About Us
The Metro Detroit Restorative Justice Network (MDRJN) is a Just Cities Innovation Lab project at the Detroit Justice Center (DJC). The mission of the MDRJN is to expand practices of transformative and restorative justice in Detroit through advocacy, research, mutual learning, and relationship building.
The MDRJN emerged as a concrete response to the 2019 eco-system scan of restorative justice practitioners across Wayne, Macomb, Oakland, and Washtenaw counties undertaken by Angel McKissic, a Senior Program Manager at DJC. What emerged from these rich conversations was the need for a space where practitioners could network with each other and collectively recruit their skills and experience towards a shared vision of organizing where we work to realize a society where everyone’s well-being, aspirations, and safety are held as sacred and where harm, trauma, and conflict can be met through the transformative force of trusting relationships, rigorous accountability, and supportive resourcing.
The MDRJN is led collectively via the Cultivating Committee, specifically by Angel McKissic (Detroit Justice Center/MDRJN), Barbara L. Jones (Wayne State University, Center for Peace and Conflict Studies), Carrie Landrum (University of Michigan), Belinda Dulin (The Dispute Resolution Center), and Tashmica Torok (The Firecracker Foundation).
As a network, we crafted values to guide our relationships, mission, and strategic programmatic discernment. We encourage all potential members to review the values as you consider joining us.
In addition to advancing a restorative culture in Detroit, the MDRJN strives to be a space for experimentation with libratory ways of being, working, and strategizing.
Our Work
Our work traverses policy and advocacy, community engagement and research, and capacity-building training. Accordingly, the MDRJN is organized into three working committees: 1) Advocacy, 2) Practice, and 3) Community Engagement.
Among our first initiatives was the creation of a freely accessible directory of restorative justice practitioners and organizations in the metro Detroit area. Additionally, in November 2021, we created the Community Insights on Safety, Resources, and Accountability Survey (report forthcoming in early 2024). And in April 2023, we launched our first community circle keeper training series with the Eastside Community Network. Looking ahead, the MDRJN will be scaling the circle keeper training to reach more community members, convene a state-wide, grassroots task force to research and draft recommendations for restorative justice legislation, and conduct a nationwide eco-system scan of community restorative justice centers to set the foundation for a Detroit-based model.
As our work grows, so too does the need to be in an organizing community with practitioners and advocates who demonstrate a commitment to transformative political practice, cultivating trusting relationships and accountability, and strategic organizing and program building.
While the MDRJN has recently launched its circle keeper training for community members, internally, we are looking to work with those with a solid foundational understanding and experience with transformative, healing, and restorative justice practices, grassroots organizing, social justice activism, and radical political action.
All three committees are looking to invite new members. Read below to learn more:
Practice Committee: responsible for creating and facilitating community-based RJ training in Detroit; creation of RJ toolkits; and training for legal stakeholders and direct service organizations.
Community Engagement Committee: develops strategic research projects that advance an understanding of the experiences and needs of Detroiters concerning harm, conflict, and community relations. Also responsible for developing an equitable and non-extractive community engagement approach to raise awareness of our initiatives, share in the exploration of our experiences as a community, and co-create ways to work together to advance transformational change.
Advocacy Committee: responsible for crafting political and legislative strategies that will advance access to restorative justice for all those currently entangled in the legal system and for communities as a means of preventing incarceration and further harm.
Joining the MDRJN
Within the MDRJN, we prioritize our relationships and values. As such, beyond strategizing on what work we do together, we are equally focused on how we work together. Organizing and advocacy demand emotional, psychological, spiritual, and physical labor. We are working to create a mode of “working” that nurtures us and is sustainable for long-term commitments.
Below are the qualities and experiences best suited for the work the MDRJN does and the culture of the “relationship first” community we are working to build.
Potential members should have:
Solid foundational knowledge/experience with restorative practices.
Experience with abolitionist/social justice organizing, violence interruption/de-escalation, progressive and radical political advocacy, and community-driven research design/analysis.
Previously or currently works in grassroots coalitions/collectives.
Is a native or long-term resident of Detroit.
Demonstrates capacity for self and group accountability.
Understands how legacies of colonialism, current enactments and ideologies of white supremacy, and extractive and life-constricting operations of capitalism shape the lives of all people and the adverse impacts on those designated as “marginalized.”
Embraces and celebrates all forms of human diversity across experience, expression, culture, racial/ethnic identity, ability, gender and sexual identity and expression, citizenship status, language, geographic location, economic status, and religious and spiritual beliefs.
Actively works to resist discriminatory language and behavior.
A demonstrable commitment to the well-being, safety, and flourishing of all Detroiters.
Member Roles and Expectations
The MDRJN is a volunteer-run network. Therefore, our sustainability depends upon the commitment of volunteers to share the responsibility of thought partnership, planning, and programmatic implementation. In other words, the MDRJN only works if we do! Below are the expectations for all members:
Attend at least 80% of monthly committee meetings for the duration of one year, or at least 9 out of 12 meetings (committees usually meet monthly for approximately two hours).
Contribute meaningful thought partnership to the group.
Engage in continuing education/training where relevant (e.g., restorative justice, conflict resolution, community organizing, political advocacy, etc.).
Directly support the implementation of at least one committee project each year.
Practice self and group accountability in alignment with restorative values.
- The membership term is 12 months beginning in January and ending in December. Membership is not automatically renewed. At the beginning of each year, members will be asked to recommit to the MDRJN or terminate their membership if they chose.
Next Steps
After submitting your application, members of the Cultivating Committee will review the forms and extend invitations to join the MDRJN via email.
If you have any questions about the MDRJN or the process of joining as a new member, please contact Angel McKissic at mdrjn@detroitjustice.org.
We invite those who have read through the information above and believe they are a good fit to proceed to the next part of the interest form by hitting the "next" button. This will take you to a series of questions that will allow you to share more about who you are and your interest in joining us!
We look forward to meeting you!
