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In 1778, there were over 500,00 pure Hawaiians. After an overthrow of their kingdom, which resulted in a loss of culture, language, land, people, spirituality, family structure, and way of life; by 2044, demographers predict there will not be a pure Hawaiian left. But there have always been resistors, and over the years, there has been a huge resurgence of cultural practices and more consciousness, to include restorative justice. Learn how one educator is using restorative justice to heal the cultural trauma that students experience and bring into the classroom; bring about connection by allowing individuals to get to know one another on a deeper level; and identifying and understanding place, so students know the stories, people, and history of where they come from.
Speakers: Bella Finau-Faumuina and Dwanna Nicole
Session: 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m., Tuesday, June 24
Dwanna Nicole is the Executive Director of the Restorative Justice Partnership, where she works within school communities throughout the country to assist them with developing strategies to create more positive school climates for students, educators, and families. By using a collaborative model that includes stakeholders at every level, she provides training and support in the implementation of restorative justice in schools through the creation of individualized short and long-term implementation plans, resource development, ancillary professional learning, and onsite assistance.
Bella Finau-Faumuina is from the ahupuaʻa of Kalihilihiolaumiha and the ʻili ʻāina of Mokauea, Oʻahuʻs last fishing village. She is an advocate/educator, who is dedicated to implementing Hawaiian culture, history, and practices into public schools across Hawaiʻis pae ʻāina. She recently served as a resource teacher on the windward side of Oʻahu, on behalf of Compassionate Koʻolaupoko, providing support to schools and teachers around culturally relevant, trauma-responsive practices. Bella is now part of the Office of Hawaiian Education, promoting 'ike Hawai'i (Hawaiian knowledge) as context and content throughout the Hawai'i's Department of Education.
Restorative Justice in Education promotes values and principles that use inclusive, collaborative approaches for supporting students and educators in the community called “School.” This session will examine the ways in which RJE supports the experiences and needs of everyone within the community, and strives to create a relationship-centered space as well as a just and equitable learning environment.
Aundrea Smiley, PhD, is a career educator and educational consultant with over 18 years of service in the field, as well as an RJ practitioner. She is a graduate of the Peacebuilding program at EMU, holding a graduate level certificate in RJE, and successfully completed her PhD from Liberty University, where her dissertation research was focused on RJE at the elementary level. She is the owner & founder of a full service literacy center/ consulting firm and a mom to her 7 year old son. Aundrea has previously served as the Literacy Coach serving a Virginia school district in grades K-12. Currently, she is an assistant professor of Teacher Education/ RJE here in the Teacher Education Program at EMU. Aundrea enjoys spending time with friends, family, and loved ones as well as serving the community in various capacities.
Kendra Jones Carter is the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for Waynesboro Public Schools in Waynesboro, VA. Kendra grew up in Staunton, VA and completed a Bachelor of Science in Education, Master of Teaching and Administration certification at the University of Virginia. During her time as Director, she has coordinated and/or provided positive coaching and professional development, advocated for equity programs that support marginalized students and is helping in developing a culture of culturally responsiveness within Waynesboro Public Schools.
This interactive workshop explores authentic youth engagement in school-based RJ movements, emphasizing building intergenerational partnerships with those most impacted by structural injustice. Using the Spiral of Youth Engagement in RJ from The Little Book of Youth Engagement in Restorative Justice, participants will examine language and explore how to shift from tokenizing youth to building intergenerational partnerships. Through movement and small group activities, participants will deepen their understanding and practice of meaningful youth engagement in RJ.
Anita Wadhwa is a native Houstonian and daughter of Punjabi immigrants. She is Executive Director of Restorative Houston, and a former classroom teacher and restorative justice coordinator. She is author of Restorative Justice in Urban Schools: Disrupting the School to Prison Pipeline, co-author of The Little Book of Youth Engagement in Restorative Justice. and a contributor to Colorizing Restorative Justice. She hires and consults with former students to train in restorative practices. She owes everything to her parents, husband, and two lovely girls. She lives in Houston, Texas.
Heather Bligh Manchester is an educator, trainer, and connector who integrates theater and movement into RJ and leadership programs in both rural and urban settings, including Oakland School District. She partners with youth and adults to foster meaningful engagement and build equitable, resilient communities. Through Creative Change Collaborative, she facilitates trainings on leadership, youth engagement, applied theater, and RJ, and coaches organizations to partner with young people as trainers, researchers, funders, and policymakers. She is a co-author of The Little Book of Youth Engagement in Restorative Justice. She lives in Oakland, California.
