What is Restorative Justice?

Cook County MN Restorative Justice is a community-based dialogue program that brings people together to peacefully address harm, resolve conflict, and rebuild relationships that have been ruptured through crime or harmful incidents. Through structured dialogue, participants are supported as they speak and listen from the heart, take responsibility, repair relationships, and work together to agree on solutions that help everyone involved move forward in life. A Restorative Justice process is a highly supportive and highly accountable response to crime and conflict.

Our approach is grounded in Restorative Practices, a framework focused on repairing and strengthening relationships and community bonds. Instead of asking “What law was broken, and how should the offender be punished?” a Restorative process asks:

What do the people who have been most impacted need?
Who is responsible for meeting those needs?
What needs to change to prevent future harm?

Facilitated by trained and background-checked community members, Restorative Justice invites the people most directly affected by an incident to share their experiences, express their needs, and collaboratively decide what should happen next. This approach empowers those who are closest to the harm to decide what the response should be. A Restorative response builds community safety by rebuilding trust through empathy, accountability, and healing.

Restorative Practices are rooted in the wisdom of Indigenous traditions in North America and around the world. We are deeply grateful for these teachings which guide our work.

Our Restorative Justice and Truancy programming is generously supported by three State of Minnesota grants:

2025 Restorative Practices Initiatives Grant Program
2026 Community Crime Intervention and Prevention Grant Program
2026 Youth Intervention Programs Grant

To contact our program leadership, please email our CCMNRJ Program Manager, Rachel Clark at circlekeeper@ccmnrj.org or Executive Director, Anna Cariad-Barrett at exec@vitalnorth.org or call 218-387-9076.

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What Do We Do?

Restorative Justice Case Facilitation

We facilitate Restorative Justice processes in response to crime or harm involving youth and adults in Cook County. We accept case referrals from:

Cook County Sheriff’s Office
Cook County Attorney’s Office
District Court Judge
Arrowhead Regional Corrections (Probation)
Cook County Independent School District 166

A case can be referred to us at any point in the legal process, meaning that Restorative Justice can be a full or partial alternative to prosecution. Participation is voluntary.

Restorative Responses to Truancy

Our Truancy program supports students and families in addressing the root causes of truancy by building authentically caring relationships and tailoring services to their needs. We offer:

Mentorship and advocacy
Transportation and food assistance
Court support
Referrals to additional services in the community

We work with students ages 12+ and their families who have been referred to us from ISD 166. We coordinate with the County Attorney’s Office and the District Judge to provide humanized services to youth and families.

What are our core values & beliefs?

Our core values are honesty, respect, empathy, integrity, and humility.

We believe that…

Everyone has worth, dignity, inherent goodness, and wisdom to share.
The world is profoundly interconnected, and our communities are too.
Crime ruptures relationships with ripple effects throughout the community, and creates an obligation to respond.
Communities have the wisdom, power, and strength to respond appropriately to harm, and the people most impacted are best suited to decide what the response should be.
Accountability should be meaningful and healing, not harmful.
Being accountable for causing harm is a process that takes courage and requires supportive relationships.
Justice means making things right to the best of our ability by repairing relationships and meeting real needs.
Deep listening, authentic connection, and empathy are necessary for justice, and justice is necessary for lasting peace and safety in our communities.
Everything we need is already here.

These beliefs have been adapted from the teachings of one of our program mentors, Kay Pranis, who derived her teachings from Indigenous and other wisdom traditions.

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Where do we go from here?

Over the next few years, we aspire to:

Expand our Restorative Justice Case Facilitation services to Lake County
Begin accepting self-referrals from community members so that we may provide earlier intervention to peacefully resolve emerging conflicts before law enforcement involvement becomes necessary
Collaborate with local agencies to offer expanded wraparound support services to youth and families
Become an independent organization
Remain responsive to the evolving needs of the communities we serve

How can I get involved or learn more?

We offer an annual training for those interested in Restorative Practices and becoming a volunteer facilitator. Everyone is welcome to attend and participation does not commit you to volunteer work.

To receive updates about future training opportunities or ask questions about our program, email us at circlekeeper@ccmnrj.org.

You’re also welcome to visit our Restorative Justice Lending Library, donated by the late Ted Lewis, located at 21 W 2nd St, Grand Marais, MN.

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Are Restorative Practices effective?

Yes. A substantial body of research has demonstrated that as compared to the legal process, Restorative Justice often leads to:

Higher satisfaction among all participants
More follow-through on restitution and agreements
Lower rates of repeat offenses
Reduced costs to the public

Want to learn more? We recommend reading the research summaries compiled by the UMD Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking.

Since our program was founded by community members in 2018, we have:

Facilitated over 40 cases in Cook County and Grand Portage
Trained more than 150 community members from Cook County, Lake County, and Grand Portage
Built strong and lasting partnerships with local schools, courts, and agencies

Our program is guided by an Advisory Council with representatives from Cook County, Lake County, Grand Portage, and local nonprofit organizations. We have been a program of Vital North Foundation (formerly North Shore Health Care Foundation) since 2020.