Programs:
Girl’s Restorative Program
The Girls Restorative Program is a partnership of Denfeld High School and Men As Peacemakers. The Girls Restorative Program creates an inclusive, confidential space where girls develop authentic, supportive relationships while exploring their identities, building resiliency, and succeeding in high school. Weekly in-school Girls Group meetings and monthly fiel
d trips connect girls who would otherwise not interact. In group, girls explore subjects such as conflict resolution, boundaries, power, identity, anger, sexual and domestic assault, addiction, creativity, privilege, racism, gender norms and expectations, sexism, and healthy relationships. The Girls Restorative Program provides opportunities for girls to participate in after school activities and community events, where they build leadership skills and find constructive and safe ways to spend spare time. Restorative Justice
Men As Peacemakers (MAP) Restorative Justice program started in 2003 and has become a central hub of restorative practice in the Duluth area. We facilitate dialog around complex and divisive issues and support the reparation of harm caused by crime and violence. Through the Circle Process, we hold juvenile offenders accountable, creating a safe space for people to heal and rebuild relationships that have been broken. Men As Peacemakers Restorative Justice philosophy recognizes the importance and power of human relationships within the community. The effects of violence and crime travel through relationships between people, and ripples out into the community. We strive to repair and foster the kind of connections a healthy community is built upon. MAP’s Restorative Justice Program serves juvenile offenders, family members and victims. We use the Circle Process to provide mediation for different levels of offenders: diversion, misdemeanor theft, gross misdemeanor and felony, and juveniles that are incarcerated. What is a Restorative Paradigm? Restorative paradigms emphasize the interconnectedness of community and the core values people share with one another. The focus is on developing habits of thinking and behavior in keeping with these shared, core values. Restorative Practice first involves building and strengthening personal and community relationships. Secondly, when there is division or when harm has been done, rather than meting out retributive punishment, Restorative Practice asks that everyone involved take responsibility for their attitudes and their actions and repair any harm that has resulted from their behavior. What is a Peace Circle? The Peacemaking Circle is a process that brings together individuals who wish to engage in conflict resolution, healing, support, decision making or other activities in which honest communication, relationship development, and community building are core desired outcomes. Derived from aboriginal and native traditions, Circles bring people together in a way that is inclusive and creates trust, respect and a sense of belonging. As they experience Circles, participants begin to develop the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual habits of peacemaking. Champion’s Initiative
At Men As Peacemakers we view athletics as a platform for shaping respectful young men and women. The Champion’s Initiative was founded by Duluth community leaders in response to the murder of a Duluth woman by her husband. This community powered initiative is committed to athletic excellence and ending domestic and sexual violence. Boy’s Groups
Boys Groups is a school-based program that meets weekly during lunch and recess. We connect caring adults to work with 4th and 5th grade boys in local elementary schools. Our goal is to help boys broaden their understanding of masculinity and to make better connections with themselves, their schools, and their community. We believe that these connections will help them succeed both academically and socially and that Boys Groups will support the development of boys into leaders in preventing violence and oppression. Best Party Model
For many college students, parties and college are like books and classes. They just go together. Students come to college to earn a degree, but college parties are an integral part of the recreational and social experience. Unfortunately, though, parties frequently include domination, disrespect, or use of sexual or physical violence against women. This can devastate individuals and negatively impact the entire campus community. The reality is that men are responsible for most of these damaging behaviors, and women are left to deal with party environments that become uncomfortable and dangerous. The party scene, however, does not have to be overshadowed by discomfort, fear, and violence against women. The Minnesota Men’s Action Network: Alliance to Prevent Sexual and Domestic Violence has worked with students in Duluth to create a BEST Party Model for shaping safe, respectful, and fun party environments that will help prevent sexual violence. In addition to a step by step guide to shaping party environments, the BEST Model includes a Campus Coordinated Community Response (CCCR) to sexual violence at parties. The CCCR ensures that a system for supporting victims, holding offenders accountable, and preventing violence against women at parties is embedded across all applicable parts of the campus community. Parties are mostly populated by well-intentioned men. These are men who respect and care about women, want them at parties, and want them to have a good time. Unfortunately, though, most well-intentioned men have deferred to the socially accepted party environment where men represent a continuous threat to women’s safety, comfort, and ability to have fun. That isn’t right. And it’s time for a change. The BEST Party Model normalizes a process for campus men to join women in taking responsibility for the process of preventing violence against women at parties. Alcohol consumption can result in a variety of harms, and institutions have a variety of approaches to alcohol consumption. Most alcohol cessation, enforcement, and education policy decisions must be made in addition to implementation of the BEST Party Model—though the BEST Party Model will have some impact on alcohol policy. The BEST Party Model works with the on the ground reality of college parties to prevent the violence that consistently threatens women’s safety at these parties. To this end, the purpose of the BEST Party model itself is not to impose curfews, put strict limits on alcohol consumption, or impose other regulations that would send students looking for another place to party. We believe that alcohol alone does not cause men to rape any more than it causes people to drive, and most college students will seek and find unrestricted places to party with alcohol. There are, however, environmental factors that directly contribute to sexual and physical violence against women at college parties. The BEST Party model outlines ways in which the party environment can be structured to prevent sexual assault from happening—even at the wildest parties. It is a public health model of primary prevention which assesses, and then transforms the environment in which harm is occurring.