Leslie Lux holds a bachelor's in psychology with a minor in Leadership Studies from the University of Houston. She has served as head RJ Teaching Assistant for the Leadership class at YES Prep Northbrook High School, delivered the opening keynote at the Restorative Justice in Education conference and facilitated various local and national RJ workshops nationally. She is a contributor to The Little Book of Youth Engagement in Restorative Justice. Leslie now works at the Houston Area Women’s Center and uses RJ when working with clients impacted by family violence.
Evelín Aquino is a cultural strategist/facilitator/coach with over 30 years experience of being a learner in Circle with elders, peers, youth and community. Committed to liberation and harmony, her work is grounded in love and sustaining healthy relationships with one another. She is a board member of The Encampment for Citizenship and was a longtime Community’s Advisory Board Member of Pa’lante - Transformative Justice. She is a co-author of The Little Book of Youth Engagement in Restorative Justice. Evelín is a Boricua/Dominicana, first generation graduate of UMASS Amherst.
This session will explore how the presenter invited students to co-teach material
through planned and facilitated curriculum circles to tap into student knowledge and
interest in order to promote deeper thinking on difficult topics. The presenter will
share how this approach changed communication practices in the room and led to important
dialogue around issues of social justice. Learners will explore how using the principles
of restorative justice to inform lesson planning, assessment planning, and content
planning led to a more welcoming, inclusive, and participatory classroom culture.
Alyssa Brennan (she/her) joins us from Conception Bay South, Newfoundland and Labrador, in the free and sovereign nation of Canada. Alyssa graduated from Memorial University NL with undergraduate degrees in Physical Education, Intermediate Secondary Education and Special Education and a graduate degree in Education focused on Social Justice and Restorative Justice. She currently teaches at Holy Trinity High in Torbay, NL where she is athletic director, lead of the school’s restorative justice team, social justice action committee and Game Changers group, Daily Physical Activity Champion, and head coach of the girls 17 U volleyball program. She is a mother of four beautiful children and deeply involved in her community.
Language not only reflects but actively constructs the world around us. It influences
how we perceive reality, establish social hierarchies, and engage with each other.
The way we choose words or phrases, intentionally or subconsciously, can reinforce
power dynamics, create inclusion or exclusion, and even affect self-perception. Understanding
these nuances is essential, especially in educational and social contexts, as it allows
us to be more intentional and aware of the impact language has on shaping minds
and communities.
Eboni Rucker is an educator who has been working in the field of Education for the last 17 years. She has worked in various capacities in the realm of education from private specialized centers for autism in Chicago, Illinois and Cincinnati, Ohio to public middle and high schools in the Chicagoland area. She attended Lincoln College, Eastern Illinois University, University of Phoenix and Governors State University. Eboni has a vigorous background in education, training in Applied Behavior Analysis, Social and Emotional Learning and Restorative Justice.
With a passion for supporting at-risk students, she has spent the last 8 years as a Restorative Justice Practitioner & SEL Coordinator for a high school in the Chicagoland area. Restorative Rucker assisted in the creation of a school wide model that replaced in school suspension model with a period by period model that is exclusively based upon the practices of RJE. She is a member of the Chicago City Wide Restorative Justice Committee and PEACE S2 – People Engaged in Advancement of Community Enrichment in the South Suburbs.
Restorative Rucker is also an educational consultant for Mindful Practices, where she works to assist all educators from special education classroom assistants to superintendents and school boards across the United State earn a CASEL approved certification in Social and Emotional Learning.
Eboni is also a proud member of the National Education Association (NEA) and Illinois Education Association (IEA) where she has been an elected delegate of the NEA and IEA Representative Assembly 2020-2023. She has attended the NEAs Conference on Racial and Social Justice, presented at the 2023 Educational Support Professionals Conference, The 1st National Conference on Restorative Justices in Education in Brazil and the 2024 NEA Leadership Summit.
In her spare time, she enjoys reading, traveling, watching sports, volunteering and spending time with her family who all are huge football fans.
