The goal of the multi-year project, which has garnered significant pledges of financial and moral support from a number of prominent organizations, is “to address and transform present inequities linked to historic and contemporary beliefs in racial hierarchy.”

More importantly, this movement – called the Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) initiative – comes when demonstrates that for the first time, a majority of white citizens acknowledge that more needs to be done to eliminate racism and to elevate black Americans, and Americans of other races, to equal status with whites. The percentage of white Americans who think race relations are fairly good has dropped significantly since 2008, according to Gallup.

“At CJP, we’ve been working towards the goal of racial reconciliation and healing for many years,” says Executive Director . “Social change movements are successful when they combine grass-roots ownership, effective leadership, adequate resources and the ‘right moment’ in history.  The Kellogg-led effort appears to have all these ingredients. We are thrilled to be part of this enterprise.”

, a CJP affiliate focused on racial healing by bringing together descendants of slaves and slave owners, is also a partner. Another group with CJP connections among the partners is (RJOY), led by Fania Davis, who will teach at the .

More than 70 partners have been named, only three of which are linked to institutions of higher education: CJP, the and the at University of Mississippi.

The initiative “aligns well with 91����Ƶ’s mission and ethos,” says Provost . “We have a number of faculty with scholarly and practical experience who will be able to contribute their expertise, and we have a critical mass of undergraduate and graduate students who will also be energized by these goals.”

The initiative is currently collecting input through working groups. CJP staff and faculty involved in this first stage include Byler, Professor and Professor , who is also co-director of the.

“Kellogg leadership are building consensus and collecting input in the design stage with working groups that address broad topics,” says Byler. “The input will determine the shape and location of the healing events and the hearings that will enable voices and perspectives in local communities to be heard.”

, CJP program director, anticipates more of the center’s faculty and staff will be involved as specific activities and conversations take shape. “I anticipate that CJP will be involved on several levels, both locally but also in other work we’re involved in with restorative justice and trauma resilience around the country.”

CJP’s connection to the Kellogg Foundation has deep roots. It began in 2006 with a successful grant application that aided in the formation of Coming To The Table. Lately, CJP has been working with Kellogg in a restorative justice project in urban schools, which again strengthened ties.

“Kellogg is looking at the big picture and has found some significant partners to aid in their goal of long-term systemic change. They’re also looking to engage with much of the ongoing truth and healing work that is going on already around the country,” said Byler.

One of those efforts, which pre-dates the Kellogg partnership, is being explored in February at a meeting which will bring together representatives from the three co-sponsors, RJOY, Coming To The Table and the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. Davis, the founder of RJOY and an Alabama native, has been delving into the concept of a national truth and reconciliation process for years; in fact, she’ll co-teach a course at the Summer Peacebuilding Institute on the topic with Stauffer, who worked on the South African truth and reconciliation process after apartheid.

The vice president of Kellogg’s TRHT commission, Gail Christopher, is slated to attend.

“We sought to bring together a cross-section of restorative justice practitioners, theorists and innovators,” said , co-director of the Zehr Institute and the project’s leader. “Some of the invitees were world-recognized in the restorative justice field, but others were invited to ensure that diverse and often-unheard voices would be represented.”

One-third of the 36 participants were from populations that are under threat socially and economically in their regions of the world. The genders were equally represented. One person was under age 21, though two other young adults had been expected to attend.

Conversing about RJ’s ‘revolutionary intent’

The idea behind the unusual mixture of invitees was to foster provocative conversation about the possibilities for restorative justice (RJ), particularly for addressing structural injustices, said Stauffer.

In the prospectus for the three-year project submitted to the funder, , the organizers wrote: “On the social margins, there is growing research and experimentation with RJ as a tool for addressing structural harms and injustices. This project will explore and document these emerging practices in order to recapture the revolutionary intent of RJ.”

The organizers called attention in their prospectus to what they viewed as the danger of RJ settling into a “social service practice” centering on “repair at the micro-interpersonal level.” Instead, they wished to highlight the ways that RJ can “provide a coherent framework for transforming macro-social structures that cause harm.”

Aware that many of the 36 attendees at the first consultation would not have prior relationships with each other, the organizers devoted about half of the five days to exercises and facilitated conversations designed to establish trust and a common basis for exploring future possibilities. Senior graduate students at 91����Ƶ’s served as facilitators for the process.

Tough questions

First, the attendees prepared a history line of RJ, then they explored identity, power and privilege in the field. On the third day, they embarked on a discussion of best practices.

“We accepted the challenge of bringing together a highly diverse group, especially given that many of the participants are international leaders in the field, [being] accomplished researchers, authors, practitioners and facilitators in their own right,” Stauffer said.

