Restorative Justice Institute of Maine’s response to BLM

As an organization that stands for Restorative and Transformative Justice, we must commit to the development of structures, practices and commitments that are affirming, equitable and inclusive. This document represents a shared commitment to a set of practices that we will uphold and support one another in upholding. Because we are committed to emergent strategies, constantly learning and growing as individuals and as an organization, we will review these commitments on a quarterly basis, or when issues and challenges arise, to see what needs further development. These are our internal commitments. We will develop a set of programmatic commitments that are visible in our program work plans as well. 

We acknowledge that while goals and structures are important, it comes down to how we commit to treating one another. We commit to treating one another well, and we will develop community norms as a group to articulate exactly what “treating one another well” means to us. 

These are our goals: 

1. We will not be silent about things that matter in Racial Justice*

    • We will expand our communications team and develop leadership of folks on this team who are in tune with Racial Justice issues and community needs

    • We will develop a plan to keep updated about emerging events and issues and respond appropriately, including facebook posts, statements, attendance at events (to show solidarity) and community dialogues

    • We will practice land acknowledgement and acknowledge the history of this work into our organization’s meetings and gatherings. 

    • We will develop talking points as an organization to support our collective advocacy efforts*

2. We will strengthen staff collaboration and decentralized leadership, including more leadership opportunities for people of color *

    • We will develop and implement leadership opportunities for project-based and function-based teams within the organization 

    • We will continue to ensure that our hiring practices and board recruitment practices include prioritizing people with “lived experiences with harm and injustice” 

    • We will create more leadership development pathways, especially for People of Color and other underrepresented folks in RJ leadership, through training and coalition-building 

    • We will have weekly team meetings for coordinators and directors, and every other week team meetings for full staff, including check-ins, group feedback and presentations by staff members and gratitudes

    • We will have at least quarterly opportunities for the board to meet staff and learn about programming

    • We will develop new community norms for our staff team, and review them at each team meeting

    • As part of our norms, we will design specific and reliable structures for feedback/accountability conversations among staff, as well as pathways for feedback to the ED and board from POC

    • We will continue to ensure that staff are fairly compensated, and that compensation increases as responsibilities increase. 

3. We will keep agitation and energy alive for Racial Justice*

    • We will develop white affinity spaces for ongoing learning and processing 

    • We will develop a professional development plan and ongoing support plan for all staff. This will include specific learning/support for white staff and specific learning/support for staff of color. This plan will also include readings and partnership with organizations who provide this type of training and consultation. 

    • We will send at least one article or video weekly to our staff team about a racial justice topic. Often, this will be paired with discussion. 

    • We will develop practices to call each other in and to be in accountability, as part of our new staff norms. 

4. We will make sure all staff have wellbeing and access to healing and replenishment after difficult work. We need to pay particular attention to this for people of color in the organization*

    • We will continue to allow people paid time in their schedule (as approved through conversation with ED)  for organizing efforts related to racial justice 

    • We will also continue to allow paid time for rest and replenishment after work related to organizing. 

    • We will develop an “Employee Assistance Plan” - type benefit package for staff. This will be developed as a team. It may include additional time off, a wellness allowance, connection to resources to support wellbeing, etc. 

    • We will create spaces for healing and support that are specifically held by and for Black and Indigenous staff and other staff of color. (BIPOC staff) 

5. We will advocate alongside communities of color for reparations and for equity of funding for justice work for BIPOC communities*

    • We will identify grassroot, Black and youth-led organizations to partner with and advocate alongside 

    • We will collaborate with Maine Youth Justice  (MYJ) to identify ways that legislation can mandate equitable distribution of reinvestment funds 

    • We will keep updated on legislation related to racial, immigrant and Wabanaki justice and reconciliation and we will put time and energy into learning and collaboratively advocating for these changes at the state, school, and community levels.