The Restorative Justice Project Maine has launched a video-based curriculum, featuring Maine students, designed to address racial harms in schools and empower students to interrupt them using a restorative model. Supported by a generous grant from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, this pioneering initiative aims to foster dialogue, compassion, and education while promoting inclusion and racial awareness within educational settings.

The new video based curriculum, Responding to Racial Harm Using Restorative Practices: It Starts with Counteracting Microaggressions, is centered around interactive activities that encourage engagement and thoughtful reflection. Students will have the opportunity to watch compelling videos that highlight the voices of Maine students recounting real-life scenarios in which they have experienced, observed, or interrupted racial microaggressions.

The videos are hosted by Jeet Patel and Anasstassia Baichorova of the Global Equity Collective, an international diversity, education, and inclusion consulting firm, who contextualize the content and offer strategies for students to address racial harms in their own schools. The curriculum offers regular prompts for in-classroom breakout conversations and written reflections; a teacher guide and student worksheets are included with the material.

"We intend to empower students and educators to confront underlying prejudices and cultivate a culture of empathy, learning, and growth," says Heather Fogg, RJP Maine’s training and capacity building practitioner, in a news release. “Teachers who have trained with us in restorative practices have told us they have a deep need for better resources to help students deal with racism at school. This initiative is a direct response to their feedback.”

According to Restorative Justice, one key aspect that sets this curriculum apart is its focus on restorative solutions to resolving micro-aggressions that target a person's identity. The material emphasizes the importance of "calling in" after a hurtful racial comment or action has occurred.

“While ‘calling out’ racial injustice publicly is sometimes appropriate, ‘calling in’ focuses on private communication with the offender after a harm has happened to check peers' missteps with compassion and patience,” said the release. “The aim is to enable meaningful learning moments for all parties involved.”

"By embracing restorative principles, we transform conflict and harm into opportunities for education rather than punishment,” said Fogg.

In addition, the curriculum encourages bystanders to play an active role in promoting inclusivity. Students will be encouraged to step up and call in their peers, even and especially when they are not the ones being targeted. By asking everyone to take responsibility for creating a just and inclusive school environment, RJP Maine hopes to foster interconnected school communities.

Recognizing that Midcoast Maine schools are more homogenous than other parts of the state and country, the curriculum is tailored to support students and teachers in both homogeneous and more diverse environments. It acknowledges that racial harm can be particularly isolating for students from marginalized groups in predominantly white settings.

“The Restorative Justice Project Maine is immensely grateful for the generous support provided by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, which has enabled the creation and implementation of this groundbreaking initiative,” said the release.

The training videos and teacher resources/worksheets will be posted on RJP’s website to be used by any school for free at www.rjpmidcoast.org.

For more information, please visit rjpmidcoast.org or contact Heather Fogg at heather@rjpmidcoast.org or 207-323-4137.

The Restorative Justice Project Maine promotes justice that is community-based, repairs harm, and creates safety and well-being for all. Our responses to crime and wrongdoing seek renewal and safety for the community, support and healing for victims and accountability and reintegration of the offender.