RJPMidcoast
  • Home
    • About Us >
      • Partner Organizations & Sponsors
    • Financials
  • Our People
    • Staff
    • Board
    • Job Openings
  • Our Work
    • What is Restorative Justice?
    • Our Mission, Legacy & Vision
    • Our Philosophy
    • Restorative School Practices
    • Court Diversion/Community Conferencing
    • Efficacy Study
    • Community Reentry Program
    • Hancock County >
      • Hancock County Community Events & Resources & Events
    • Waldo & Knox Counties >
      • Waldo County Community Events & Resources
      • Knox County Community Events & Resources
    • Lincoln & Sagadahoc Counties >
      • Sagadahoc County Community Events & Resources
      • Lincoln County Community Events & Resources
    • Resources
    • All About Community Building Circles
  • Individual Training & Volunteering
  • Group Training & Support
  • RJP Maine BLOG
  • Media Archive
    • Call To Artists
    • Newsletters
    • COVID 19 Updates
    • Past Community Events
    • Stories from the Community
    • Black Lives Matter
  • Donate
  • Connect And Subscribe
  • Photo Gallery
    • 10th Anniversary Photo Gallery
Contact Us
Lincoln & Sagadahoc Community News & Program Updates!
In Lincoln and Sagadahoc Counties, we support juveniles with conferences of involved parties and community members where we create repair agreements for crimes where there is potential for repair.  We hold a closing circle to consider the progress the young person made and decide whether justice has been achieved.

​​​RJP Maine Program and Community Updates- Summer 2020
PictureLeigh Anne Keichline, Lincoln & Sagadahoc RJ County Coordinator
 When COVID hit the U.S., Maine courts suddenly closed in March and   stayed closed through June.  The spring felt like an adjustment period   across the country, a dormancy, but we knew that it was also a time   when families could be most   struggling.  Here in Lincoln County, we   stayed in contact with youth, families, and volunteers throughout the   months, making sure folks knew about Lincoln County Food Initiative   and other resources as needs arose.

  In the meantime, we met over Zoom, or stayed in touch with phone   calls, emails,   and texts.  One mentoring pair, often with me included,   met weekly over Zoom.  We talked about animals, biking, food we   loved, and more.  We kept each other going when we could have been isolated.  Our Lincoln County volunteer group met regularly over Zoom, hosting guests we might never have had if commute time had been an issue.  We held conversations about Nonviolent Communication, restorative practices in schools, addiction supports in the county, and more, all sparked by hosting outside speakers.

When courts opened in July, staff went back in -- with our masks on and hand sanitizer by our side.  For volunteers, RJP Maine's policy now allowed us to meet with distancing and masks, so our creativity in meetings expanded to even more flexible options.  One youth and mentor pair did community service on town hiking trails.  As new cases came in, we held circles and meetings in parks, on bleachers, and over Zoom.  We continue to partner with other stakeholders, community members, and organizations so that youth and families are supported by many voices and many angles of service, laughing together as well as chewing on how to meet challenges -- never losing that human touch to the work we do, whether in person or online.

Our need to stay connected has been even stronger during this time, not lagging.  Now more than ever, our work has deep meaning and value -- even if our means of connection take on greater creativity, and even if our circles are in the most unexpected of places. 

​
Restorative Justice Project Maine
P.O. Box 141         
39A Spring Street
Belfast, ME 04915
207.338.2742
© 2020 by the 
Restorative Justice Project Maine 
All rights reserved.
  

The Restorative Justice Project Maine is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.