in hopes they will adopt these practices long-term. A successful implementation in Fosston could serve as a model for other law enforcement agencies in our rural region. To introduce these practices, I'll be doing an informational session with the force and take on five to ten cases, depending on complexity, and manage those cases as a pilot to demonstrate the effectiveness of restorative justice and how it can positively impact the community.
Connection First, Inc. (Leon County, Florida)
Project Title: Youth Restorative Justice Pilot
Description: Connection First, Inc., a non-profit agency, currently operates an adult Restorative Justice (RJ) program under contract with the City of Tallahassee, Florida. With this grant, Connection First, Inc. aims to pilot a youth RJ case within their community, demonstrating the effectiveness of RJ for younger populations as a tool for intervention and diversion. Project leaders have identified a potential case and have strong relationships with an alternative school in the county, providing additional referral sources. The project will fund two facilitators to conduct the youth RJ conference, with the goal of showcasing its success and expanding services to a broader youth population.
Create Proximity LLC (Lawrenceville, Georgia)
Project Title: A Restorative Justice Approach to Experiential Learning
Description: This project seeks to equip college students enrolled in an African American Studies minor with Restorative Justice training in collaboration with an experiential learning day trip visit to the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama. The goal of this trip is to empower students with a deeper understanding of the historic and contemporary realities of racial injustice from enslavement to mass incarceration, particularly harming and disenfranchising Black communities. Restorative Practices will be used to facilitate dialogue and debriefing with the students as they engage and process difficult and traumatic content. Funding from this grant will allow all 15 currently enrolled students to participate in this transformative and empowering opportunity. Students will be expected to present their learning with their campus community or a community of their choice. This initiative is part of a larger effort to expand the implementation of Restorative Justice practices on college campuses.