Founded in 2011, Restorative Justice on The Rise emerged from the deeply personal journey of our founder, Molly Rowan Leach, who bore witness to her mother’s 15-year incarceration—including time spent in solitary confinement. (See Story Here) Rather than allowing this experience to deepen cycles of grief and separation, Molly made a pivotal choice: to transform tragedy into a lifelong commitment to healing, justice, and connection.
What began as a response to personal pain evolved into a public platform dedicated to amplifying the voices of grassroots leaders, sharing powerful stories of transformation and challenge, and reaching underserved communities around the world.
Today, Restorative Justice on The Rise has grown into a global virtual network—uniting practitioners, educators, students, academics, and everyday citizens in the shared work of advancing restorative justice and disrupting systems of harm.
At the dawn of podcasting—and long before Zoom became a household name—Restorative Justice on The Rise emerged in 2011 as the world’s first restorative justice podcast, offering live, public dialogue formats open to global audiences. From the start, our mission has been rooted in creating honest, courageous, and often challenging conversations that deepen understanding, shift worldviews, and empower action. This spirit of transformational dialogue is the je ne sais quoi that defines our work and drives our global impact.
What makes us unique is our commitment to open access, participatory dialogue. Since 2011, we've gone beyond the traditional podcast model—inviting live global audiences to directly engage with featured guests in real time. These are not one-way interviews, but interactive, face-to-face conversations that allow for meaningful connection, deep inquiry, and shared learning across borders and backgrounds.
People from around the world regularly join us for these dynamic online offerings, which include:
🎙️ Live Interactive Podcasts
🗣️ Real-Time Panels & Community Dialogues
🌐 Online Events, Trainings, and Classes
📚 Resources & Global Connection Points
We’re more than a platform—we’re a movement. Our digital gatherings connect a global constituency of practitioners, academics, grassroots organizers, justice-impacted individuals, and visionary artists, all contributing to the evolution of restorative justice and holistic systems change.
Our archives and ongoing interviews are rich and wide-ranging, featuring voices such as:
Bryan Stevenson, Michelle Alexander, Kay Pranis, Dr. Johan Galtung, Charles Eisenstein, Arun Gandhi, James O'Dea, Azim Khamisa, Sheryl Wilson, Ram Tiwari, and many more.
Restorative Justice on The Rise is the world’s first virtual social impact platform fully dedicated to restorative justice. For over 15 years, we’ve invited the global public into bold, transformational dialogue—rooted in healing, equity, and systemic change.
We are proudly co-led by a diverse, international team of leaders, practitioners, and educators from across the restorative justice movement. Our offerings include:
🎙️ Live Podcasts & Interviews
🗣️ Interactive Panels & Community Conversations
🌐 Courses, Classes & Virtual Events
✊ A Platform for Voice, Choice & Global Participation
We welcome everyone—from newcomers to longtime practitioners—to listen, engage, and grow with us.
👉 Sign up for our email list to receive invitations to live events, workshops, and new learning opportunities.
When you sign up for our email list, you will receive regular updates about our latest podcasts as well as chances to participate in live interviews as an interactive guest.
The live interviews and public dialogues that are free of any cost are meant to be a service of our collective part in transformation of our systems, and for you, the people who matter, day to day, as we mobilize and change our world for the better, together.
In addition, we offer ongoing public education opportunities with our colleagues and partners, based in hands-on experiences as Restorative Justice School and Community program directors, facilitators, and practitioners who bring insights into how the actual needs and processes play out, day to day, on the ground.
Our Panels, Webinars and Educational Partners include a diverse array of global voices and leadership, including Eric Butler, Neeli Upamaka (Talking Peace), Dominic Barter, James O'Dea, Kay Pranis, Paul and Laraine Mickelson, Joe Brummer, The Peace Alliance, Hawaii Friends for Restorative Justice, Ret. Senator Pete Lee (D-CO) and many others.
We exist because of you, and consider it a privelege and responsibility to offer you top notch social impact spaces and media. Please contact us at rjonrise@gmail.com with feedback and questions! Join our email list to stay connected with all our offerings!
Media That Matters:
Public Dialogue On Justice
Restorative Justice on the Rise is an international live dialogue via Webcast and Telecouncil platform that reaches an international constituency of invididuals, organizations, professionals, academics, practitioners, and more. The mission is to provide connection, advocacy, education and inspired action as a public service to individuals and communities seeking to proactively improve relationships and structures within their spheres and our world.