Martha Brown resides in Faribault, MN and is president of RJAE Consulting and author of Creating Restorative Schools: Setting Schools Up to Succeed, available at Living Justice Press. Dr. Brown received her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Florida Atlantic University. Her dissertation focused on restorative justice in two Oakland middle schools. For the past three years, Dr. Brown has taught a course in Circle Processes at Eastern Mennonite University’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute. This summer, she joins the Graduate Teacher Education program at EMU as an adjunct professor, teaching Circle Processes there as well. In 2021, she facilitated an eight-week online Circle training course for faculty and staff at James Madison University Libraries.
At RJAE Consulting, Martha assists schools, school districts, non-profit, cultural, community-based, educational, and correctional organizations with program design, readiness assessments, strategic planning, student assessments, monitoring implementation, and defining and measuring program outcomes.
“We Speak, We Write, We Do Language” To Heal: Mobilizing The Art Of Writing To Engage Youth And Adults In Restorative Justice
Our session title is drawn from Toni Morrison, who said: “This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”
A major challenge in advancing restorative values and practices lies in the difficulty of communicating approaches to justice that seem counterintuitive to most people in our country. However, art, poetry, and storytelling have always been powerful tools in helping people open hearts and minds to new ideas and behaviors. We believe art, shared through poetry and fiction for children and adults – as well as artist-created policy materials – can be important tools in bringing restorative and healing justice values and practices to a far broader audience.
This interactive session will explore how fiction, poetry, and artist-led advocacy & reports can be effectively used to teach and explore restorative justice language and concepts, and to build skills in communities, classrooms, and organizations. For example, restorative practitioners have learned that healing survivors of harm, combined with healing and accountability for harm-doers, can be far more effective tools in achieving safety than simply punishing harm-doers. While practitioners have seen this proven true, it can be difficult for people to understand. Authors Charlene Allen and Purvi Shah, both restorative practitioners, researchers, and activists, will share short readings from their creative works and policy tools to bring these concepts to life. Attendees will leave ready to integrate fiction, poetry, and art approaches into community activities and curricula, including specific teaching tools to help deepen learning.
Charlene Allen is a writer and activist who works with community organizations to heal trauma and fight injustice, especially the beast called mass incarceration. She has been a restorative and healing justice practitioner for over a decade and advocates for policy changes to expand the use of community-based restorative practices. With Purvi Shah, she co-facilitates the NYC Collaborative for Restoring Healing and Transforming Communities, which addresses intimate partner violence through community-centered restorative and healing approaches.
As a writer, Charlene’s debut novel, Play the Game, (HarperCollins, 2023), explores and advances restorative and healing justice practices. Angela Y. Davis says of Play the Game: “Fast-paced, insightful, and highly relevant, Allen’s novel illustrates the application of restorative justice practices to real life situations. A must read for all young people impacted by racism and those adults who love them.” Charlene’s new book, My Fairy God Somebody, (HarperCollins, 2024), is a junior library guild gold standard book, and a 2025 one-book Baltimore city-wide selection. Visit Charlene at www.charleneallen.com
Purvi Shah Purvi Shah creates art and furthers anti-violence advocacy towards healing and transformation. With Charlene Allen, she currently co-facilitates the NYC Collaborative for Restoring Healing and Transforming Communities to address intimate violence with community-centered approaches. Purvi led first-hand stakeholder research and systems change facilitation toward authoring the report, Seeding Generations: New Strategies Towards Services for People who Abuse, which prompted a NYC community-based initiative addressing intimate violence.
Purvi served as Executive Director of Sakhi for South Asian Women and won a SONY South Asian Social Services Award for her community leadership against violence. Her expertise has been featured in The New York Times, New York Newsday, and on CNN, WABC in NYC, The Brian Lehrer Show at WNYC, New Delhi TV, and TV Asia.
Purvi has led creative expression workshops with survivors. Her most recent poetry book, Miracle Marks, explores gender violence and sacred survivals. Purvi’s prize-winning debut, Terrain Tracks, plumbs migration and belonging. With artist Anjali Deshmukh, she creates interactive art at https://circlefor.com/.
Purvi relishes sparkly eyeshadow, raucous laughter, and seeking justice.
When it comes to building community restoratively it is rarely framed in a context that illuminates the lived experience of those who are impacted by racialized oppression. Overcoming these conditions requires a plan for total liberation/healing. The 75 minute workshop will provide an opportunity for participants to examine the role of discourse and messaging around restorative practices for those living in a context of racialized oppression. By examining this intersection, we aim to foster greater understanding of the pitfalls, challenges, and opportunities at play, ultimately empowering attendees to create more equitable and transformative restorative approaches within their communities.
