Steve Korr, Instructor/Facilitator at the International Institute for Restorative Practices (www.iirp.org) has been working with young people and their families since 1985. He worked for over a decade in several of the IIRP's model schools as both a counselor and a school administrator, employing restorative practices with students, families and staff. Steve has provided professional development in restorative practices to thousands of professionals in education, criminal justice and social services from all over
the world. Steve has facilitated many restorative conferences, both formal and informal, to address the needs of all who have been impacted by crime and wrongdoing. He draws upon these experiences to instruct others in restorative practices.

Steve has extensive experience in the fields of mental health, drug and alcohol treatment, outpatient counseling and alternative education. He has also consulted with numerous leaders within faith-based organizations to facilitate restorative interventions for families dealing with the strain of an addicted family member.

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Margot Van Sluytman is the Founder and Director of the Sawbonna Project whose mission is: shaping concrete vision for inclusivity of all voices in the social, criminal, and restorative justice areas. Her father was murdered and she now works with the man who murdered him.

She also is an Award-winning poet and academic. She is a social justice activist who teaches therapeutic writing to educate individuals how to write to find healing and transformation for themselves and those with whom they work. She is invited across North America to speak about the importance of poetry and narrative and how they are connected to shifting oft-times limited and limiting understanding of what living justice means.

Her most recent book, Sawbonna: I See You is a real life restorative justice story--her story of life from murder to meaning. It has garnered praise from Sr. Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, with whom Margot shared the stage in the both Kansas and Cleveland. And for which
Howard Zehr, PhD has written the Foreword.

Margot believes that one story can and does save and honour life.

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with very special guest
LYNETTE PARKER
Lynette Parker works with Prison Fellowship national organizations in the development of justice reform initiatives and programmes. She provides training and information in the area of restorative justice and oversees PFI's two main justice programmes - the Sycamore Tree Project® and Communities of Restoration. Lynette also represents PFI at meetings of the U. N. Alliance of NGOs on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and other United Nations events. She has also published articles on the use of restorative practices in Latin America. Aside from her work at PFI, Lynette serves as a volunteer restorative conferencing facilitator for the Piedmont Dispute Resolution Centre in Warrenton, Virginia.

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Executive Administrator for the Colorado Restorative Justice Coalition (Colorado)

Deb currently is the State of Colorado Restorative Justice Coalition’s Administrative Manager (rjcolorado.org)
Deb is also the previous Executive Director the Longmont Community Justice Partnership. They are dedicated to breaking cycles of violence and crime, and promoting civility in schools and communities. In partnership with the Longmont, CO Police Department, Restorative Justice is one of their truly revolutionary and most successful programs. Deb was also instrumental in producing the 2012 Restorative Justice Summit that featured sessions with Restorative Circles’ Dominic Barter, in Denver, August 2012.

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with very special guest
PATTY LA TAILLE
Executive Director, Full Circle Restorative Justice (Colorado)

Building it from the ground up:
Restorative Justice and
how it is possible & can happen in your community.

The mission of Full Circle Restorative Justice is: "To enhance the safety of our community by addressing offender accountability and to empower victims through a supportive conflict resolution process." Full Circle services provide an opportunity within the 11th Judicial District of Colorado for alternative dispute resolution and restorative justice, in addition to minimizing an offender's involvement with the legal system.
Full Circle Goals * Empower victims of crime
* Restore a sense of community
* Decrease rates of recidivism
* Increase public awareness through outreach and education
* Train volunteer facilitators

with very special guest
KRIS MINER
Executive Director, St. Croix Valley Restorative Justice

Building it from the ground up:
Restorative Justice and
how it is not only possible...it is happening.

Kris Miner is the Executive Director at
St. Croix Valley Restorative Justice Program (SCVRJP). Her professional work experience includes in-home family therapist, social worker, juvenile justice and child protection supervisor. SCVRJP provides a range of Restorative Justice services including victim-offender conferencing, victim impact panels, underage consumption panels, controlled substance intervention circles, teen driving circles, victim empathy seminars and restorative response programming. Restorative Response addresses sudden and traumatic death by providing support groups, circles, trainings and a guide for grieving families. SCVRJP provides trainings and workshops on Restorative Justice topics. SCVRJP has received local, state and national awards.

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EDWIN RUTSCH
Founder of the Center for Building a Culture of Empathy, and facilitator, Restorative Empathy Circles

RESTORATIVE EMPATHY CIRCLES
WITH THE CENTER FOR BUILDING A CULTURE OF EMPATHY'S EDWIN RUTSCH
Edwin Rutsch is director of the Center for Building a Culture of Empathy. The Center is the home of the global empathy movement. Our mission is to build a movement for creating a global worldwide culture of empathy and compassion. The site contains the internet's largest collection of; articles, conferences, definitions, experts, history, interviews, organizations, videos, science, etc. about empathy. The Center is also hosting a Sub Conference on Empathy in the Justice and Legal System. http://j.mp/Jz7lk9
We are forming and holding weekly empathy circles online that have the intention of building a culture of empathy. We are also starting to hold Restorative Empathy Circles for individuals and groups that are in conflict. These circles have the intention of fostering, restoring and deepening empathic connection and understanding between all participants.

