In my journey of learning to persevere through life’s challenges, I have come to see the deep connection between individual transformation and community transformation. As a former lawyer who left a thriving practice to serve those in crisis through Administer Justice, I have witnessed the power of [...]Read More
How to Engage this Election Season
Election season is in full swing, and the final day of voting is on Tuesday, November 5th, less than one week away. CCDA is passionate about pursuing justice, and one way that we can do justice is by engaging civically. This includes voting.During this important time, there can be a lot of [...]Read More
Four Ways to Support Middle Eastern Communities
In September 2017, I discovered a major discrepancy in social justice spaces as a white pastor. I came back from a human rights delegation with Community Peacemaker Teams in Iraqi Kurdistan. This was during a referendum that would’ve given the Kurds their own nation-state. It was voted on and passed [...]Read More
The Realities of Restorative Justice
For the last several years, Healing Communities PA partnered with the Metropolitan Christian Council of Philadelphia on the Restorative Cities Initiative™️, a grassroots “porch front to city hall” model of bringing restorative practices to every part of community life, particularly in BIPOC [...]Read More
Restoring Community Belonging
Those Leaving Prison and Those In Churches Need Each Other To HealPrison reentry efforts can too often—unintentionally—keep men and women returning from prison isolated from the rest of their communities. With specialized reentry nonprofits, paid staff, transitional housing, and other important [...]Read More
Justice Through Healing
Equal Justice USA today is a much different organization than it was more than 20 years ago at our founding. Then we were focused sharply on ending the death penalty through state campaigns, and we’ve succeeded on that front. As important as those wins are, what we learned from those campaigns [...]Read More
I’m From Uvalde
I’m from Uvalde. Now, when I say that, I am often met with a sigh, groan, or an awkward silence.Like many of you, I found out about the Robb Elementary school shooting through social media. Robb Elementary was the elementary school that I went to - now, it is a crime scene. My elementary school is a [...]Read More
LIS 2022 Recap
Participant HighlightsLIS FriendsLIS Friends is an informal band of CCDA leaders & partners from cities across the United States who share a common passion for mass incarceration, and who seek company, wisdom and practical assistance in local engagement and collective, national response. We [...]Read More