Restorative Justice Summit 2025
Community Responses to Harm
On Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025, 116 people gathered at the Community Learning Center of the St. Joseph County Public Library to explore non-punitive community responses to harm that heal, repair, and transform.
Organized by The Beacon and the Restorative Justice Collaborative Hub, our inaugural Restorative Justice Summit invited practitioners working in the fields of restorative justice, victim advocacy, reentry support, mental health services, legal services, peer support, public service, and other related fields.
Our plenary session provided an overview of our theme—Community Responses to Harm—and included a presentation by members of REFORM alliance. Participants were then able to attend breakout sessions led by local organizations (the Institute for Social Concerns, Dismas House of Indiana, Connect 2 Be The Change, St. Margaret’s House, Take Heart, Inc., Beloved South Bend, Goshen College, and the Restorative Justice Collaborative Hub) or participate in any of four reflection circles we offered throughout the day. We ended the day with a thought-provoking keynote presentation by Fr. David Kelly and his team from Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation.
We are immensely grateful for the wonderful turnout at our inaugural RJ Summit and for our generous sponsors, Notre Dame Federal Credit Union and the Institute for Social Concerns. Thank you for making this event possible.
May this inaugural summit be one step along the way towards organizing community-led approaches to harm that center dignity, self-determination, and repair.
Join our mailing list to stay up-to-date on future RJ Summits.
“We have to stop pretending that violence is a problem we cannot solve. We can and will solve it—when we develop solutions that are survivor centered, accountability based, safety driven, and racially equitable.”
— Danielle Sered, author of Until We Reckon and executive director of Common Justice in New York City