Dear Friends,
We have been knee-deep in the dog days of summer with more than our share of hot, muggy, and foggy weather. Dare I say that the humidity has finally broken and we can put those dog days behind us?
At RJP Maine, we haven’t let the muggy weather dampen our spirits or keep us from celebrating our volunteers, planning for a restorative Treatment Court, or attending the National Association of Community and Restorative Justice (NACRJ) National Conference in Washington, DC. In fact, we have much to celebrate. We closed out our FY 2024 receiving over 53 youth referrals – the most we can remember ever receiving in one year though it still represents a fraction of the number of youth who enter the criminal system each year. Emma, our Restorative Justice Manager offers some insight into what it means to do this work. Plus, we celebrated our volunteers in early July with a Cajun-style cookout thanks to our good friend, John McMillan.
There’s a lot of information in this newsletter. Enjoy!
– Kathy Durgin-Leighton
Executive Director
Reflections from a Restorative Justice Manager
This past fiscal year, we worked with youth who were facing felony and misdemeanor charges for crimes including vandalism of cars, homes, stores, banks, schools, museums, and parks, assault of officers, parents, fellow students and community members, terrorizing of teachers, harassment to peers, trespassing on public and private property, aggravated criminal mischief, burglary and theft of store goods, cars, money and more. Our harm repair team sat down with each of these 53 youth and their loved ones to hear their stories, offer support during what for many is the most stressful time in their lives to date, and brainstorm ways forward. We conversed with parties directly harmed, family members, friends, neighbors, community members, school administration, counselors, case managers, victim witness advocates, prosecutors and more.
As far as moving forward, we saw harm repair agreements that included mentoring younger folks, making videos and music to show lessons learned and shared with others, meeting weekly with police to encourage healthy connection and decrease stigma, writing essays about podcasts listened to and movies watched, journaling about triggers, helping out around the house, going to therapy and working with case managers, meditating, making decision-making trees, going to school on time and taking medications as prescribed, writing letters to future selves, finding and/or maintaining hobbies that bring joy and release anxiety such as sports or the arts, and so much more.
Many youth completed countless hours of community service including picking up trash, helping out at church events, providing yard maintenance to public lands, working at the Soup Kitchen, Landing Place in Rockland, YMCA and community and peer support centers to name a few. We saw youth succeed who were asked to write resumes, look for work, apply to work, and/or maintain employment. Many of these youth worked really hard to accrue hundreds of dollars to put towards restitution asked for by parties harmed.
Lastly, the majority of youth who participated took up the opportunity to either share in person or write how and why they were sorry, what they learned from this experience, and how they will not make similar mistakes moving forward. They showed up to these processes to sit down with impacted parties, discuss the impact of their actions and take meaningful accountability.
I want to take a sincere opportunity to honor these incredible youth for their courage, tenacity, diligence and heart. The difficulty of sitting down face-to-face with parties harmed, especially at such a young age, never goes unaddressed by our team. The resiliency of these youth who endure the hardships inflicted by a culture that in so many ways shames and shuns behavior out-of-the-norm without considering the root cause is unbelievably impressive and inspiring. Every young person deserves a second chance. Every young person has the potential to be the world’s next greatest leader, if only we believe in them and give them the environment and love necessary to heal and grow.
Lastly, I want to acknowledge all of the volunteers and community members who supported these processes as co-facilitators, mentors, voices of experience, organizers and staunch advocates for the work we are all doing together. You uplift and support our small team’s efforts in ways that undeniably contribute to the quality and quantity of work we are committed to on a daily basis. I feel so blessed to know and be here with you all. Thank you again truly, and let’s not forget, there is much more work to be done!
With kindness, love and endless determination,
Emma
Emma Hirst joined us as a summer intern in 2021 while completing her master’s degree in Restorative Justice from the Vermont Law and Graduate School and then as a Restorative Justice Manager in the fall of 2022.
How many youth do we serve in a year?
RJP received a total of 53 youth referrals to our harm repair program for fiscal year 23-24. Of these, 43 youth were referred by our court partners, while the remaining 10 were referred by community partners, including law enforcement. Breaking these numbers down by county, RJP served 15 youth in Waldo, 15 in Knox, 10 in Lincoln, 12 in Sagadahoc, and 1 in Cumberland. Of cases closed this past fiscal year, 93% of youth participants successfully completed the program, and 75% of harmed parties who participated in a process reported their needs were met throughout their engagement.
