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REY hires those who are apprenticed in restorative justice practices to train others in building community, repairing harm, and transforming institutions.

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PHILOSOPHY

Restorative Empowerment for Youth (REY), LLC, is rooted in the belief that restorative justice can be practiced by anyone who is apprenticed by others, in the community, who are familiar with the philosophy – one need not pay for hundreds of hours of training or have a professional degree in order to facilitate circles. We believe the implementation of restorative practices does necessitate some prerequisites: practitioners must display vulnerability, humility, transparency, open-mindedness, and self-knowledge in order to do work that is truly restorative, not just in name.

We also believe restorative practices are important, not only to repair and build relationships, but also to repair what is wrong in the world, tipping the scales of justice so our systems serve and value all people. We see restorative justice as a means to disrupt, dismantle and destroy the school to prison pipeline, which disproportionately impacts students of color.

The best ambassadors of this mission are youth. REY believes in honoring the time and expertise of college students who have been apprenticed from our restorative justice leadership program through compensation. Their voice, creativity, knowledge and personal experiences lends to the depth of REY's services.

As a result, our training and workshop experiences are created to acknowledge the material conditions many face in schools, at home and in the workplace. Restorative Empowerment for Youth acknowledges true restorative justice is about HUMANITY.

PHILOSOPY

MODEL

OUR MODEL

Restorative Empowerment for Youth promotes a Youth Apprenticeship Model (YAM) of restorative justice which has three characteristics:

RESTORATIVE. It repairs relationships not only between individuals in schools, homes, and workplaces; it seeks to address and or repair institutional harm.

EMPOWERMENT. It allows youth to see their own agency in the world and to transform the education system to allow for student voice and community input.

YOUTH. Post-high school and college students co-create and facilitate our REY experiences. They are true levers of change for seeking justice. They are the most compelling people to convince others about the long term power of restorative justice.

ABOUT

ABOUT

As educator and consultant, Udoro has a Masters in Counseling from the University of St. Thomas, and has consulted in Houston, Philadelphia, San Antonio and South Carolina. She believes restorative justice sits at the crossroads of her two passions, social justice and social emotional learning.
She is a firm believer in conversation...conversation which leads to ACTION.

Today, REY contracts with high school graduates to collaborate alongside Udoro to produce experience, impacting change one individual at a time, one community at a time, one system at a time.

In its first three years, REY and high school youth facilitated 100 circles of all kinds, including support, healing, reentry, truancy, community building, accountability, and academic. 89 percent of participants were either very satisfied or satisfied with the outcomes, and 95 percent of support circle participants reported feeling more confident in the supports available for them to achieve their goals.

The program has been featured on local and national NPR, and over the years youth have conducted circle training experiences with students, social workers, probation officers, teachers, principals, and parents all over Houston, and twice at the Harvard Graduate School of Education's Alumni of Color Conference.

TESTIMONIALS

"The case scenarios are a fabulous way for the participants in the groups to dialogue."

Community in Schools Worker, Spring Branch

"If you are considering implementing restorative practices at your school, place of employment or just want to learn more about it for your own personal knowledge, REY's knowledge, passion and style cannot be matched."

Mor Regev, LMSW

Social Worker, KIPP Courage College Prep

"The training was great! I am a certified mediator and so I was aware of many of the ideas that were being used. I was not aware of this particular program though! I loved learning about it and getting to see these college students in action."

Community in Schools Worker, Baytown

"The training was so helpful in implementing the program at our school (Morton Ranch High School)...students tell their stories and give you a whole new perspective on student voice, the impact of discipline poorly implemented and the power of community. So powerful!"

Karen Sparks

Restorative Justice Coordinator, Katy ISD

TESTIMONIALS

TRAINING

TRAININGS