peers making peace

INDY BAR FOUNDATION SUPPORTS RESTORATIVE PRACTICES   We are  very excited about the impact we'll be able to have in schools this year, thanks to the Indianapolis Bar Foundation! PLC was recently awarded a $35,000 Impact Fund grant to implement two restorative practices as effective alternatives to suspensions and expulsions at IPS elementary schools in the city’s high crime areas.    With their support, we will train peer mediators utilizing Peers Making Peace, a nationally recognized evidence-based program, and implement restorative justice circles at our One Indy elementary school partners.   All PLC programs teach conflict resolution, communication, and healthy relationship skills (i.e. Social-Emotional Learning skills) to students, but this approach is different because it will combine our preventative programming with two other restorative practices that will impact overall school culture.    1. Peers Making Peace peer mediators help resolve conflicts between students before they become rule violations (e.g. a student is upset that another student didn’t invite him/her to play a game at recess).   2. Restorative justice circles involve a student who violated a rule, other parties who were impacted by this rule violation (e.g. a classroom teacher, school administrative, and parents), people who can help provide resources to ensure the student has support to not violate rules in the future (e.g. social workers, etc.), a trained circle keeper (a PLC facilitator), and, when appropriate, the student’s peers.    The goal of the restorative justice circle process is to provide a safe space for the