Insights to Impact

The Latest from Brooklyn Community Foundation

Twitter

January 2017

Anne Gregory, Phd
Associate Professor, Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University

Restorative approaches to conflict have a long history rooted in cultural healing of indigenous communities. Yet, the use of restorative approaches to building community and repairing harm is relatively new in U.S. schools. Educators across the nation have many unanswered questions about best practices for introducing restorative justice (RJ) to their communities, building sustained engagement with school discipline reform, and eradicating disparities in exclusionary school discipline.

My first national march on Washington, DC was as a teenager and it instilled in me a lifetime of activism.

In 2002, I moved to Brooklyn's Flatbush/Midwood neighborhood. As an immigrant and a recent resident of Brooklyn, this neighborhood—with its bustling Pakistani and Bangladeshi businesses and the sounds of Urdu and Bangla from families walking on the streets—felt like home. Being able to have the essential curry leaves and lentils a stone’s throw away from home, was an added bonus.

In this time of great uncertainty and concern for our communities, so many of our neighbors are working together to help make Brooklyn a fair and just place for all who call it home. And while our challenges may be mounting, so too are our victories.