2005 | Founded
- RJOY was founded in 2005. RJOY works from an anti-racist, anti-bias lens topromote institutional shifts toward restorative approaches. We provide education, training, and technical assistance and collaboratively launch demonstration programs with our school, community, juvenile justice, and research partners.
2007 | Pilot Project
- In 2007, RJOY’s city-funded West Oakland Middle School pilot project eliminated violence and expulsions, and reduced suspension rates by 87%, saving the school thousands in attendance and Title I funding.
2007 | Educational Presentations
- In 2007, we gave educational presentations to the Presiding Judge of the Juvenile Court and others. The judge convened a Restorative Justice Task Force (RJTF). RJOY provided education and training and helped initiate a planning process which engaged approximately 60 program directors- including probation, court, school, and law enforcement officials, as well as community-based stakeholders.
2008 | OUSD
- By May 2008, nearly 20 Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) principals requested training to launch programs at their sites.
2009 | Strategic Plan
- In 2009, the RJTF produced a Strategic Plan that charts reform of the county’s juvenile justice system through institutionalization of restorative justice. Two innovative restorative diversion and restorative re-entry projects focused on reducing disproportionate minority contact and associated public costs. The pilots have successfully served 19 youth of color.
2010 | Healthier Schools
- In 2010, the OUSD Board of Directors passed a resolution adopting restorative justice as a system-wide alternative to zero tolerance discipline and as an approach to creating healthier schools.
2011 | UC BERKELEY
- In February 2011, UC Berkeley Law’s Henderson Center for Social Justice evaluated the Middle School pilot and released a study.
2011 | Programs Established
- In 2011, RJOY began with programs at three school sites- West Oakland Middle School, Ralph Bunche Continuation School, and a three-year demonstration program at East Oakland’s Castlemont Community of Small Schools funded by a grant from The California Endowment’s Building Healthy Communities Initiative.