Patricia “Patty” Glasco, Steve Korr, and Iman Shabazz, each specialize in key areas of restorative leadership, engagement, and implementation. They hold over five decades of combined experience relevant to community building, healing, and organizing and offer unique perspectives based on their applied expertise within organizations and communities.
Specialist and Subject Matter Expert
Lead Presenter
Director of People and Culture
Co-Presenter
Director of Akoben, LLC
Co-Presenter
Living Language Of Arts-Based Embodiment: Co-Create Toward Justice, Move With Grief, And Regenerate Collective Power
Many talk about "embodiment,” although the spoken/written language to describe it may not touch the experience of engaging in an immersive body language experience (which involves fewer words than our typical verbal processing). What is it to engage in arts-based, embodied practice to fuel or refuel our practice as educators, community members, and activists? How do we co-create with more universal (for some, not all!) languages of moving/playing body and art-making to revive our energy for the work of justice in schools and society? This session will be facilitated by three transnational educators from different contexts – Korea and the US – who have been working in a variety of different cultural contexts. We have shared this practice with educators and peace and justice activists in a variety of cultures and are in the process of publishing our research. Come and engage your speaking body, emotions, and creative power directly through a multi-modal arts experience.
Dr. Katie Mansfield is a facilitator of participatory learning about trauma sensitivity, resilience, and creative approaches to peacebuilding. She has spent more than twenty years focused on peace and justice education in varied contexts, including as a collaborative trainer, researcher, writer, curriculum designer and teacher of healing-centered movement modalities. Her doctoral work in expressive arts and conflict transformation was anchored at EGS in Switzerland. Katie’s thesis was entitled “Re-friending the Body: Expressive Arts-based, Embodied Learning for Building Resilience.” Dancing and meditation are her daily medicines, including with the online Dancing Resilience community she and others established in 2020. She completed an MA in Peace Studies at Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute and her AB in History at Harvard-Radcliffe. She also spent eight years on a rather different career path working for Goldman Sachs in New York and London (1996-2004). She is originally from a New York suburb and is currently based in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.
Hyojin Chang, MA, is a teacher, facilitator, and researcher with a focus on peace education, restorative justice, and trauma awareness in peacebuilding. Before moving to the U.S., she worked with educators across South Korea, introducing restorative justice practices and leading circle processes in schools nationwide. Hyojin studied Conflict Transformation at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) and now teaches STAR at EMU.
Empowering Voices, Healing Communities: The Role Of Language In Restorative Justice For Girls Of Color
This interactive workshop will delve into the transformative power of language and communication in fostering healing and empowerment for girls of color in educational settings. As an organization committed to advancing restorative justice principles specifically tailored for girls of color, Code Switch recognizes the importance of culturally responsive discourse, allowing for meaningful expression and connection that reflects and respects lived experiences.
Through guided discussion, activities, and role-play scenarios, attendees will explore how language and communication shape the restorative justice process for marginalized youth. This workshop will highlight how culturally attuned discourse can address systemic issues within education, helping young women of color to find their voice, reclaim agency, and navigate restorative practices that reflect their identities.
Participants will leave the session equipped with practical strategies for integrating culturally sensitive discourse into their restorative justice work, fostering a more inclusive and empowering environment for girls of color.
Dr. Tonya Walls is an independent scholar and K-16+ educator who is equally passionate about teaching, service, and scholarship. Dr. Walls currently serves as Founding Visionary and Executive Director for Code Switch: Restorative Justice for Girls of Color where her work focuses on amplifying the voices and experiences of Black students, families, and communities, and dismantling systems of oppression rooted in race and racism. Her research interests include culturally relevant pedagogy, the school-to-prison pipeline, Black teacher counter spaces, racial justice for Black girls and women, and social justice leadership.
Naika Belizaire is currently studying Political Science & Community Development as an undergraduate student at Howard University in Washington, DC. Raised in the West Side of Las Vegas, they graduated from Advanced Technologies Academy. Within Code Switch, they serve as the Co-Executive Director and are a member of the Youth Advisory Board. They stan for Black Girls and gender expansive youth because they are revolutionary and deserve to be protected, supported, and loved. Through their work with Code Switch, they hope to create a community and space that loves on our youth, uplifts our youth, and provides our youth with the resources, mentorship, and tools needed to tap into their fullest potential and achieve their revolutionary dreams.
