Restorative Justice Commission (Lakeland, MD) - Contract ended 2024

From the 1960s through the mid-1980s, the urban renewal process in Lakeland, MD demolished the family homes, displaced 104 of 150, African American households, and replaced the neighborhood with subsidized high-density housing, now largely inhabited by students. The result was the decimation and the removal of generational wealth, cultural heritage of a thriving Black community. Only at the onset of the Black Lives Matter movement and the death of George Floyd, the Mayor and City Council unanimously passed a resolution acknowledging the damaging structural racism in the city and instituted a Restorative Justice Commission charged with promoting reconciliation and restoration for the Lakeland Community and those displaced. As part of the Orugas Collective, we joined with Radical Presence, LLC, a certified trauma recovery therapist, and Leah Vaughan a diversity and equity practitioner to facilitate and incorporate equitable development policies towards transformative justice. Together we are contracted as a supportive consultant to provide thought leadership, project management, analysis, and facilitation, and guidance in the work of the Commission.