One might wonder how the Restorative Justice Project Maine has faced the challenge of meeting the needs of the community during this pandemic that has upended life for all of us over the past four months.

I joined the Restorative Justice Project Maine in May, as an MSW intern, and recently attended my first community resolution conference and closing, using Zoom. I can say, based on that experience, that it’s one thing to have a good intellectual understanding of the policies and practices at the center of RJPM’s process, but it’s transformative to actually participate in this work.

I found the experience uplifting, emotional, and as strong as any evidence I could imagine for how this process works and why it matters.
 
Even though the conferences took place using Zoom, they were as real as sitting in the same room with all of the participants. We connected through our computer screens and phones, from various locations in the community to support this conference.

Through my involvement, I gained respect for the RJ process and the way that it can provide opportunities for better outcomes, but also, and perhaps more importantly, the way that this process can be a transformative experience for the individual who has caused harm.

I could not help noticing how much happier this young person was during the closing conference, compared to the first time I met him. Initially withdrawn and reluctant to make eye contact, he was now engaged, smiling and talkative. He felt good about himself because he had been able to make things right, and the difference in his demeanor was remarkable. When he communicated about his experience completing community service hours, we were all moved by what he had learned and felt. He was fully engaged in this process and seemed transformed by the work he undertook to complete his reparative agreement.
 
As a member of the community, I felt connected to the individuals gathered in this space. I am grateful for having an opportunity to participate in a restorative conference. I met a young person with strengths and determination, eager to become his best self. I will never forget this experience. 

Restorative Justice Project Maine
VISTA Member Draft Description
July 28th

Dates of Service September or October of 2020 for 1-year with option for renewal up to three years.

Role of the member during the term of service

Overview
The Member will have a diverse and interconnected experience with all aspects of the organization’s structure, delivery framework, fund development and data evaluation.

Joining a 12-member team, the VISTA volunteer will work closely with the Special Projects Manager and be assigned a variety of projects throughout the year. We intend to offer a diverse experience supporting RJPM in building capacity to develop Community Justice Center’s across the region, and growing community engagement in the mid-coast area.

The VISTA will receive a 42-hour certificate in the foundations of restorative practices, restorative interventions and circle keeping to better inform their work with the organization and community, and life long learning experiences and skills within the restorative justice field.

Community Engagement. Engagement includes volunteer recruitment and support, attendance at community meetings, targeted research and/or projects as they relate to programs and raising awareness about restorative justice in the mid-coast and statewide.

Community Resolution Program
Provide support for the Coordination of juvenile and adult case referrals from the Department of Corrections Juvenile Services, Prosecutorial District 6 and local Law Enforcement agencies. Member will spend time with the program coordinator and key volunteers.

Community Justice Centers 
Support special projects of the newly formed Community Justice Center as they relate to juvenile and adult cases referrals, participant continuum of care and raising community awareness of the meaningful roles that community volunteers can take on to participate more fully in the process of justice. Assist with the collection and reporting of data for the grants.

Fund Development 
Provide support to the Executive Director and Fund Development Director with ongoing activities that financially ensure RJP Maine’s fund development goals.

General 
Attend weekly staff meetings, complete VISTA reporting, meet with supervisor regularly and other needs/interests as they arise.

This is a very exciting time for restorative justice here in Maine! In the fall of 2019, RJPM received a Innovations in Community-Based Crime Reduction Program grant for one million dollars, over 4-years to develop our Community Justice Centers, our regional District Attorney ran on a restorative platform, legislatively there is work being done to establish explicit use of RJ within the justice system, the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion partnership and state wide interest continues to surge.

We are confident that we can provide an excellent experience for 1 or 2 VISTA members to join a dynamic and exciting time here at RJPM!


