About Us
Decolonizing restorative practices to co-design transformative outcomes!
Eloise Sepeda, D.Div
Eloise Sepeda is a latina with indigenous roots of the Kickapoo Tribe, raised by a strong and loving single mom with 3 other children. Eloise is a child/adult survivor leader of family/domestic and sexual violence. She encountered gangs, drugs, community violence, homelessness and poverty in her life until a woman who refused to take NO for an answer intervened to share hope.
Today she is a family matriarch, and submerged in equity and healing centered engagement practices to support individuals, families and communities. She is a national subject matter expert trainer & consultant of Restorative Justice & Transformative Justice and the Intersection of Child Welfare, Violence, and Race Equity. She has worked in the field of individual/family services since 1999 and received local and state-level awards for her work. She received special recognition and honor of receiving the Honorary Doctorate of Divinity in May 2018 for her 20yrs of extensive community services. Dr. Sepeda was selected to join the National Cohort- for Women of Color Leaders who are working to end violence, oppression, and legacy of trauma in 2019 and serves on various Boards, Advisory Committees, Community Groups, etc.
She currently provides training, consulting and coaching with local, state and national partners.
Learn more about her work at www.eloisesepeda.com!
The restorative justice framework is a process that we (practitioners) call a lifestyle. This way of life was modeled for us through Indigenous Native and African tribes. Some tribes even call this work, "peacemaking" circles. The framework equalizes power within the circle (space) and gives everyone in the space to share, listen, contribute and even hold one another accountable. Circles have been used to build community, celebration, address harm and even plan or learn.
There are various versions of the work that have been used within the US since 1990.
We have used the authentic and traditional process since 2010 to train and support schools (k-college), educators, law enforcement, mental health professionals, court personnel, social service providers as well as community, parents, and youth/children.
The power of the circle comes from equality, equity, and diversity.
Restorative Justice
We, the community promoted a holistic approach in light of the "National 2020 awakening" to racism, systemic harm, marginalized health disparities, violence and pain of grief and so much more!
Community Members, Faith Leaders, Law Enforcement, Educators, and Service Providers began to have real conversations about the impacts of the harm and barriers to well being and healing.
Due to the COVID 19 Pandemic the "circles" or space was moved to virtual settings. Hear from the video above about "WHY" each participant felt the urgency to circle up!