Overview

The mission of Common Justice is to advance solutions to violence that transform the lives of those harmed and foster racial equity without relying on incarceration. Anchored in this foundational mission, the New York City Collaborative to Transform Violence is a new initiative at Common Justice to build bridges between restorative justice and Community Violence Intervention (CVI) work.

Over the past decade, there have been extraordinary gains in restorative justice and in community violence intervention work, but there is not enough connection between the two fields in practice.

This New York City Collaborative to Transform Violence aims to close that gap by bringing together people in CVI work in New York City (including neighborhood- and hospital-based violence interrupter programs and more) into an 8-month cohort-based learning collaborative to integrate an understanding and basic practice of restorative justice into their work.

This 8-month Collaborative aims to draw on the shared wisdom in the rooms we convene and give CVI practitioners the opportunity to develop and deepen restorative justice-based skills to anchor processes that center accountability or provide pathways to repair that can durably interrupt and heal cycles of violence, meet the needs of survivors, and earn the respect, trust, and participation of community members with a stake in the outcomes.

Participants

The New York City Collaborative to Transform Violence is ideal for people currently working in CVI programs, whether in leadership or on the frontlines, who are interested in learning more about restorative justice, building the skills to apply restorative justice practices in the field, making connections to restorative justice organizations, and working through the tensions and challenges of connecting CVI and restorative justice work in practice.

Our primary focus is on building with practitioners who are deeply embedded in their communities and already curious about healing, transformation, and repair.

Our Approach

By joining the New York City Collaborative to Transform Violence, you will be part of a group of people working to further strengthen our movement’s shared work to address and end violence. While Common

Justice will draw on our experience addressing violence through restorative justice, the Collaborative will be highly participatory and reciprocal and will draw on the wisdom, leadership, and experience of everyone involved to co-create new and powerful connections to end cycles of pain and foster new ways forward together.

Core Objectives of the
New York City Collaborative to Transform Violence

1. Capacity and Relationship Building

   We aim to enhance the capacities of New York City based practitioners and leaders to integrate restorative justice approaches into their CVI work by building a trustworthy network of support and mutual understanding rooted in common principles and values. Our strategy is rooted in trust, where we provide unwavering support to our participants, ensuring that our training modules and collaborative efforts amplify, rather than overshadow, the ongoing work toward addressing violence.

2. Shared Frameworks

   We will work to identify and engage any areas of disconnect or tension between the philosophies that underlie CVI and restorative justice, including exploring how each approach relates to retaliatory cycles, to centering survivors, and to exploring accountability in the context of community violence. When the approaches are in tension, we will work together to creatively identify points of synergy and adaptation to make the most of the opportunities for greater connection between them.

3. Concrete Skill Building

   We will work to provide concrete, experiential, skill-based training in restorative justice so participants in the learning collaborative can implement strong practices in their work and organizations. We will draw on Common Justice’s experience addressing serious violence through restorative justice to offer practical tools to CVI practitioners.

4. Strengthening Networks

   We will help CVI practitioners identify and get to know restorative justice practitioners in the city and in their communities so they can build relationships for referrals and ongoing collaboration and shared learning.

Timeline and Commitments

Participation in the New York City Collaborative to Transform Violence is completely cost-free. However, participants are responsible for covering their travel to and from our meeting locations within New York City. Participants are also responsible for ensuring they can attend during the training days and with the full support of their organizations.

Our first three gatherings will be full days in Brooklyn:

• November 19, 2024: full training in Brooklyn
• December 11, 2024: full training in Brooklyn
• January 16, 2025: full training in Brooklyn

For our February-June gatherings, we will be working collaboratively with our participants to solidify specific training dates. In addition to the dates above, participants should anticipate committing to one full day of training each month from February to June, with online or onsite (at their sites) opportunities dispersed throughout the 8-month period at times to be determined collectively.

Apply Now!