SEEDS’ Restorative Justice Program has two major focus areas at the moment. The first is a synergy of Longfellow Middle School and the surrounding community in South Berkeley, the other is a providing Restorative Group Conferencing (RGC) to cases referred by the Chief Juvenile District Attorney.
Longfellow Middle School & South Berkeley Community
SEEDS’ Restorative Justice Coordinator, Lisa Abregu, is working at Longfellow Middle School where SEEDS will change the model of discipline from one that can be punitive, isolating and alienating, to one that values relationships and seeks to understand the harm caused by an incident. This will result in accountability for the offender, true victim satisfaction and stronger school community with increased empathy. Our restorative circles will not only deal with discipline, they will also be used to celebrate and create shared values and guidelines. While we are in the school, we will train, mentor and support neighborhood community members as they learn restorative practices to effectively discuss current issues in their community. SEEDS will establish a neighborhood registry of facilitators that can be accessed when issues arise in the community and train Berkeley Police, Parks and Recreation, City leaders and others in our quest to make Berkeley a restorative city.
Restorative Group Conferencing (RGC)
The other major focus for our RJ program is Restorative Group Conferencing (RGC) by way of referrals form the Chief Juvenile District Attorney. When a youth is accused and arrested for a serious crime, they are diverted to our program. We meet together with the victim(s) and other affected parties to discuss what led them to commit the crime and how everyone was affected, with the possible result of creating an action plan relevant to the crime in order to repair the harm as best as possible. When completed, the referred case will be dismissed. This program removes youth from the cycle of incarceration that can start when they first have contact with the justice system thereby disrupting the school to prison pipeline.
For more information about Restorative Justice at SEEDS, go to: www.seedsrj.org
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