Conflict Center

Through school partnerships, the organization partners with educators and schools to foster a community of inclusion, where students feel safe to be themselves and nurtured to build positive relationships. Restorative practices offer an alternative to punitive discipline in schools. Restorative practices is a philosophy, not a curriculum, that focuses on building positive relationships and providing opportunities for community members to take responsibility for their behavior while remaining connected to the community. Restorative practices are rooted in social justice, directly disrupting the school-to-prison-pipeline. Through restorative practices we utilize tools to hold students accountable for their actions while keeping them in school and out of the school-to- prison-pipeline. By implementing practices that reduce the disproportionality high disciplinary referrals, suspensions and expulsions of children of color, restorative practices reduce the odds that students will subsequently become involved in the juvenile justice system. Tcc worked with schools across school districts in the metro area this fiscal year as well as organizations. Reading for peace is a completely volunteer-run, multigenerational reading program for elementary schools devoted to reading and discussing the books which teach and reinforce the socio-emotional skills. Reading for peace volunteers read in-person at five schools, serving 964 elementary students. Volunteers also support our related summer event, peace day, by packing and distributing 1,000 peace in a box activity books to children and families. Peace in a box is made accessible to many in our community at our in-person peace day event and through seven partner agencies.

Restorative denver takes these principles and applies them to the criminal legal system, through a partnership with the denver district attorney's office. In this fiscal year, 120 cases were referred to restorative denver, providing an "off ramp" from the criminal legal system. In addition, a thematic program, restoring responsible gun use, was launched this year providing an equitable refrral process for defendants with the same charges. This increases the number of cases able to handle each month.