In this new fiscal year, we hope to increase the number of community referrals we receive, to provide restorative harm repair processes to youth before they become engaged in the court system. We have revamped our Community Referral Intake form and will be rolling out a new community referral outreach strategy, along with branded outreach materials for distribution to all of our referral partners.
Community Building Circles
Each week we host community building circles for the men residing at the Reentry Center and for Volunteer of America Northern New England staff. These circles focus on specific topics such as decision making, accessing joy, goals, health, etc. that allow participants the opportunity to get to know one another more deeply, that enhance connection and encourage positive relationships. We use the integral components of restorative practices including a centerpiece, talking piece, guidelines, opening, closing and rounds to help frame and guide the conversations.
A special thank you to our partners, VOA Northern New England and the Waldo County Sheriff’s office for making our work possible!
First-in-Nation Restorative Justice Treatment Court Collaboration
Restorative Justice Project (RJP) Maine and the Sixth Prosecutorial District Recovery Treatment Court launched a collaborative project with a three-day summit in Rockland at the end of June, whose goal is to bring formal restorative practices such as harm repair circles and amends-making to the overall functioning of the Court. The summit was hosted by Restorative Justice Project Maine and the National Center on Restorative Justice based in Vermont and San Diego. Both RJP Maine and the Treatment Court are based in Prosecutorial Court District VI which serves Sagadahoc, Lincoln, Knox and Waldo Counties. This is a first-of-its kind collaborative effort for the country.
The District VI Recovery Treatment Court was founded in July of 2022 and accepts “high risk, high need,” justice-involved individuals struggling with substance use into their one- to two-year long program. The process involves a team of experts in the legal, treatment and community support arenas, as well as volunteers and community-based people with lived experience, to focus treatment, support and accountability efforts on the participants who gradually progress through five phases of increasing autonomy as they put their shattered previous lives back together.
The three-day session was attended by state and regional leaders including Governor Mills’ Director of Opioid Response Gordon Smith, Executive Director of Maine Pretrial Services Elizabeth Simoni, Maine District Court Judge John Martin, Sixth Prosecutorial District Attorney Natasha Irving, Maine Re-Entry Network Founder and Executive Director Bruce Noddin, as well as professionals, volunteers and people with lived experience.
The summit was broken down into three sessions, one on restorative practices within the inner workings of the court team, a second on extending restorative amends-making into the community, family and self, and a third on continuing work and support for court participants after they graduate from the program.
The Summit was a unique coming-together of people involved at all levels of justice and care-giving institutions. It is hoped that in the near future, the principles of restorative practice will be an integral part of the Recovery Treatment Court process in District Six, as well as a model for others across the state and nation.
Celebrating our Volunteers, Cajun-style!
We were thrilled to celebrate both new and familiar faces at our summer volunteer appreciation event last month! Over 40 friends and supporters came out to enjoy jambalaya, cake, and community-building. It was a great opportunity to build and strengthen connections over great food and fun, and balloons too!
We wanted to take this opportunity to reiterate that our volunteers make a difference and are invaluable to us and to the people we serve. This past year they have provided support to the youth and adults that participate in our programs, facilitated harm repair processes, served as mentors, hosted and contributed to soup ‘n circles, served on committees like the Board of Directors, Race Equity, and Legislative Committee, conducted outreach at public events, wrote articles for our newsletter, provided food for our functions, planned and attended a Treatment Court Summit, donated, and so much more. Restorative justice is about being in relationship and community with one another. Each of you bring your experience and perspectives into the RJP Maine community, and we are so grateful for each of you.
Special gratitude goes to:
John McMillan, our Louisianan jambalaya-slinging chef! His generosity to provide delicious food and great stories made the event memorable.
To St. Peter’s Episcopal Church for sharing their space and ensuring weather wouldn’t get in the way. And, to everyone who brought a food offering to share.
We look forward to celebrating with you at our next bi-annual appreciation event, currently being planned for this winter!
Thank you to our summer intern, Gavyn
In our last newsletter we introduced our summer intern, Gavyn Tower, and are now sharing our gratitude as his time in this capacity is coming to a close. Gavyn went above and beyond to immerse himself in the organization, from contributing to staff meetings, providing feedback on our internal training, representing at several summits and events, offering perspective on youth cases, supporting the volunteer appreciation event, and much more. We want to thank Gavyn for embodying our values of empathy, understanding, respect, and community, and for all of his contributions to RJP Maine. Please join us in wishing him well as he enters his senior year at Thomas College.