Anaya Amara Wilson is currently a sophomore attending Howard University studying Elementary Education. She graduated from Monterey Trail High School in Elk Grove, California. In Code Switch, she is a Youth Justice Fellow and a part of the Youth Advisory Board. Her proudest accomplishment is moving across the country to pursue higher education. She stan for Black girls and gender expansive youth because they deserve to be valued like any of their peers. In her work with Code Switch, she hopes to make everyone she comes into contact with feel like they are valued.
G’Yanna Perry is a recent graduate of Advanced Technologies Academy High School where she double majored in Biomedical Engineering and Engineering. She is planning to attend Howard University where she will pursue studies in Biomedical Engineering. She has great passion for advocacy primarily for girls of color and various gender-expansive youth! When not advocating on behalf of the voiceless, she enjoys reading all forms of literature, art and music. Her favorite book is Not Without Laughter by Langston Hughes!
Layla Juniel is a recent graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno where they studied Veterinary Science and Biochemistry. They are most proud of graduating with their second collegiate degree at the young age of 19. They stan for Black youth and gender expansive individuals because they want to provide the kind of opportunities and experiences they wish they had earlier growing up, and because they want to pour back into their community because they know they wouldn’t be where they are without them. Layla's freedom dream is to spread more of Code Switch’s work and mission across many communities and bring restorative justice to many other Black girls and gender expansive youth.
Building Bridges Of Equity And Belonging: Supporting Novice Teachers In Creating Classrooms Rooted In Partnership
This session will explore the critical need of discourse analysis on the topics of equity and belonging with preservice and novice teachers in the field of education today. Education is a field calling teachers “to teach who they are,” yet many teachers have had limited opportunities to critically reflect on topics of diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging and accessibility as K - 12 students, facing barriers in facilitating dialogues across differences within their classrooms as future educators.
Currently, we are a nation deeply divided across identities, while at the same time, we are also growing more culturally and linguistically diverse. Providing teachers the tools to build bridges of discourse across identity in their classrooms will transform communities rooted in domination towards partnership. Through experiential exercises, storytelling, and reflective practice, participants will learn strategies to promote a curious and growth mindset in fostering courageous conversations in their classrooms with children and youth.
Heather Batchelor, EdD Dr. is a veteran classroom teacher and practitioner of restorative justice at the P-K, higher education and community levels. She currently works with pre-service teachers at Thomas College in Waterville, Maine, but has worked with schools across the country to support new teachers in creating caring, welcoming communities that engage in active conflict resolution.
Dr. Virginia Dearani is the Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education at Thomas College in Waterville, ME. She has her Doctorate in Literacy/Curriculum Design at University of Maine, Orono. As a multi-dimensional woman, she has learned to navigate the world of teaching and learning with a perspective of pluralism, honoring the “both/and” in all her relations. Throughout the past 25+ years, Virginia has centered her life’s work in the areas of Whole Teacher/Whole Child; Cross-Cultural Pedagogy; and Peace Education for children 3 years through adulthood. She defines her teaching and learning approach as Embodied Radical Love Education and is an Interdisciplinary Curriculum Designer for Early Childhood through 8th grade classrooms. She emphasizes the joy of partnering with children and youth to create communities of belonging, needed in our world today. She resides in Auburn, ME where she commits to playing daily with her two young boys, husband, and golden retriever.
As schools increasingly adopt restorative approaches to discipline, it is crucial to keep the justice principles integrated into these practices and beyond. In this engaging presentation, we will explore the essential role of justice within restorative practices in educational settings by examining the role language plays in affirming or disempowering marginalized groups of students in school policy and procedures. Together, we will reaffirm our commitment to justice, ensuring that restorative practices not only repair harm but also uplift and empower our youth and their families.
Dr. Robin Lynette McNair, is an educator of 32 years and racial and social justice advocate, whose service and work to her community encompasses social justice, restorative justice in education, and peacemaking circles with the ultimate aim of creating communities of peace, particularly for minorities and the marginalized. A resident of Prince George’s County, Maryland, McNair’s work has been featured in NEA Today, MSEA Actionline, and TESOL. Other contributions include TEDx Gaithersburg, contribution to the book “Creating Classrooms of Peace in English Language Teaching,” for Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, During her tenure as a restorative educator, Dr. McNair established The Restorative Classroom, LLC, later to be changed to CenterPEACE, in order to provide training, consultation, and coaching to outside school districts and other organizations..
