The Little Book of Race and Restorative Justice - AT CAMP!

It’s Wednesday night, and I am about to log on to my first session with my new book club with the Gandhi Institute where we are reading The Little Book of Race and Restorative Justice. To be honest, I am not feeling that inspired or motivated. I’m pretty tired and a little annoyed at myself for signing up for another night time commitment. But when the session starts and I start to hear what the next month will entail, I get the feeling of excitement and motivation needed to show up and participate. 

The group consisted of about 20 participants from the Rochester area and beyond. Participants began to share what their professions are, ranging from non profit executive directors, to educators, to activists in our community. I quickly learned that I was going to love learning and talking with people from all different ages and backgrounds when it comes to the work they do in their communities. 

The book club was an incredible outlet to reflect on restorative practices at Stomping Ground, and what restorative practices look like outside of the summer camp bubble. As a group, we discussed what kinds of restorative practices exist in schools, prisons, workplaces, and how restorative justice relates to social change. 

The book club was so well facilitated where all voices got equal opportunities to share, discussions were authentic and genuine, and real connection was made possible through Zoom. The balance of both small and large group discussion was much appreciated, and I was blown away at how connected I felt to some participants in my small group because of their willingness to be vulnerable about their thoughts and reflections on the content we were discussing. 

In a small discussion group I was a part of, we discussed this quote from the book: together, “All adults at a school site...do not only need quality restorative justice training, coaching and mentoring. They also need rigorous and continuing equity training to develop a more nuanced awareness of structural and institutional racism...We need adults at schools and throughout districts to be high implementers of both restorative justice and racial justice.” After reading this quote, I thought about how the same is true for our summer camps. As a camp professional, I need to think critically about how to implement more restorative justice practices into our programs to create more inclusive and equitable spaces. 

Some Gandhi Institute Staff and Community Members

At Stomping Ground, we have been implementing restorative practices into our program since our first summer in 2015. We feel proud about the work we’ve done and ways we’ve progressed. At the same time, we also know we have a long way to go and are constantly assessing and reassessing restorative practices in our community and making sure each member knows they’re a stakeholder in this process, and it’s all of our responsibilities to hold one another accountable. One thing I love about this community, and the community of Restorative Practices in general, is a commitment to continued growth and learning.  

Bring These Principles to Life at Your Camp

6 Weeks All Online with Klee and Laura Kriegel MSW

Restorative practices aim to build communities and community systems that build connection, partnership, and empathy. What better place to build such communities than at camp? So much of our camp programming is rooted in restorative practices that we may not even realize. In a time of racial disparity and division in the world, as camps we need to critically look at our programming to identify where restorative practices exist, and then build on these practices to ensure all parts of our program are equitable and in partnership with campers and staff. 

I am grateful for our friends at The Gandhi Institute for facilitating this series, and pushing me to think about how Stomping Ground’s restorative lens can lead to greater social change outside of just our camp. I look forward to leaning on what I’ve learned from this book club to push for restorative justice implementation in summer camps around the globe. 

Laura Kriegel and I are excited to run a virtual restorative justice training next month. We are excited to not only illuminate some restorative techniques, but also begin to build a community of camp professionals working tirelessly to not only bring restorative practices to camp, but with them a renewed commitment to anti-racist camping. 

Restorative practices are not a silver bullet for an anti-racist camp. They are as far as I can tell one of many strategies to build equity into the very fabric of our communities. 

Allison Klee and Laura Kriegel are offering a 6 week course on Restorative Practices and camp check it out! Restorative Justice Training

Allison Klee
Camp Director
Camp Stomping Ground
klee@campstompingground.org