Youth Justice Fellowship

Code Switch: Restorative Justice for Girls of Color's Youth Justice Fellowship leveraged critical mentorship and restorative approaches to build community, nurture a culturally affirming and safe school environment, grow student leadership, and open pathways to post-secondary success. Code Switch believes that when we immerse a girl of color in a powerful mentorship network, integrate trauma informed and evidence-based healing engaged practices, develop her leadership using culturally affirming restorative justice approaches, and provide her with life-changing experiences, not only will she thrive academically, mentally, and socio-emotionally, but her confidence, consciousness, fortitude, and leadership will also enable her to bring others along with her.

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Learners built connections, developed communication skills, and collaborated toward common goals through participation in restorative circle processes. They also developed leadership skills which they used to research an equity challenge, then apply creative problem solving to actualize a solution, thereby engaging civically in their community and making purposeful change.

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This project provided six school and community-based women educators of color with an opportunity to build their restorative praxis by hosting restorative circles for young women enrolled in grades 4-12. The 6–8-week circle curriculum developed by Code Switch also provided girls with opportunities to (1) build positive relationships with themselves, each other, and school staff, (2) feel a sense of belonging within the school and (3) help them develop a positive self-concept plus the soft skills necessary to become change leaders within their school and surrounding community. Six Educator Fellows with school-based relationships and an agreement from school administration to support project implementation, participated in 30 hours of restorative justice professional development experiences, an educator community of practice, and personalized coaching to improve their restorative praxis. They also received mentorship from peers to implement a 6 -8 week culturally affirming restorative sister circle curriculum for a group of 6-10 impacted girls. Circles were launched at Paradise ES, Valley HS, Desert Pines HS, Democracy Prep, and Leadership Academy of Nevada in March 2024 and concluded in May 2024.

What is the connection between this outreach project and the principles of the portrait? 

Students felt safe to express themselves.

Learners developed a sense of belonging.