AmeriCorps VISTA Benefits
• Stipend of $954 per month throughout the 12 month term ($1,174 in Cumberland and York Counties)
• Choice of $6,195 education award or $1,800 cash stipend upon completion of service
o Education award can be to pay off qualified loans, or for educational expenses at Title IV schools
• Forbearance of federally qualified student loans during service term (interest paid by AmeriCorps)
o Stafford
o Perkins
o Some private loans (you must call lender to ask)
• Health Benefits (go to link below for more details)
• Workers Compensation Coverage
• Child Care Reimbursement (if income eligible)
• 10 days of sick leave and 10 days of vacation leave
• Relocation Allowance for service for those who relocate 50 miles or more (from their home of record) 
o One time relocation allotment of $750 and reimbursement for travel costs (baggage shipment, mileage reimbursement if driving a personal vehicle)
• Non-competitive eligibility for Federal Jobs for 1 year after your term of service
• Networking/professional development
• Mileage reimbursement to AmeriCorps sponsored training events
• Mileage reimbursement for project/site related travel consistent with staff reimbursement at the site
• Usually eligible for Food Stamps (SNAP) – should apply for benefit before starting VISTA term

If Interested, please contact:

Scott Dupee
AmeriCorps Program Coordinator ll
Goodwill Industries of Northern New England
190 Lancaster St. Suite 200
Portland, ME. 04101

https://www.facebook.com/GoodwillAmeriCorpsServes/ for more information and to apply.

Additional Information

VISTA Member Overview
July 17, 2020

#3 Briefly describe organization and the community it serves

Founded in February 2005, The Restorative Justice Project of Maine is 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides restorative programming and services across a comprehensive continuum of prevention, intervention and reintegration efforts. RJPM was conceived as a grass-roots citizen effort to promote alternatives to punishment, isolation and incarceration in favor of collaborative, non-adversarial processes focused on accountability, support and healing - inviting those most directly affected by harm to the center of determining a resolution. The project is the longest running restorative justice organization in Maine, founded and launched entirely through volunteer efforts and private investment. 

Over the last 15 years, the organization has worked tirelessly to provide and model quality restorative programming and champion the spread of restorative practices throughout the state.  We’ve trained and supported many of the practitioners working across the state, including hundreds of community volunteers, and have seen the Juvenile Division of the State Department of Corrections evolve their programming toward restorative interventions whenever possible, including with youth at the state’s juvenile facility.  The District Attorney’s office working with RJPM refers adult cases through their deferred disposition sentence encouraging participation in the conferencing process. Conferencing brings together persons harmed with the offender to repair the harm, understand the impact and offer amends with community support.

RJPM partners with Maine’s K-12 school systems and community organizations, building capacity in the use of restorative practices through training and coaching support. Restorative practices in schools helps build strong relationship based communities and decreases the negative impact of punishment on students. In 2018, RJPM launched a 42-hour cohort-based foundational training in partnership with the University of Maine Hutchinson Center in Belfast, ME. 

RJPM is completely committed to preventing and reducing the impact of crime and harm by furthering the use of restorative practices so that solutions can be applied in any setting where a relational, non-adversarial problem solving process would be of benefit in preventing, reducing and repairing the impact of crime and wrongdoing.

#2 How will your project and the work of the VISTA member aim to reduce poverty with clients you serve?

The focus of the work inevitably serves those most affected by the criminal justice system in rural areas, where poverty and those who are disenfranchised result in the highest system involvement.

At RJPM, the majority of people referred to us have experienced some form of poverty, whether generational, situational, or working-class. Poverty stereotypes and judgments must be challenged in order to break down barriers. Inequality is a growing problem in the area, exacerbated by a lack of affordable housing and employment opportunities. According to a study by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a Maine renter would have to earn $18.73 an hour to be able to afford a typical two-bedroom apartment, but the average wage for a renter in Maine is $11.44 an hour, leaving a gap of $7.29 an hour, the ninth highest in the nation.

By providing alternative interventions RJPM is reducing the number of individuals who become more deeply and systematically involved with the justice system by helping people to navigate the justice system, be heard and to have a second chance.

The VISTA member will work closely with the Community Resolution Program seeing first hand the impact of poverty within the criminal justice system and incarceration. Their role will support access to resources, an understanding of restorative justice as an alternative and increase awareness of community resources. When invited RJPM works with the whole family unit to address what has happened and together resolve the situation.

Additionally, RJPM’s reentry program has been a driving force for building trust, acceptance, and positive relationships between incarcerated residents of the Maine Coastal Regional Reentry Center and Belfast’s city residents and business owners. Creating highly collaborative working relationships across a diverse set of stakeholders, some of whom are in deep conflict with each other, is at the heart of restorative work. 

#3 Special consideration may be given to sites that combat the opioid crisis or are veteran focused. If yours does, please explain how and if the VISTA member’s service will directly contribute to that. 

RJPM’s focus is not directly targeting the opioid crisis or veteran arena. However, many of the clients and families we work with live with the chaos and impact that opioids and PTSD can have on families.

