What are Community Coalitions?
Coalitions are interdependent learning and organizing communities that are committed to re-shaping the narrative and conditions of their local communities in relationship with each other. Through the embodiment, study and practice of justice that is restorative, transformative and healing, the stewards of these Coalitions are able to practice new ways of being. These dynamic spaces are seeded by inspiration, held together by mutual will and respect, and actualized through a continuous practice of learning, reflection, embodiment and action.
Coalitions create bridges from where we are to where we want to be. Together, through co-creating a vision of just, safe and joyful communities, Coalitions at RJIM help participants identify their skills and talents to define their role within and contributions to collective liberation via the establishment of restorative culture in the state of Maine.
This work is grounded in the following principles:
Circles
Restorative Justice
Healing Justice
Transformative Justice
Ubuntu : Collective Liberation : I am because we are
Just Transitions
Restorative Justice is not a practice that can be owned by any one person. It is a worldview that can be accessed by all and must be practiced every day. Within it, Coalitions at RJIM hold these truths.
Each one, teach one
Everyone has a role and place in the movement
Whatever we touch, we change. Whatever touches us, changes us.
Planted seeds that are well watered reap a bountiful harvest
How are Coalitions formed?
Coalitions are designed to be emergent. While RJIM hosts a number of Coalitions throughout the year, those who are interested in forming a Coalition within their own community can do so by gathering learning or organizing partners and contacting RJIM for support in shaping it’s container.
RJIM-Hosted Coalitions:
In line with our andragogy (theory of adult learning), pedagogy (theory of child learning), and philosophy, RJIM offers its training opportunities as Coalitions of interdependent studies. Each coalition is composed of 8-12 members. Anyone can join these co-learning Coalitions and it is suggested that you participate along with another member of your community. These Coalitions are a time commitment. We ask for two hours every other week of live participation, and two to four hours of asynchronous participation each month for three months.This work is emotionally and spiritually laborious, and that is why we have created specific coalitions for healing on a regular schedule that can be taken at any time by anyone. Participants interested in becoming facilitators are strongly encouraged but not required to partake in these coalitions.
Community-Hosted Coalitions:
Community members may be inspired to create their own Coalitions in response to work or activism they are engaged in; to intervene in locally salient issues; or to practice skills within their families and friend groups that lend to restorative outcomes. Anyone can join these Coalitions, though it is suggested that these groups have a mix of the following represented: people who are directly impacted by the issue + interested allies/accomplices + donors/wealth holders. RJIM’s staff will help support Community Coalitions by providing resources, facilitation, and connection to mentors as needed.
There are three (3) pathways within the Coalitions program at RJIM. The main focus of these pathways is the building of relationships where transformation can grow organically. They are non-linear, meaning that you need not participate in one pathway in order to access other pathways. However, the arc of personal and social transformative change lands fluidly within these buckets.
Coalitions Framework:
Heal-Learn-Do
Healing
Healing Coalitions seek to cultivate community around this question: What do we need to transform in order to be our best selves?
It is currently true that even while working to upend oppressive systems, we are still very much living within them and are shaped in ways that we may not have chosen.
The place to start in the building of restorative culture and transformative justice is within ourselves.
The work of Healing Coalitions is to unlearn what does not serve us along our journey and to embody skills that support our resilience, brilliance and vision for personal wellbeing. This work focuses on healing the connection between mind and body so that we are better able to align our actions with our values.
Co-Learning
Co-Learning Coalitions are fertile ground for learning new principles, strategies and applications for restorative and transformative justice.
Co-Learning Coalitions cultivate the wisdom of the collective in order to incubate restorative and transformative interventions and responses in the state of Maine.
Our Co-Learning Coalitions are not trainings. They are containers where we can be vulnerable enough to move beyond intellectualizing, defending, and debating, and instead move toward deep relationships and embodiment of new values, practices and cultural norms.
Action
Action Coalitions are the organizing bodies that push forward restorative culture and transformative justice in Maine communities.
These Coalitions work closely in collaboration with RJIM’s community partners to promote a vision of Just Communities in the state of Maine.