Every Registration Receives a Copy of “Colorizing Restorative Justice: Voicing Our Realities”

Colorizing Restorative Justice: Voicing Our Realities, edited by Edward Valandra (speaker) and written by multiple authors, including Dr. Gaye Lang (host). Colorizing Restorative Justice won Silver at the 33rd Annual IBPA Benjamin Franklin Book Award Ceremony in May 2021.

Conference Speakers & Schedule

Welcome by Host

Dr. Gaye Lang

8:30 – 9:00 AM CDT

Dr. Gaye Lang is the president and founder of Workplace Restorative Practices, Inc. and podcast host of Workplace Diversity: Your Workplace Diversity Inclusion Equity Tolerance & Training. (D.I.E.T.) She has fifty years of experience in educational leadership, cultural studies, training, and restorative practice, including her time with the White House as the Secretary of Education Regional Representative.

Now, Dr. Lang works with businesses, organizations, and institutions to enhance productivity, create a diverse and inclusive workplace, and improve relationships, replacing the traditional process of conflict management with a restorative model. She is also an award-winning author.

Indigenous Equity: “Of Upmost Good Faith” 

Edward Valandra

9:00 – 10:00 AM CDT

Edward Charles Valandra is Síčáŋǧu Thitȟuŋwaŋ who was born and raised in his homeland, the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ Oyáte Makȟóčhe. He received his BA Minnesota State University-Mankato, MA from the University of Colorado-Boulder, and PhD from SUNY-Buffalo. Dr. Valandra has been involved in Indigenous affairs, having served one four-year term as a legislator in his nation’s governing body, served on his nation’s seven-member Constitutional Task Force, and served as a senior administrator in his nation’s K12 chartered school.

Edward is the founder of the Community for the Advancement of Native Studies (CANS). His organization promotes the application of research and study for all aspects of liberation and sovereignty with respect to Native Country and his research focuses are: the revitalization of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ Oyáte, Native Studies’ disciplinary development, and the development and use of community-based participatory research in Native communities. Dr. Valandra’s current role is Senior Editor at Living Justice Press, a renowned, non-profit publisher specializing in restorative justice and harms between peoples. He is the editor of Colorizing Restorative Justice: Voicing Our Realities and author of Not Without Our Consent: Lakota Resistance to Termination, 1950-1959.

Equity In The School Community: “If You Want To Serve, Just Listen!” 

Jake Shirley

10:00 – 11:00 AM CDT

Jake Shirley is a trainer for the Texas Education Agency in restorative discipline practices, as well as a principal and restorative discipline practitioner  in Garland ISD, an urban school district just outside of Dallas, Texas.

Jake has spent his entire professional career working with children, their families, and their communities. Jake has served as a campus administrator in both large urban, and small rural title 1 school districts, as a teacher and coach, and has served students and families in residential treatment. Jake is also pursuing a PhD in Educational Policy at Texas Tech University, focusing  on understanding and meeting the needs of non-nuclear families in the education system.

Equity In The School Community

Kathleen Howard, M.A., J.D.

11:00 – 12:00 PM CDT

Vocationally, Kathleen is an accomplished restorative justice practitioner, she serves as a crisis manager and restorative justice practitioner in various school districts, helping students in conflict, by enhancing peaceful resolution, Through cooperation, collaboration, and communication.

Additionally, Kathleen has over 20 years’ experience as a corporate trainer and human resources professional. Kathleen provides HR consulting and training in the areas of restorative practices, cultural diversity, domestic violence awareness, boundaries and healthy relationships for youth.

Kathleen holds a B.A. in Management Organizational Development, an MBA in Organizational Management, from Spring Arbor University, and a Juris Doctorate from Wayne State University Law School, with an emphasis on Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Lunch: 12:00 – 12:30 PM

“Recognizing Diversity, Elevating Equity and Living in Equality: Restoring These Values in Education and All Systems”  

Dr. Raj, he/him/they

12:30 – 1:30 PM CDT

Associate Professor, Metropolitan State University

Raj is a recovering criminologist, alcoholic, and survivor of sexual abuse, with over 20 years of community-based activism as a researcher and educator. Inspired by our youth’s resilience and the men in our prison systems, he trains school staff, probation agents, community members, and justice personnel on restorative practices, trauma and healing, value-centered leadership, community building, and unpacking implicit biases. He believes in raising consciousness utilizing the restorative circle process. In his latest work, raj explores our justice system’s depths and creates a framework in which knowledge, critical consciousness, and heart become the root of our practices.

“Equity in the Community with Law Enforcement”

Vanessa Westley 

1:30 – 2:30 PM CDT

Vanessa Westley is a retired police officer  of the Chicago Police Department after 30 years of service. Ms. Westley is a Community Engagement Strategist and restorative justice practitioner. She is a public participatory dialogue facilitator and trainer specializing in World Café, Pro Action Café and Open Space Technology processes. Currently Ms. Westley serves on the International World Café Stewardship Council

Ms. Westley is also a restorative justice practitioner and national trainer specializing in law enforcement restorative strategies and full school and community implementation of Restorative Justice practices. At the Chicago Police Department Ms. Westley co created and coordinated “Bridging the Divide” a restorative policing strategy to authentically engage the community of youth and emerging adults while assigned to the Office of Restorative Justice Strategies. The goals of the process include fostering positive youth leadership for community safety, and building the capacity of officers to practice restorative, trauma-informed policing.  The process also invites the broader community to be part of the relationship building and understanding the impact of trauma, particularly upon youth and emerging adults, and the solutions that restorative justice and its practices can offer.

“Healing Together/Sanando Juntos”

Carmen Terrones

2:30 – 3:30 PM CDT

Carmen Terrones has held multiple positions of leadership within the Juvenile Probation Department and the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice, in Chicago, Illinois. She has substantive collaborative experience with the Anne E. Casey Foundation through her work as the coordinator of the Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative and her membership in the Applied Leadership Network, a Juvenile Justice Leadership reform model. In addition, she led the development of the community engagement component for the Cook County Probation Department. and was selected to lead in the development and coordination of the Aftercare program for the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice. She currently owns her own consulting company focusing on community engagement and restorative justice practices.

Thank You for Your Interest in Our Conference