Next Michigan RJ Summit -

FALL 2027 - Save the Date!

In October 2025, The Dispute Resolution Center (DRC) hosted the first statewide biennial Michigan Restorative Justice Summit, as an opportunity to invite, meet, and collaborate with practitioners, partners, and stakeholders of restorative practice in all its forms.

300+

Attendees

Restorative Justice Practitioner Skills Building
Systems Change
Youth & Schools

34

Speakers

2025 Keynote Speaker

Dr. Fania E. Davis

Mission

The Summit strives to continue to create spaces of dialogue, explore and expand how we practice this work, as well as, disrupting systems of colonization and oppression, building more restorative spaces, advocating for criminal legal reform in our communities, and what the future holds for Restorative Justice.

Meet our Plenary Panel:

Jason Wesaw

Stacey Rock, Associate General Counsel

Edward C. Valandra, P.h.D.

Formerly, The Honorable Timothy P. Conners

Vision

To honor and reclaim the true tenets of peacemaking and restorative justice means to move from a punishment and control mindset to centering healing and humanity. By embracing and practicing a restorative justice way of life, we must commit to healing ourselves, each other and our communities.

We recognize that this paradigm shift is not a moment, but a movement. The summit supports building trust and solidarity and how it can create space for resistance and movement building - whether that looks like rest, being in community, taking action and mobilizing around legislation. We seek to build a world of healers, peacemakers, and justice warriors and we hope you share in this vision too.