Harnessing The Power Of Lived Experience: Shaping Restorative Justice Through Language And Storytelling
Our session, "Language Matters: Using Lived Experience Experts to Transform Education and Justice," will explore the crucial role of language and storytelling in restorative justice within educational settings. At Walk With Me Impact (WWMI), we center the voices of those directly impacted by systemic injustices—such as the War on Drugs, gang violence, and incarceration—to mentor marginalized youth and disrupt harmful narratives. This session aligns with the conference theme by demonstrating how Lived Experience Experts reshape discourse, shifting from retributive approaches to those rooted in healing, equity, and growth. We’ll highlight how WWMI uses culturally responsive mentorship and storytelling to foster transformative relationships, advocate for systemic change, and promote equity in school policies. Through real-world examples, we’ll show how language can disrupt cycles of harm and create spaces for justice and opportunity in education.
Armand King, 43, is a transformative leader who draws on his lived experience with gangs, incarceration,
and Urban Domestic Human Sex Trafficking to create impactful solutions and inspire
change. Growing up in underserved communities in San Diego, California, he turned
his challenges into a mission to guide others away from the streets and toward pathways
of healing, growth, and opportunity.
As the author of multiple books and the creator of innovative curriculums, Armand
has become a sought-after speaker and trainer for community-based organizations worldwide.
He educates on human trafficking, gang awareness, prevention, and intervention, equipping
communities with tools to address systemic challenges and support survivors.
With over 20 years of firsthand experience in Urban Domestic Human Sex Trafficking
and gang involvement, Armand has developed groundbreaking programs for survivors,
justice-impacted individuals, and at-risk youth. He has consulted with organizations
globally and served on numerous boards addressing trafficking and victim advocacy.
Armand’s expertise extends to policy and systemic reform. He has helped allocate over
$200 million to reentry programs through his service on California’s reentry grant
committees. As a federal and state court expert, he has dedicated over 1,000 hours
to providing insights on cases involving gangs, trafficking, and racial justice.
Through his writing, training, and leadership, Armand King empowers individuals and
organizations to foster change. His unwavering commitment to breaking cycles of trauma
and creating generational opportunities continues to inspire communities worldwide.
Springhouse is a vitality-centered intergenerational learning community in Floyd, VA. We have a dual-language Elementary School, high school, soul-discovery program for young adults, and leadership programs for adults. We have been practicing restorative justice school-wide since our founding in 2014.
In this session, we will share what we've learned through our 11 years of on-the-ground experience. We will explore the importance of using developmentally appropriate language when working with various ages, the challenge and opportunity of being a bi-lingual and multicultural community when addressing conflict that arises, and the underlying importance of the adults in the community responding to conflict from a resourced place rather than reacting. This session will include concrete examples as well as expansive questions for all of us to consider.
Gigi Austin was raised an Appalachian Mountain girl and spent much of her childhood hunting, fishing, and farming in Southwest Virginia. Her dad instilled in her a deep love for Nature and its conservation. Her mother taught her social graces and grit. Gigi left her home after college and spent the next twenty years developing her career as a language instructor and facilitator of conscious travel communities. Some of the most treasured experiences she accrued during her seven years of wanderings include: walking the full Camino de Santiago, living in a tent on the Uruguayan coast, raising baby goats on a ranch in Texas, couchsurfing the south of South America, leading people-to-people exchange programs in Cuba, leading 70-day Gap Year programs in Latin America, teaching yoga at a silent retreat center in the mountains of Guatemala, and evidencing her belief that most humans are kindhearted. Of the 24 countries where Spanish is an official language, Gigi has experienced 20 firsthand. She has recently returned to the ‘hollers and hills of the Virginia that raised her and looks forward to contributing to a cultural renovation of the area. Gigi will serve as the Language Immersion Director beginning in the summer of 2024.
Discipline Versus Punishment: Integrating Anti-Racism And Consent-Based Practices For Co-Creating Liberatory Classrooms
This session will consider the discourse of punitive school policies, unpack assumptions, goals, and practices surrounding anti-racism and consent within Restorative Practices, and invite participants to engage in envisioning liberatory futures for Restorative Justice within education.
Related to the conference theme, our session will examine discourses in education around discipline and punishment, how they are often conflated, and the ways Restorative Justice can present as non-punitive despite continuing to perpetuate coercive strategies, particularly in the gaps between restorative practice and embodied anti-racism, cultural colonialism, and power-shifting and consent.
