Q&A with HCRJC Board Member Alanna Ojibway, Assistant Director of Education and Outreach at the National Center on Restorative Justice
HCRJC Board Member Alanna Ojibway sat down with Storytelling & Media Associate Isaac Lorton to discuss her work at the National Center on Restorative Justice as the Assistant Director of Education and Outreach, what restorative justice is looking like across the country, and her hopes for her hometown justice center: the Hartford Community Restorative Justice Center.
How did you get involved at the Hartford Restorative Justice Center?
I got involved back in 2020 as a volunteer when we first moved back. I grew up in Hartford. I had moved away for about a decade. Moved back in 2020 and started working at the law school in the restorative justice center program there in a very part-time role with the national center on restorative justice. I really wanted more direct service experience because that had been more of my background, so I was excited to start volunteering doing the panels. Through that involvement as a volunteer, I became more familiar with the organization and the work that was happening, and was asked if I’d be interested in joining the board. So I joined the board in 2021. I’ve been involved both as a volunteer and as a board member since then.
What was your volunteer role?
Rep panels. I should back up a little bit. I had been involved technically as a volunteer, but not in one of the formal programs back in 2016. I partnered with someone at the Justice Center to start sort of a pilot program for some folks who were in transitional housing – a few of them were Circles of Support & Accountability (CoSA) members as well – to get them in a partnership program that we started at the aquatic center. I was leading a program that was looping in fitness and exercise as part of their recovery program. So it was either folks who were either tangentially receiving treatment in transitional housing or a client who was interested. Part of what they had identified in the CoSA as what would be helpful for maintaining a healthier lifestyle and sobriety for those who had wanted to focus on exercise and nutrition. I took the lead on piloting this program working with them. That was how I started back in 2016, but that wasn’t getting involved in an existing program; we had just wanted to pilot this particular program. When I rejoined volunteering when I moved back in 2020 that was when I joined the panels.
What does your role look like as a HCRJC board member?
As a board member that’s been helpful to get more of a bird’s eye lens at the organization as a whole rather than as a volunteer with particular programs. So I really get a better sense of how the programs all fit together: what does volunteer engagement look like? Community engagement? What are some strengths and needs as a whole in moving the work forward and supporting folks as best as possible, and sort of keeping in mind the context and time and evolution of things. The board perspective has been a bigger picture in organizational structure and management and support.
What is your role at the National Center on Restorative Justice?
At the National Center I’m the Assistant Director of Education and Outreach. The National Center has four, what we call, pillars of work: Public Education, Higher Education, Research, and Program Implementation. My role straddles the higher education and program implementation side of things. For both higher ed and public ed, that looks at how we can support learning about restorative justice. It looks different depending on the context. So in higher ed, that looks like support with developing curriculum and resources that people can use. For content, it looks like what does restorative pedagogy look like? How do you teach in a restorative way? We’ve done a lot of work in law schools in particular as a n example of looking at how do you restructure the way education is delivered in a more restorative approach in an environment that’s classically not that style. Looking at who’s going to be the next generation of justice leaders and can we support them in having a better understanding of both what and how to lead in a more restorative way in the work they’re doing.
In public education, that is work around like webinars, or hosting events and different ways of engaging folks who are working within the justice system around the country who are interested in learning more about restorative justice. Or they’re doing it and they’re interested in a deeper dive in a particular approach or partnership. And the other part of it, the program implementation, is we have grants that we then allocate to communities who are looking to expand or start new restorative justice programs. I am the point of contact for five different sites around the country who are building out new programs.
Who is designing and running these programs?
Community based organizations. The application criteria is that it has to be a partnership between a community based org and a justice system stakeholder so that looks different at the different sites depending on who that is, but it’s some system actor entity and a community based org.
What is restorative justice looking like in Vermont?
Vermont is unique in how well set up it is. The fact that there is a Community Based Organization – a justice center – in every county is very unique in the country. There’s no other state that has that model or that much systematic access to restorative justice. The sites that we’re working with at the National Center on Restorative Justice are on the west coast, in the south, and in the midwest.
What is restorative justice looking like as a practice nationally?
In the last decade, it’s grown a ton in both, I would say education is one of the biggest areas it’s grown, youth justice and I would say diversionary areas. Not diversion in the sense of specifically a diversion program, but in the sense of more communities looking at justice alternatives and trying to find other avenues before someone is involved in the system at all. How do we address this in a different way outside of that? I would say more at the preventative end and earlier on is a lot of the growth and trying to divert away from having to rely on the justice system as the primary way and the only way for dealing with harm and crime in communities. That growth has been really big. A willingness in the last several years of what has been a lot more resistance in felony cases or situations involving sexual and domestic violence. There’s been a lot of hesitation about restorative justice being applicable in those kinds of situations. Arguably, I would say some of those more intense harms are where restorative justice is most needed. That willingness to engage and see what that looks like has been new in the last few years. Some really amazing pilots and programs that have come from that.
What are your hopes for the HCRJC?
My hopes here would be seeing a sort of reestablishment of existing community partnerships. Community partnerships period. Especially if it was able to be that hub for diverting cases out. Rep panels are for folks that are already in the system – it’s a case that’s being referred by the courts. I would love to see more opportunities of earlier intervention and referrals happening where they could be potentially diverted altogether, so that it’s not something that’s on someone’s record at all and finding better ways to deal with those things. Or just being involved at a much more preventative end with things like community mental health support, where people really just need better tools or training for deescalating situations of conflict before it results in some kind of offense. I think there’s a lot of opportunity for things like that, and a willingness, but people need more support and training of what that can look like if the issue is really around substance use, mental health. Lots of those underlying issues. If community members had different tools to address that or support that themselves, things may not always have to escalate to a point of harm or violence occurring.
Expanding opportunities for transitional housing is a huge need everywhere, but especially in Hartford. It is sort of the hub regionally for a lot of services, we have a lot of people who end up in this area and it causes a bigger build and build of more people coming and then not being able to find a place to stay. We can’t keep up with the needs. Having more housing here would be great and it’s really needed. Continuing to have volunteers that represent a wider diversity in the community. That’s always something I’ve tried to find more ways to support and bring into this work so that folks who are participating, the community feels like a wider representation of the community.
What is it like in restorative justice in the town you grew up in?
I love it. It’s like worlds colliding. This community that I’ve known and then my sort of work hat. It’s a really cool way of being involved. It all feels very personal. RJ at the core really is super personal, relationship-based work and so I think it helps being able to do relational work in a community that you know so well. It feels like a very rewarding way to give back and be a part of the community I grew up in.
To learn more about restorative justice, the National Center on Restorative Justice, and the resources available, visit https://ncorj.org/news-resources/.