Members of the RRC will meet up for an in-person retreat in New York June 16 – 17 to discuss our research priorities and activities, followed by an open invitation to our larger NYC RJ community – hosted by the Institute for Transformative Mentoring – to discuss our initiatives and questions of interest. Let’s connect! Please RSVP here to attend.

Together with our colleague, Flor Garcia Mencos from Guatemala, RRC presented at the July 2022 NACRJ conference. It was the first opportunity we had had to be in person after the pandemic, and we relished our time of reconnection and fellowship. Lorena Coy, also from our Guatemala sister PAR group, was miraculously approved for a visa the day before traveling, but sadly, she contracted COVID and couldn’t come! We felt proud and real getting to share our reflective work over the past three years, through thick and thin. Thank you to those who showed up and supported us! Here is …

RRC will present our work on Restorative Action Research in the upcoming National Association for Community and Restorative Justice conference. Look out for our session there, with two of our Guatemalan sister cohort colleagues. Below is our session info and description. 7/7/2022 2:30-3:30 pm (C-012) – Restorative Action Research with Practitioners from NY and Guatemala. Room Number: E271A Presenters: Rochelle Arms Almengor, Lorena Coy, Tomay Douglas, William M. Evans, Rusa Fischer, Flor Garcia-Mencos, Skye Roper-Moses. Description: Title: Restorative Action Research with Practitioners from New York and Guatemala This panel is led by participants from the Restorative Roots Collaborative and the …

The Restorative Roots Collaborative and authors of Colorizing Restorative Justice are hosting a follow up to the March 22nd CRJ book talk held by John Jay College and RRC. As promised, this virtual circle is for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) RJ practitioners only to support one another in mutual challenges, especially as these relate to carrying out our work in white-led spaces. The circle will be held Monday June 14th, 2021, 6:30 – 8 p.m. ET. We will limit to 80 participants in order to give adequate space for participation. Click here to register.

Join NYC-based authors of Colorizing Restorative Justice – Shameeka Mattis and Rochelle Arms Almengor – along with editor Edward Valandra, in a conversation about the book, newly released last summer. The book’s twenty authors explore the issues of racism and colonization within the field of restorative justice / restorative practices. Date: Monday March 22nd, 2021 Time: 6:30 – 8 p.m. ET Register here. Space is limited! Sponsored by John Jay College of Criminal Justice

RRC member Rochelle Arms Almengor, along with 19 other BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) restorative justice practitioners and thinkers contributed to the much anticipated book, Colorizing Restorative Justice: Voicing Our Realities. The book was released in Summer 2020, and since then has garnered a lot of attention from the restorative justice North American community. Authors have made numerous appearances on social media, podcasts, webinars, book talks, and conferences since the book was released. Rochelle recently appeared in the Zehr Institute’s webinar featuring several authors. In addition, she has spoken about her chapter at the National Association for Community and …

As an expanded version of our presentation at the PJSA, in October a few of us shared about our PAR project work through the Association for Conflict Resolution, or ACR. See here for the full conference program. Presenters were: William Evans, Skye Roper-Moses, Flor Garcia Mencos, Lucia Estacuy, and Rochelle Arms Almengor.

Nicole Lavonne Smith, William M. Evans and Rochelle Arms Almengor presented the work of the RRC to date at the Peace and Justice Studies Association virtual conference on Saturday September 26 at 1 p.m. ET. Check out details here: https://www.peacejusticestudies.org/conference/2020-conference-schedule/ The PJSA virtual conference will go for 3 months through November. Each month is dedicated to a different overarching theme, and September’s was Restorative Justice. Check out the RRC Instagram page for some video highlights of our panel presentation: https://www.instagram.com/ny_rrc/

RRC’s Nicole Lavonne Smith and her RJ work partner, Suzanne Hitchman, introduced a new podcast that focuses not so much on RJ, but more on their experiences building an authentic friendship across the Black-White divide. Listen to BCWT podcast’s debut episodes here. Background: Nicole and Suzanne met in 2016 as they embarked on a four-year implementation of racial and equity-centered Restorative Justice (RJ) initiatives in two separate Brooklyn public schools in collaboration with the Department of Education and Brooklyn Community Foundation. Currently, Suzanne and Nicole consult both as a team and individually to push the limits of Restorative Justice as …

LTomay Douglas’ WORTHshop Inc. is leading a men’s healing circle starting Saturday September 5 at 12:30 ET and meeting over several weeks. The Sankofa Men’s Worth Circle aims to “help men reclaim what was left behind after historical harm.” See flyer below and go here to sign up! Contact Tomay at this email with any questions: info@worthshopinc.org