This session draws upon the work of Pittsburgh, PA’s YUIR (Youth Undoing Institutional Racism) which organized to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline and bring an anti-racist analysis to restorative practice models within Pittsburgh Public Schools. The Discipline versus Punishment framework was developed by Dr. Ariana Brazier.
Ariana Denise Brazier, Ph.D. is a Black queer feminist and smiley sad mom-girl. She is a play-driven community-organizer and educator who is motivated to raise a joyous, free Black child. Ari received her doctoral degree in English, Critical & Cultural Studies from the University of Pittsburgh in April 2021. Ari has been described by the people she loves as southern, explosive, abstract, intricate, and awkward. As a researcher, Ari’s work is centered on Black children and families living in poverty in the southeast United States. She documents how Black child play functions as a grassroots method of community-based storytelling, teaching, and organizing. Motherhood continues to be a kaleidoscopic experience. All the while, her son, Remix, is the most evolutionary joy she has ever known. Ari is the founder, CEO & President of the 501c3 nonprofit ATL Parent Like A Boss, Inc. (Parent LAB). Parent LAB's mission is to enhance generational literacies through PLAY in underserved African American communities.
Sheba Gittens is an anti-racist heArtivist, art educator, and creative consultant based in this iteration of the world. She is a trained Wellness Practitioner, Anti-Racist Raja Yoga Instructor, and Joy Facilitator. As a creative consultant she has supported numerous organizations and businesses nationally and internationally in manifesting events, programs, and workshops grounded in equity for humanity and that honor intersectionality. As an integrative multimedia heArtivist, she uses mixed media to educate and expand the consciousness of those she serves and currently works with the Ujamaa Collective, Balafon West African Dance Ensemble, and YogaRoots On Location.
Dr. Amanda K. Gross is an artist, intersectional anti-racist organizer, and a weaver of people, ideas, and threads and creative director of Mistress Syndrome, LLC. Amanda has a PhD in Expressive Arts from the European Graduate School and an MA in Conflict Transformation from Eastern Mennonite University’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. She is certified at the 200 hour RYT level by YogaRoots On Location’s Anti-Racist Raja Yoga School. Her first full length book, White Women, Get Ready: How Healing Post-Traumatic Mistress Syndrome Leads to Anti-Racist Change was published in July 2024. She has a chapter in Resistance: Confronting Violence, Power and Abuse within Peace Churches and one in the forthcoming book, Bodies and Beliefs: Purity Culture and the Rhetoric of Religious Trauma.
Kit Miller of the M.K. Ghandi Institute describes Nonviolent Communication (NVC) as ‘a self awareness discipline masquerading as a communications tool’.
This session explores Interpersonal Language use by identifying ways that NVC can support healthy relationships. NVC is intended to support verbal communication and can be successful in cultivating self awareness, courage, and emotional intelligence. When practiced mindfully, NVC can support us in understanding our feelings and needs and intentionally choosing strategies to meet our needs, specifically NVC supports practitioners in learning to make requests.
This session will use a learning circle to explore the ways that practicing NVC can support authenticity and power sharing in educational settings. Participants will learn the basic principles of NVC and have an opportunity to consider how power sharing and authenticity can be supported or compromised by practice of NVC.
Kimiko Lighty is the founding Executive Director and current Strategic Advisor to Restorative Arlington. An innovator in new techniques for peace building and conflict resolution, she holds a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a Master of Interdisciplinary Studies in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University. Kimiko holds certificates in Restorative Justice Facilitation, Peace Circle Keeping, Organizational Development and Conflict Resolution, and Mediation. During her time as ED, Kimiko led the design and implementation of RA’s Heart of Safety Restorative Justice Conferencing Program, an RJ diversion program serving Arlington County’s legal system, schools, and the community. As a Restorative Justice practitioner, Kimiko strives to embody Ubuntu, the profound interconnectedness that calls on us to cultivate empathy, mutual concern, and grace. Kimiko is proficient in French and familiar with basic Arabic. She is a practitioner of Nonviolent communication and original hot yoga, an avid knitter, and a native plant enthusiast.
