Umoja - Student Development Corporation

Umoja- Student Development Corporation was founded in 1997 by Lila Leff. Umoja means "unity" in Swahili. Umoja- Student Development Corporation (https://www.umojacorporation.org/) is an organization that teaches educators how to better support students through social emotional learning (SEL) and restorative justice.  Umoja believes that by teaching and training educators on ways to support and better develop students, students will have a better chance of success in their futures. On the Umoja website it states, "We build deep social-emotional learning (SEL) skills in educators to transform the ways young people experience school and the ways schools exist to serve society." Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are at the center of Umoja’s work.

            One of the deans at my internship went to a professional development workshop at Umoja to learn more about SEL and restorative justice (because learning from the school social workers was apparently not enough). The information that was learned from Umoja was then presented at an all staff institute day. Even though social workers have been teaching and implementing SEL, other educational professionals are only starting to realize the importance and the ways in which SEL can improve other areas within the educational environment. Additionally at my internship, fighting has been a big issue this year. One of social work’s best practices for when there is conflict is through implementing a restorative justice process. At the all staff institute day, information from Umoja about restorative justice was also presented. Below is one of the information sheets that was presented when talking about restorative justice but is also just a good self-check in general when working with any student.

References

Umoja-Student Development Corporatin. Retrieved October 22, 2019, from

https://www.umojacorporation.org/.

Item of Interest: Restorative Justice, what is it?

Savannah Sawle

Item of Interest

11/09/2016

I chose to discuss restorative justice in the school settings for several reasons, particularly because I feel it has the potential to be very effective. In my field placement, we have had a group called Alternatives Inc. provide training on implementing Restorative Justice in the school setting. I feel that that my placement is the perfect candidate for utilizing this intervention, as there is ample opportunity to restore justice in the classroom settings and among peers. Many of the school facility and staff have a strong mindset fixed on punitive intervention and feel as though their hands are tied because suspension is not an acceptable intervention any longer. Almost daily I observe school faculty and staff feeling helpless because suspension is off of the table when a student misbehaves. Unfortunately, it seems as though most school facility and staff let this sense of helplessness overcome them, and as a result, do not buy-in to tools that are provided such as Restorative Justice.

As an intern, I am trying to implement Restorative Justice as much as possible and allowing myself to be the guinea pig who uses the intervention to see how it works in the school. So far, it appears as though the students are very responsive to it; especially when circling for conflict resolution. I’m hoping I can show the school faculty and staff that Restorative Justice will be a more proactive approach to school related issues so that, if anything, it can make their lives a little more harmonious. I would encourage other interns to use Restorative Justice approaches in their placement because now is a time for trial and error, and we are currently in a very neutral position being “just interns.” I understand that change can be hard at times; however, I feel that Restorative Justice is actually the path of least resistance and will in turn create a better learning environment for both teachers and students.

Below are videos shared during Item of Interest share time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8_94O4ExSA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOKs4eZCHaQ