This three day experience is an opportunity for those who identify as a people of color to collectively explore restorative/transformative justice and circle practice and philosophy. It is an invitation to reconnect with our indigenous roots, our ethnic identities, and our cultural practices. How do we ensure that restorative action is always in alignment with racial justice? How do we reclaim circle keeping as a cultural tool as well as an abolitionist stance? How can we embody transformations away from punishment as transformations away from white supremacy too? This training will give tools and information, but it will also be highly experiential. All levels of experience with RJ are welcome, but this is an opportunity specifically for people that identify as people of color, that work predominantly in spaces with people of color. Cost: $250 - all three days required *Limited scholarships are available For questions email [email protected] About the Trainer Whitney Richards-Calathes is a community researcher, transformative justice practioner, and Co-Founder of Sweet River, a small collaborative of women of color restorative justice workers. For over ten years Whitney has worked on issues that she believes deeply in and that inspire her: young women’s leadership development, educational access, prison abolition, racial justice, and gender equity. She has worked as a community educator in public schools, as an organizer with system impacted youth and families, and as a participatory researcher. She is also receiving her PhD from The Graduate Center at The City University of New York, writing her dissertation on how the criminal punishment system impacts the relationships Black women have with each other. Her work has taken her to all parts of New York City, Los Angeles, Toronto, San Diego, Detroit, Chicago, Durham, and the Bay Area. Whitney believes that social justice is beyond the jobs we have though - it is an ethic in how we live life, build relationships, respect and interact with the Earth, how we value ourselves. Lastly, Whitney is a Black woman, born and raised in the Bronx.