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 Heal Prison 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 [...]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 [...]Read More
LIS 2022 Recap
Participant Highlights LIS Friends LIS 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 [...]Read More
The Cause of Justice is in our Hands
A Message from President & CEO, Cecilia Williams Last week, in my home city of Minneapolis (Minnesota), a jury found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty on all three charges in the murder of George Floyd. It was an unprecedented moment, as for the first time in modern [...]Read More
A Call for a (W)holistic Approach to Education Equity
A Call for a (W)holistic Approach to Education Equity by Lorenzo Watson Higher education student loan debt has become a hot topic in the current political debate, with several presidential candidates calling for either full or partial student loan forgiveness. And as student loan debt levels [...]Read More