Community Coalitions and Restorative Dialogues

Community Coalitions

Our Community Coalitions and Restorative Dialogues create spaces for collective learning, healing, and action to build more restorative communities.

Coalitions bring together people who want to create positive change in their communities. These groups meet regularly to:

  • Learn restorative practices together

  • Support each other through challenges

  • Develop new approaches to address local issues

  • Take collective action on shared concerns

Our coalitions are different from typical training programs. Instead of following a rigid curriculum, we create supportive spaces where people can:

  • Build relationships at a comfortable pace

  • Share personal experiences and perspectives

  • Practice new skills in a supportive environment

  • Work together on real community projects

  • Develop leadership skills for sustainable change

This approach allows participants to experience meaningful connection while creating practical solutions that fit their community's unique needs.

  • The Heal-Learn-Do Framework

    Our coalitions operate within three interconnected pathways:

    • Healing Coalitions explore what we need to transform to be our best selves, focusing on unlearning what doesn't serve us and embodying skills that support our resilience and wellbeing.

      For example: A group of community members meeting regularly to explore personal and collective healing from racial trauma through dialogue, storytelling, and shared practices.

    • Co-Learning Coalitions cultivate collective wisdom to develop restorative and transformative interventions, creating containers for vulnerability and deep relationships.

      For example: Educators coming together to develop and implement restorative approaches for their schools, sharing challenges and successes while building a supportive network.

    • Action Coalitions bring together diverse stakeholders to develop practical solutions and implement meaningful change, combining learning with doing to create sustainable pathways for transformation while building capacity among local leaders.

      For example: Community members, youth advocates, and justice system stakeholders collaborating to create and implement alternatives to youth incarceration in their county.

  • RJIM-Hosted Coalitions typically include 8-12 members who commit to two hours every other week plus 2-4 hours of monthly asynchronous participation for three months.

    Community-Hosted Coalitions emerge from local needs, activism, or family/friend groups seeking restorative outcomes. We recommend including directly impacted people, allies/accomplices, and donors/wealth holders. RJIM provides resources, facilitation, and connections to mentors.

Restorative Dialogues

Our restorative dialogues provide safe, respectful spaces for participants to tell their stories, understand harms, and construct options for accountability and collective action toward healing relationships and communities.

Dialogue Formats We Offer

  • Circle Processes: Structured conversations where all participants have equal opportunity to speak without interruption.

  • Community Conferences: Bringing together various stakeholders to address broader impacts and develop community-based solutions.

  • Proactive Relationship Building: Creating spaces for connection and trust-building before conflicts arise.

  • Learning Circles: Facilitated discussions to deepen understanding of restorative justice principles through shared exploration.

Each dialogue process includes preparation meetings, thoughtful questions, and appropriate follow-up to ensure participants feel supported and outcomes are sustainable.

Our Approach: Collective Remembering

We believe the journey to a restorative culture begins and ends with collective remembering—reclaiming ancestral wisdom about living in right relationship with one another and the natural world. Many "restorative" practices have existed for millennia in Indigenous communities globally.

We draw upon wisdom from communities including the Wabanaki of Maine, the Igbo people of Nigeria, the Mayans of Guatemala, and the Maori of New Zealand. Through collective remembering, we:

  • Acknowledge restorative approaches as ancient wisdom many cultures have preserved

  • Honor these practices' lineage while adapting them respectfully

  • Recognize our disconnection from cultural traditions of resolving conflict

  • Create spaces to reconnect with communal ways that prioritize relationship and healing

This process invites us to move beyond individualistic approaches to justice, reconnecting with more relational, holistic ways of addressing harm and nurturing well-being.

Our Commitment

We provide trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and accessible programs tailored to your specific needs and goals. Contact us at training@rjimaine.org to learn how we can support your community in building a more restorative and just culture.