What GCC Means to Communities in Schools Neighborhood Leader

December 10, 2024

I really appreciate all that Georgia Conflict Center does to equip service providers and the community. GCC helps us identify and properly use the right tools to communicate well with each other. Professionally, I have gained tools to help lead residents to express themselves better and understand their emotions. Personally, I was able to identify some areas where improvement was needed when it came to me understanding my emotions better. I also gained a clear understanding of how to identify and express them well. So thank you GCC team for all that you do, and I look forward to our continued collaboration in the community.

other blogs and recommended reading

Restorative Justice

Elderly and Imprisoned: 'I Don't Count It as Living, Only Existing.'

A recent opinion piece from The New York Times discusses the peril of elderly incarcerated individuals. As the article states, the ACLU estimates that "by 2030, people over 55 will constitute a third of the country's prison population", even though elderly people are significantly less likely to reoffend.

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An Eighth Grade Class Just Exonerated The Last Witch Of The Salem Witch Trials

Massachusetts teacher Carrie LaPierre led her students through a restorative justice project over 300 years after the infamous Salem Witch Trials.

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“When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help. That's the message he is sending.”― Thich Nhat Hanh

Each time we choose to draw near, rather than to send away, we are actively building a new way to be in community together. As we model this way of being in schools, we are shining a light and showing a way for what can be possible in the community as a whole.

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Starting Small Might Aid Gwinett's School Discipline Shift

In this guest column, Smagorinsky dives into the discipline debate roiling Gwinnett County Public Schools.

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