The Zehr Institute’s Restorative Justice Diversion Huddle is a national community of practice that brings together restorative justice practitioners engaged in diversion work across the United States. Designed as a monthly, drop-in space, the Huddle connects legal partners and community-based organizations working in pre-arrest, pre-charge, and pre-plea contexts to share knowledge, challenges, and emerging practices. Its structure is intentionally participatory, with practitioners shaping the agenda and facilitating conversations themselves.
Through open dialogue, circle sharing, and peer-led learning, the Huddle supports practitioners navigating the practical and ethical dimensions of diversion work. Topics range from facilitator training and compensation to court relationships, data sharing, racial equity, and volunteer engagement. By prioritizing collaboration over prescription, the Huddle strengthens restorative approaches that seek to reduce harm, limit system involvement, and build community-centered alternatives to punishment.
Why It Matters: The Restorative Justice Diversion Huddle helps practitioners move restorative justice from theory into lived practice within complex legal systems. Fostering peer support and shared learning, it builds collective capacity to design diversion models rooted in equity, accountability, and community care. Its work underscores that sustainable justice reform depends on connection, reflection, and practitioner-led innovation.
