Four years ago this month, Interfaith Winston-Salem began building community support for the movement that we call Compassionate Winston-Salem. The idea was that all programs and activities that reflect the Golden Rule would be loosely welcomed under a broad umbrella of compassionate activity.
Leaders of Interfaith Winston-Salem and volunteers in its Compassionate Winston-Salem effort chose to allow the movement to grow organically, using the concept of constellations in which the leaders would provide incubator support to nurture new programs and invest in our emerging ideas.
Triad Restorative Justice, Inc. (TriadRJ) is the newest product of that organic approach. Incorporation of this new non-profit was approved December 8 by the state of North Carolina. Valerie Glass, who will serve as executive director, is leading the effort to write by-laws and obtain IRS approval as a tax-exempt organization.
Compassionate Winston-Salem also is participating in the Building Integrated Communities effort guided by the City of Winston-Salem Human Relations Commission. City Council in November approved the action plan that will address needs that focus on the Hispanic community.
TriadRJ will serve as a resource to help the Triad connect and operate in a restorative way, with both proactive and reactive approaches. There are opportunities for schools, places of worship, courts, neighborhoods, businesses, correctional facilities, social services, colleges, and many other community groups to use a restorative approach to handle conflicts, disagreements and incidents that cause harm. For additional information contact valerie@triadrj.org.
Building Integrated Communities will work to ensure that new immigrants to our community are made aware of and helped to access local programs of fair housing, law enforcement assistance, help dealing with domestic violence, health care access, public transportation, education, and other community services.
Council member Dan Besse, said, “It’s a reaffirmation that Winston-Salem is an actively welcoming city, and recognizes that we all do better when each part of our community succeeds. For more information contact: http://www.cityofws.org/Departments/Human-Relations/Building-Integrated-Communities