Empathy Movement Home This is the home page for the Empathy Movement. One of the primary ways we do movement building is through Empathy Circles which are small groups that meet weekly via Google hangouts.

Restorative Empathy Circles
We hold Restorative Empathy Circles for individuals and groups that are in conflict. These groups support healing through the fostering of empathic connection and understanding.

READ TRICYCLE MAGAZINE Interview with Acharya Maull, "Prison Monk"Download PDF HERE

Fleet Maull, a longtime student of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, founded Prison Dharma Network (now Prison Mindfulness Institute) in 1989 while serving a 14.5 year mandatory-minimum sentence for drug smuggling at a maximum security federal prison medical facility. He led a twice weekly meditation group in the prison chapel for 14 years (1985 - 1999). He also helped start the first inside prison hospice program and provided daily care to dying prisoners until his release. In 1991, he founded National Prison Hospice Association, launching a movement that now includes hospice programs in over 75 state and federal prisons.

Fleet is an Acharya (senior teacher) in the Shambhala Buddhist Community. He is also a Sensei (Zen teacher) and dharma successor of Roshi Bernie Glassman in the Zen Peacemaker Order and a senior priest in the Soto Zen tradition.

Acharya Maull has written many articles and given numerous interviews on a variety of prison related topics in publications such as the Shambhala Sun, Tricycle, Tikkun, Hospice Journal and Turning Wheel. He has also been a guest on NPR's Fresh Air program and other radio and television programs. His story was included in Roshi Bernie Glassman's book, Bearing Witness . He is the author of Dharma In Hell, the Prison Writings of Fleet Maull and leads prison programs, meditation retreats, chaplaincy and hospice trainings, activist trainings, bearing witness retreats and street retreats throughout the world. He is also the founder and executive director of the Peacemaker Institute and co-founder of the Upaya Chaplaincy Program.

To learn more about Fleet Maull, read: "Prison Monk: Tricycle Interview with Fleet Maull" from Tricycle Magazine, Spring 2004

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Sujatha Baliga, Director | Restorative Justice Project, Senior Program Specialist

Sujatha Baliga's work is characterized by an equal dedication to victims and persons accused of crime. The convergence of Sujatha's interest in Tibetan ideals of justice and her work with women accused of killing their abusers drew her to law school and ultimately, criminal defense work. After several years as an appellate public defender in New Mexico and at the Office of the Appellate Defender in New York City, Sujatha relocated to California in 2006 to work on capital cases. In 2008, Sujatha was awarded a Soros Justice Fellowship, which she used to spearhead a successful restorative juvenile diversion program in Alameda County. Sujatha has served as a consultant to the Stanford Criminal Justice Center for a symposium titled "Rights, Needs, Power: The Victim in Criminal Justice." She has taught restorative justice at the college and law school levels, is a frequent guest lecturer at academic institutions and conferences, and has been a guest on NPR's Talk of the Nation.

She often speaks with groups of incarcerated people about her personal experiences as a survivor of child sexual abuse and her path to forgiveness. Today, Sujatha is the Director of the Restorative Justice Project at the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, where she assists communities in implementing restorative justice alternatives to juvenile detention and zero-tolerance school discipline policies. In her role as Senior Program Specialist, she provides technical assistance to the US Attorney General's Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence.

Sujatha earned her A.B. from Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges, her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, and has held federal clerkships with the Honorable William K. Sessions, III, former Chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission and with the Honorable Martha Vázquez. Sujatha lives in the Bay Area with her partner of 14 years, Jason, their son, Sathya, and their sweet dog, Django.

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with very special guest ANDREA BRENNEKE

Read her TIKKUN Article, A Restorative Circle in The Wake of A Police Shooting

Andrea Brenneke (J.D. Harvard Law School ?92, BA University of Washington, ?88) is a passionate advocate for justice and facilitator of individual and community healing and empowerment. She practices civil rights and employment law at MacDonald Hoague & Bayless in Seattle. www.mhb.com. A tenacious litigator and strategic negotiator, the results she obtains compensate her clients for violations of their legal rights and dignity and secure other types of injunctive relief and policy changes that make a lasting difference in society. Her litigation successes include substantial trial verdicts and settlements in sexual harassment, disability accommodation and discrimination, gender and race discrimination, retaliation, police and government misconduct. She supports employees through all types of work place disputes, contract negotiations, accommodations and claim reporting procedures. Andrea also facilitates creative solutions and negotiated resolutions to legal and social conflicts. Originally trained in negotiation at Harvard Law School, she now is a certified LR 39.1 mediator, a Restorative Circles practitioner, and an apprentice to Dominic Barter.

More...In her own words and a few resources:

Seattle Times Article
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2014113565_diazreport03m.html

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2011/02/02/2014113681.pdf

Also, with regard to the healing after the shooting, the work of the JTW project is really important to link to for me. That was another restorative response to the shooting -- a public art project and the totem pole. Check out: http://www.thejtwproject.org/

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