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ABOUT YRP
The Youth Restoration Project builds relationships and community, one productive interaction at a time.
YRP is a Rhode-Island based consulting group working with schools, social-service agencies, state and local authorities and neighborhood organizations to teach and implement restorative practices. Our goal is to build a stronger social infrastructure to support young people. To that end, we believe all members of the community need to be engaged in a continuous process of setting group norms, defining common goals and resolving conflicts.
YRP got its start redesigning school disciplinary systems to a restorative model from one of punishment, coercion, and “zero tolerance”. Restorative practices foster an attitude of cooperation rather than combat and allow all members of the community to feel they can be heard while holding each other accountable for creating a safe and respectful social environment. To build this kind of self-managing community, YRP engages social service providers, public agencies, and the juvenile justice system in addition to schools and families.
1. Discovery
YRP Leaders meet with the party interested in adapting a restorative approach to develop a relationship and assess the impact the approach will have on their environment.
2. Training
YRP holds a series of training sessions, to give an introductory overview with as many staff as possible -- security officers, teachers, counselors, administrators, support staff, after-school program staff, etc. of the restorative mindset, its history, techniques, successes and how to overcome potential challenges, should they arise.
3. Plan
YRP works closely with key staff members to design an implementation strategy which ideally prepares the school to implement a proactive, community-building process school-wide.
4. Implement
YRP assists, through its in-place Implementation Facilitators, in practicing restorative conversation techniques throughout the school environment to change its culture. Subsequent status sessions are done entirely through circle interaction, to demonstrate the use of Restorative Practices while adjusting to further improve implementation.
Number of circles run by staff and others associated with our National Institute of Justice grant or with YRP’s Certification Training, from the start of the 2016-2017 school year through April 2017.
Number of individuals participating in one or more of those circles, during the same period.
Number of people we hope have learned about Restorative Justice and Restorative Practices from those circle participants.
The approximate population of Rhode Island, which we aim to make a fully Restorative state.