The member working with the program director may do research to assist individuals seeking services in those areas and attend the Waldo County Recovery Committee circles if interested.

‘The Waldo County Recovery Committee, partnered with the Maine Coastal Regional Reentry Center and the Restorative Justice Project Maine, holds a Community Recovery Support Circle every Tuesday. Whether you are in recovery or not, this circle is an opportunity for personal growth; 
Everyone is welcome! Come prepared to listen, reflect on your own experiences, and share from your own perspective if you so choose.”

RJPM is working in partnership with Health Equity Alliance to pilot a Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, is an effort to make meaningful interventions on the opioid epidemic locally by connecting people to targeted case management, mental health and recovery supports, as well as to RJ in cases where that is pertinent.

This summer, RJPM has joined with Waldo County Community Action Partners and Community Food For Children, offering free meals, books and enrichment activities while school is out! The Mid- Coast Transportation Van has been making deliveries twice a week throughout the area, offering a 3 day supply of breakfasts and lunches on Mondays and offering a 4 day supply of breakfasts and lunches on Thursdays. 

In addition to Waldo County Community Action Partners and Community Food For Children, individuals from Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition and Literacy Volunteers have also been involved in creating the activities and dispersing the food and books.  Areas of focus have been on reading, nature, nutrition and community building.  

This is an ongoing project, slated to wrap up on August 27th.  Take a peek below at the enrichment activities that RJPM created specifically for this project.  As you'll notice, our materials are focused on community- building. But in place of a community building- script, which is common practice in any restorative circle, we chose to create a story board.  This story board encourages youth being in circle with one another outdoors and uses a talking piece, some stretching and breathing exercises to settle into circle, and three rounds of questions.  These questions encourage story sharing, thoughtfulness, and deep listening and they also offer children the chance to be seen and heard. 

​As this is an ongoing project, please check our website and social media for new updates and photos!  If you are interested in receiving food delivery or perhaps you're interested in volunteering, please reach out to Cherie Merrill at 207. 338. 6809 ext. 202.

By Leslie Ross
Hancock County Case Coordinator for RJP Maine &
Downeast Restorative Justice Board Member

News that the Sheriff's department was requesting funds from the Hancock County Commissioners for the purchase of riot gear, firearms and ammunition spread quickly, as did the response to it--the Commissioners and the Sheriff's Department had never received the volume of comments and concerns that they received over this one issue.  And these continued to come in even as the Sheriff clarified that he was not requesting armed vehicles or tear gas but equipment he called protective--shields, batons and helmets.

Due to the response, the request was removed from the agenda the week before the meeting, but this did not stop 66 people (where normally there might be 2 to 5, depending on the agenda) from showing up to voice their concern. Downeast Restorative Justice took this dramatic increase of local residents' involvement in these issues and the larger concerns they raised as a demonstration that there was a need for dialogue.

To that end DRJ proposed that the Commissioners form a committee of both law enforcement and community members the objectives of which will be two-fold:

On one hand, it will explore what we feel needs to be included in a Community Crisis Intervention Policy Manual, something that currently does not exist for the County. Beyond crowd management, concern with which was the impetus for the sheriff's initial request, this manual will cover different individual crisis management intervention strategies and the organizations or professionals (e.g., mental health, substance abuse) who are best equipped to respond. It will also include best practices and the aligning training to support them.

The other purpose of this committee--and this is close to our hearts--will be to lay the groundwork for a more cooperative working relationship between law enforcement and the community they serve. It is our hope that together (community members and different law enforcement agencies), we will establish a structure for routine open communication and check-in circles.

We are so excited about this coming together and see it as a very positive outcome to the anger and frustrations that were raised by the Commissioners' initial meeting announcement. Already, many not previously connected with either RJP or DRJ, some as individuals and some as representatives of other organizations, have expressed interest in being involved in the process.

Downeast Restorative Justice will be holding a Zoom meeting on Wednesday July 1 at 6 pm for members of the community to voice what questions they would like this committee to address before presenting the formal proposal to the Commissioners the following week.

With love and respect,
Leslie Ross

This should not be normal in the United States. This isn't normal. This isn't ok.