There is a powerful and dynamic harmony between trauma-informed and restorative practices. However, there are potential difficulties in their relationship as well. This session is rooted in our work to elucidate and leverage both practices that are in constant communication and reciprocal influence with each other, specifically in public schools in New Orleans and Baltimore serving predominantly Black and Brown students. We will describe how we combine discourse that is trauma informed and grounded in restorative practices into a prevention model that includes a triad of professional training, coaching, and consultation to school leaders and staff. We will work participants through principles, practices, and challenges to creating space in schools for dialogue and other modes of communication that encourages mindsets and processes that mitigate trauma, while disrupting those that are antithetical to restorative practices. Implications for shaping equitable and non-maleficent disciplinary practices and policies in schools will also be discussed.
Abdul-Malik Muhammad, Ed.D. has been serving both youth and adults as an educator, transformational leader, entrepreneur, and author for over three decades. His core message of the power of leadership to build healthy community functioning derives from his experience as a community, educational, and corporate leader. Throughout his journey, he has launched 18 schools and specialized programs, led a staff of 2,400 across 11 states and spoke on leadership and community building in 5 continents. He has been a faculty member of the Global Leadership Academy and Regional Leadership Academies of the Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO) since 2015. He is currently the founder and CEO of Akoben LLC, a professional development company, and Transforming Lives Inc., a provider of alternative education services. Through this work, he is continuing to diligently “transform lives, one community at a time.” He is the author of The Restorative Journey – Book One: The Theory and Application of Restorative Practices and We Can Save Our Boys of Color: Part One – Promising Practices from the Field. He has a BA in International Affairs from Franklin Marshall College, an MA in Educational Leadership from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, and an Ed.D in Educational Leadership from the University of Delaware. He is a proud father of two grown people and lives in Delaware with his wife, Dr. Christina Watlington, and their 2 dogs.
Duane E. Thomas, Ph.D. is a child psychologist and a professional trainer, coach and consultant for educators and school mental-health service providers. He serves as a restorative practices specialist for Akoben, LLC and the Director of Clinical Services for Transforming Lives, Inc., an affiliated network of alternative education services. He has helped to spearhead the implementation of trauma-informed and restorative practices in several public school districts. Moreover, he has over 25 years of experience providing direct mental health services to children, youth and families, and specializes in working with marginalized groups and communities. Prior to his current appointments, he was a research scientist and assistant professor in departments of public health or applied psychology in education at major research universities, where his research focused on risk and cultural protective factors impacting the socioemotional functioning of urban African American children and youth in schools and culturally-responsive approaches to school violence prevention. His work has garnered funding from federal and private grants, and he has authored several book chapters and articles in peer-refereed journals.
He has a BS in Psychology from Virginia Tech University and a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the Pennsylvania State University. He completed an internship in pediatric psychology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and postdoctoral training in public health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is a proud father of three sons and devoted husband to his wife of 26 years. The Thomas family resides in Baltimore County, Maryland.Often reduced to strategies, restorative justice in education is commonly implemented divorced from the origins and ways of being that imbue the practices (thus minimizing effectiveness). Further, restorative practices are implemented next to equity initiatives, rather than as a bridge towards equity. With demand for the work building, the field of restorative practices sits at a crossroads: will restorative practices be a blueprint for transformation, or will it be co-opted by the very systems it aims to shift? This experiential and interactive session will explore this crossroads both in content and process. Participants will examine restorative practices as a paradigm via reflection, dialogue, and resource-sharing; engage in restorative ways of being as a medium to operate from a restorative paradigm in language, decision-making, and day-to-day operations; and apply session ideas to complex restorative implementation challenges.
Lauren Trout (they/them) is a restorative justice practitioner and subject matter expert who works in education, justice, and community sectors to provide training, coaching, and technical support. As a Senior Program Associate with the Resilient and Healthy Schools and Communities team, Trout’s work focuses on equity, climate and culture, conflict resolution, harm prevention, and comprehensive school safety. Trout specializes in supporting paradigm shifts at the individual, collective, and systemic levels in order to create climates that are inclusive, safe, and equitable.
Trout’s body of work as an author and project lead focuses on school climate and safety, equity, systems of well-being, and initiative implementation integrity. Trout has also worked with state education agencies and federal education centers supporting their work in advancing nonpunitive discipline approaches. Trout has served as a keynote panelist and featured speaker and has presented in webinars and at conferences around the country.
Before WestEd, Trout ran restorative justice programs for the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office and Jefferson Parish Public School System in Louisiana. There, Trout facilitated victim-offender dialogues as an alternative to court and oversaw the implementation of restorative practices for the school district. As a trainer, facilitator, speaker, and consultant, Trout has experience spanning local and national levels of education and criminal justice systems.
