OUR Program
The transformative art of healing
Our program design, rooted in our understanding of transformative justice, creates pathways for healing, accountability, and systemic change by centering the voices of those impacted by harm.
We believe in building a world where justice is rooted in community care, equity, and empathy.
our formula
Education
Community members who have caused violence and their surrounding communities attend separate workshops to understand how trauma fuels violence and how to use resilience to create peace in the streets.
Dialogue Through Art
Both groups of community members come together for honest, safe, art-based conversations to exchange their stories about how violence has impacted them. This builds empathy for each other's experiences.
PUBLIC DEMONSTRATION OF TRANSFORMATION
Participants collaborate to host art exhibitions that highlight their transformative experience by sharing stories and inspiring the broader community to join them in this revival.
Social Cohesion
Participants continue to collaborate by leading a community-wide working group to solve neighborhood issues, together as a collective.
Program support
Throughout the experience, all participants engage in on-site individual therapy while also completing personal reflection activities to guide their emotional experience. They also receive case management support to help them reach their goals outside the program.
POST-PROGRAM leadership: The Revivalists
In a scaled model, graduates of the program become paid Alumni Leaders and facilitate The Village Revival Project’s model in other settings where harm has taken place.
Words from Our village
Transformative Justice (TJ) is a political framework and approach for responding to violence, harm and abuse. At its most basic, it seeks to respond to violence without creating more violence and/or engaging in harm reduction to lessen the violence. TJ can be thought of as a way of “making things right,” getting in “right relation,” or creating justice together.
—Mia Mingus, writer and educator
I really do want to be held accountable for how I hurt people around me. I hope my community can forgive me. I want to do better in my life so now I am focused on my healing process. I loved how this experience didn't judge me.
I felt safe enough to heal here.
— Program Participant
This Village Revival Project event gave me more empathy as I reflect on mental health as a driver of some people’s poor decision making or lack of grounding.
This humanized us to have more compassion and to take the time to really see people more.
— Celli Pitt, local actress
