Brooklyn Restorative Justice Project

The project—which focused on a small cohort of Brooklyn secondary schools—aimed to implement restorative justice as an alternative to punitive discipline; with a goal to positively transform schools, repair harm, and promote the equitable treatment of Black students, students with disabilities, and LGBTQIA+ students citywide. 

This month, we’re bringing you a multi-part update on our Brooklyn Restorative Justice Project. In this post, our evaluator Dr. Anne Gregory discusses the outlook for the second half of the project.

This month, we’re bringing you a multi-part update on our Brooklyn Restorative Justice Project. Here,Dr. Anne Gregory shares findings from the first two years of the project.

Building on our commitment to advocacy and our desire to be led by our grantees, we were thrilled when Kesi Foster, formerly the Coordinator of the Urban Youth Collaborative (UYC) and now a Lead Organizer at Make the Road New York (MRNY), called to ask if we’d like to partner with UYC and MRNY to create a site visit for New York City Council members to learn about the power and potential of Restorative Justice as they consider expanding funding and resources in New York City schools.  

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.

Last month, Brooklyn Community Foundation was privileged to host the great Fania Davis on a visit to Brooklyn to meet the schools and community-based organizations partnering with us in our Brooklyn Restorative Justice Project.