We are planning multiple ways to engage in the coming months. We are always happy to talk with people or groups about restorative justice and the Restorative Arlington initiative.

One of the best ways to experience restorative practices is by participating in a basic circle process, which is the foundational practice of restorative justice. In the coming months, we will resume hosting virtual circles (VCircles) for online community building. Some of these will have special topics. We welcome anyone who wishes to participate.

If there is interest, we will offer discussion groups that use the circle process to discuss books/videos/podcasts/articles related to restorative justice and restorative practices.

Restorative Arlington is committed to building the capacity of people and groups in Arlington to use and implement restorative justice practices. We will offer training in circle processes, so that people may become circle keepers (or facilitators), either for VCircles or with their group/agency/organization. As part of our training process, we will also hold circle of practice facilitator meetings, where people can deepen their skills and get practice facilitating.

Circle keeper training is a stepping stone for getting trained to facilitate restorative practices to address harm or conflict. We will offer training in conflict/harm facilitation to people who are proficient in facilitating circle processes.

We are forming implementation teams to implement restorative practices in our schools, legal system and community context, according to the framework set out in our strategic plan. These teams will have a limited number of people and participation is by application.

We will form a volunteer team to support various administrative or operational tasks, such as grant research and writing, tech support, communications, community engagement and outreach, training and event support.