“The challenge was heightened because the group grew beyond the original envisioned size of 20 to 25,” he added. “We needed to go well beyond 25 to have a true cross-section of voices, but it was difficult to develop coherence among three dozen people with strong opinions, especially in only five days.”

Yet the participants were largely positive in their final evaluations, he said, indicating that they had not regretted investing a workweek in wrestling with each other over tough questions, such as the extent to which RJ should be viewed as a social movement, as opposed to simply a set of restorative practices.

Stauffer did not pretend to be neutral on this last point. In his opening remarks to the group, he referred to the U.S. penal reform movement having been “co-opted.” In contrast, he said he hopes RJ continues to grow into a social movement in North America, with the aim of “transforming deep structural conflicts and injustices.” Toward this end, North Americans have much to learn from their international brothers and sisters about “large-scale applications” of RJ, he said.

Agreement on RJ’s core values

For a social movement to be successful, Stauffer told the group, it requires political opportunity, resource mobilization, a framing message, and critical mass (or a “tipping point”).

On the last day, in a final small-group presentation, a participant observed that the 36 attendees had largely agreed during the week on RJ’s core values, but not necessarily on how to practice restorative justice.

This first consultation will be followed next year by a public conference attended by up to 120 people. Next time, Stauffer said, his organizing team will work to create a conference format that moves participants more quickly into discussions on the future of the field, with a view of moving into a research and writing phase in the final year of the project.

Participants in the consultation

The 36 participants were:

1. Aaron Lyons, Fraser Region Community, Justice Initiatives, Canada
2. Ali Gohar, Just Peace Initiatives, Pakistan
3. Barb Toews, University of Washington Tacoma / Designing Justice+Designing Spaces, USA
4. , Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, 91����Ƶ
5. Brenda E. Morrison, Centre for Restorative Justice, Simon Fraser University, USA
6. Carl Stauffer, Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, 91����Ƶ
7. Carolyn Boyes-Watson, Center for Restorative Justice, Suffolk University, USA
8. Catherine Bargen, Restorative Justice Coordinator Crime Prevention and Victim Services Division, Government of British Columbia, Canada
9. Dan Van Ness, Center for Justice and Reconciliation, Prison Fellowship International, USA

10. , Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, 91����Ƶ and Atlanta (Ga.) consultant, USA
11. Fania Davis, executive director of Restorative Justice for Oakland (Calif.) Youth, USA
12. Cameron Simmons, youth worker with Restorative Justice for Oakland (Calif.) Youth, USA
13. Gerry Johnstone, University of Hull, UK
14. , Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, 91����Ƶ
15. Jeanette Martinez, Circle of Justice LLC, New Mexico, USA
16. Jennifer Graville , Community Conferencing Program, KBF Center for Conflict Resolution (Md.), USA
17. Jodie-Ann (Jodie) Geddes, Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, 91����Ƶ
18. Josh Bacon, James Madison University (Va.), USA
19. , 91����Ƶ
20. Katia Ornelas, Independent Consultant, Mexico
21. , (STAR), 91����Ƶ
22. Kay Pranis, Circle Trainer, USA
23. Kim Workman, Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies, Victoria, University of Wellington, New Zealand
24. Linda Kligman, Vice President for Advancement, International Institute for Restorative Practices, USA
25. Lorenn Walker, Hawai’i Friends of Restorative Justice, USA
26. Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz, Mennonite Central Committee, USA
27. Mark Umbreit, Center for Restorative Justice & Peacemaking, University of Minnesota, School of Social Work, USA
28. Matthew Hartman, Clackamas County Juvenile Department, Restorative Justice Coalition of Oregon, NW Justice Forum, USA
29. Mulanda Jimmy Juma, Africa Peacebuilding Institute, St. Augustine College of South Africa
30. Najla El Mangoush, Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, 91����Ƶ
31. Robert Yazzie, Chief Justice Emeritus of the Navajo Nation, USA
32. Seth Lennon Weiner, Porticus, New York, USA
33. sujatha baliga, Impact Justice, USA
34. Susan Sharpe, Advisor on Restorative Justice, Center for Social Concerns, University of Notre Dame, USA
35. Theo Gavrielides, The IARS International Institute and the Restorative Justice for All Institute, UK
36. , Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR), 91����Ƶ

The facilitators were led by project manager , and included CJP graduate students Janine Aberg, South Africa; Michael McAndrew, USA; Jordan Michelson, USA; Mikhala Lantz-Simmons, USA; and Ahmed Tarik, Iraq.