It shouldn't take video footage of George Floyd's murder to prove that this is wrong wrong wrong. I want to live to see a justice system/government/leadership that holds itself accountable to the communities it serves, seeing the inherent dignity and worth of ALL people regardless of the color of their skin, the $ in their pocket, their criminal background or history of substance use. I want people in power to share power equitably, to not abuse that power in discriminatory ways. I want law enforcement officers that aren't afraid of their communities and communities to not live in fear of law enforcement. I want law enforcement to be trained first and foremost as peacekeepers, to listen to their communities, and help people work through conflicts without resorting to violence.

I want to help make Maine--and this nation--a place that is welcoming to all people, and I feel grateful for all of the people in local law enforcement who show up to work each day with realness and humanity at the Reentry Center, the jail, and in the community at large. I feel grateful to participate in work that brings together both law enforcement and incarcerated/formerly system-involved people to talk about universal human experiences, breaking down stereotypes and stigmas. And there is more work to be done.

But most of all, in whatever ways, big and small, that I can fight against this sort of racism and desensitization to the violence towards and murder of people of color, I want to do that. I have this privilege and if I'm not using it for good, then I'm just as bad as the rest.

This is not ok.
​
George Floyd died just after 8pm this past Monday night, Memorial Day. Tonight at 8pm I'm going to light a candle in his honor and have a few minutes of silence. Join if you want, if you are so moved.
​

​medium.com/equality-includes-you/what-white-people-can-do-for-racial-justice-f2d18b0e0234

​www.nytimes.com/2020/05/27/us/george-floyd-minneapolis-death.html?fbclid=IwAR0trYDfqgSPVYP5bnbQIXFqt4PFJndOaibVsZ4iTWS_Z2-8PdphtfmXoYU

​Thank you for your dedication and passion, Dottie 🧡 It is an honor to serve with you. - RJP Maine

In the spring of 2018, Lucy Funkhouser was pursuing her Masters in Social Work Degree through the University of Maine, and she approached me about the possibility of completing her nine-month generalist internship with RJP.  To be candid, I actively discouraged her at first; "you seem great", I said, "but you're working, parenting and going to school... plus an internship based out of an office an hour-long drive from where you live?  That seems like so much!"  She took a deep breath:  "I believe in this," she said, "I want to make it happen."

Lucy jumped in with both feet.  She shuttled back and forth from Knox County to Waldo County multiple times a week.  She represented RJP at an international RJ conference in Vermont soon after beginning her internship.  She conducted outreach to harmed parties; connected with teens and their parents and guardians at kitchen tables across the midcoast; she entered data; she attended court; she conducted outreach; she boldly shared her perspectives in staff meetings.  She breathed RJ.  And, as she did, she carried messages of possibility, resilience and healing with her.  She offered that the antidote to heartache, to trauma, to disconnection... is practical; it's a community showing up to address its own harms and needs and to care for its own.

At the conclusion of her internship, we were pleased to offer her a very part-time role (five-hours a week!) as the first ever Knox County juvenile Community Resolution Coordinator.  (Previously, Knox RJ was coordinated out of the Belfast office).  She accepted.  In this capacity, Lucy has helped to establish a local presence for restorative practice in the Knox County area.  She facilitated restorative justice processes; she connected volunteer facilitators with harms in need of repair; she introduced volunteer mentors to individuals receptive to support; she networked; she helped launch drop-in circles of support for mothers in recovery; she supported grants; she thought collaboratively with citizens about what community justice looks like and means. 

As many of you are aware, Lucy graduated last week with her degree and is studying for her certification exam.  She's accepted a full time position offering *HCT or Home and Community Treatment through Community Care - a nonprofit offering a variety of support services across the state of Maine.  Happily, she'll be working in the greater Rockland area, so many of the relationships she's forged will simply take on a new dimension.

Thank you so much for your skills and your heart these past couple of years Lucy!  We are so proud that you'll bring your restorative approach to the work ahead of you! 


*Home and Community Based Treatment (HCT) is an intensive family-based therapy program that provides children and parents with support from a Licensed Clinician and a Behavioral Health Professional (BHP) to assist in managing mental health and behavioral needs of their child, and increasing the caregivers’ confidence and skill set to do so. The service is provided in the family’s home, and occasionally within the community depending on the treatment needs of the child. The HCT service is typically a 3-6 month service.  HCT is intensive and is often in the home within the range of 4-10 hours a week. 

​Thank you for your dedication and passion, Ruth 🧡 It is an honor to serve with you. - RJP Maine