Staff
Kathy Durgin-Leighton - Executive Director kathy@rjpmidcoast.org Kathy joined the Restorative Justice Project Maine in February 2020 and brings to RJP Maine a vast experience in organizational management and leadership in both the public and non-profit sectors. A collaborative and strategic leader with a strong commitment to social justice and gender and race equity, Kathy has successfully led organizations through transformative times resulting in organizational growth and sustainability. Kathy is a strategic and creative thinker and approaches every situation with an attitude to succeed along with a good sense of humor. Kathy is a native Mainer, and resides in Georgetown with her husband, Dick, and their lab Casco. When she's not leading the charge, Kathy is hiking with Casco or sailing with her husband. |
Sarah Mattox - Program Manager, Community Resolution Programs Sarah@rjpmidcoast.org Sarah joined the RJP Maine team in 2011. Previously, she spent a decade leading summertime canoe tips and wintertime dogsled and cross-country ski expeditions in the Boundary Waters, out of Voyageur Outward Bound School in Minnesota. Sarah became the Associate Program Director and Staffing Manager there, where she focused on working with at-risk youth. Sarah was the founding faculty member at The Woolman Semester, a school program for high school juniors and seniors focused on Peace, Justice and Sustainability, based in Nevada City, California. When not working or rambling, Sarah can be found tromping in the woods in any season alongside her dedicated quadruped companion, Lucky. |
Tim O'Donnell - Office and Finance Coordinator Tim@rjpmidcoast.org Tim has been working for RJP Maine for the past seven years as the Office and Finance Coordinator. Tim brings a wealth of experience to the table. He previously worked for 33 years with a hotel management company that granted him the expertise to lead RJP Maine to success. Tim is a native “Mainer” born and raised in Bangor. He currently resides in Searsport with his wife, Jewel, to whom he has been fondly married for 30-plus years. In his free time, he enjoys listening to ‘60s and ‘70s music. |
Louise Marks - Restorative Practices Coordinator, Maine Coast Regional Reentry Center louise@rjpmidcoast.org As a freshman at Bates College, Louise had the opportunity to take a course on Mediation and Restorative Justice, experiencing for the first time the profoundness of being in circle. Little did she know that this class and the instructors, Barbara Blazej and Margaret Micolichek, would end up shaping the rest of her time at school and bolstering her decision to move to Belfast afterwards to pursue more learning about restorative work. Since beginning her internship at the Restorative Justice Project Maine in June, and more recently having the opportunity to work at the Reentry Center, Louise has felt immensely grateful to be surrounded by people that challenge her. The depth of humor, passion, and authenticity among Reentry residents, RJP Maine volunteers, and fellow staff make Louise feel alive! She didn’t expect to come here and build such a home, and she still finds it hard to believe that her job includes facilitating improv nights, snowshoe outings and circles, and then also being in staff meetings with Margaret, her first RJ teacher.
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Leslie Ross- Hancock County Case Coordinator
leslie@rjpmidcoast.org
Having inherited, from her familial elders, strong visions of the possibility of a just world and just communities, with inclusion, compassion and dialogue, Leslie was deeply engaged with NYC's Community Gardens for decades before moving to Maine, and within a few months of her arrival here, enthused and excited about the Restorative Justice Project, found herself working first as mentor, then facilitator and now also as Hancock County's Case Coordinator. She is also fortunate to work alongside the inspiring and dedicated board members of Downeast Restorative Justice. When not working with RJP and DRJ, Leslie parcels the rest of her time (in typical Maine fashion) among playing and composing music, building bassoons and teaching, supervising her local small water system, gardening, knitting, tending chickens, and hosting residency, sound installation and performance programs at the Cannery @ South Penobscot.
Erica Buswell- Knox County Community Justice Coordinator erica@rjpmidcoast.org Erica came to Maine in 2004, chasing visions of Winslow Homer’s winter ocean. She landed in Belfast, where what was intended to be a temporary gig at the Belfast Co-op blossomed into 16 years of work in the Maine food system, including 10 years of service at Maine Farmland Trust. She’s excited to bring a mixed skillset in collaborative leadership, facilitation, program development, and data analysis to support the work of RJP Maine. A Montana girl at heart, Erica originally came out east to attend the College of the Holy Cross, where she discovered a passion for social justice and community development. She feels fortunate to care for a small, off-grid homestead in Searsport, where she and her husband, Scott, are cultivating abundant food and joy. |
Leigh Anne Keichline- Lincoln & Sagadahoc Case Coordinator
lkeichline@rjpmidcoast.org
Leigh Anne has a background of two decades of education work with both children and adults. She has studied, worked with, and taught in widely diverse school settings in Ohio, Virginia, New York, and other New England states in addition to Maine. For over a decade, she has tutored adults from around the world in English fluency work. As a trained National SEED Project leader, Leigh Anne has led seminars for educators in equity and diversity. Her interest in restorative justice is rooted in community relationships, in the potential to evolve and build together
Leigh Anne Keichline- Lincoln & Sagadahoc Case Coordinator
lkeichline@rjpmidcoast.org
Leigh Anne has a background of two decades of education work with both children and adults. She has studied, worked with, and taught in widely diverse school settings in Ohio, Virginia, New York, and other New England states in addition to Maine. For over a decade, she has tutored adults from around the world in English fluency work. As a trained National SEED Project leader, Leigh Anne has led seminars for educators in equity and diversity. Her interest in restorative justice is rooted in community relationships, in the potential to evolve and build together