For fifteen years, I have devoted much of my professional life to restorative justice—facilitating cases, building programs, teaching practitioners, producing public education, convening dialogues, interviewing leaders and community voices, and developing resources intended to strengthen the field.

I am now completing my Master's in Restorative Justice at Eastern Mennonite University's Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, while serving as a Graduate Assistant with the Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice.

I had planned to finance this academic year through federal graduate student aid. While my federal student loan covers my Fall tuition, the anticipated funding for living expenses did not materialize, leaving an immediate gap in the resources I need to continue full-time study and meet basic living expenses while completing the degree.

This graduate work is allowing me to bring years of grassroots practice into deeper scholarly inquiry and publication. My current research focuses on trauma-responsive restorative practice, power and difference, preparation and pre-process inquiry, relational presence, incarceration and family systems, organizational culture, and restorative process design.

Photo (Myself at far left) from our group mock circle process during "Power, Difference and Restorative Justice" at the Summer Peacebuilding Institute, Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, Eastern Mennonite University. Professors: Dr. Joe Cole and DeMointé Wesley. 

Your contribution is a gift toward the completion of this work rather than a purchase or exchange. I hope to share the fruits of this year with the community as they emerge—including writing, research, reflections, and selected resources developed through my Master's work.

Those who contribute are warmly invited to follow along. I will share periodic updates about the work your support is helping make possible, including milestones in my studies, research, and publication.

At the completion of my Master's year, I will host a special online presentation and gratitude circle for contributors—a space to share what has emerged from the year's research and practice, reflect together, and personally thank the community that helped make this work possible. All contributors will be warmly invited, regardless of the amount contributed.

Thank you for investing not only in the completion of my degree, but in the work that will grow from it.

If contributing financially isn't possible, sharing this page with someone who may resonate with the work is also deeply appreciated.