Resources for Community Violence
Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham
Mission: The Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham (RCND) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that invites people of faith and goodwill to come alongside those most-affected by violence through vigil ministry among surviving loved ones of homicide victims, support circles for citizens returning from incarceration, and restorative justice practices that repair the harm caused by wrongdoing. RCND invites community members to:
VIGIL MINISTRY
VIGIL in the face of pervasive violent harm: through Annual Vigil, on the street, in court, and in compassionate relationship with families grieving irreparable violent harm. By bearing public witness to the human worthiness of neighbors killed by our neighbors, we extend support and dignity to survivors. Since 1997.
REENTRY & RECONCILIATION
R&R Ministry through community-sourced ‘faith teams’ gathered in mutual support around a neighbor exiting long-term incarceration. Since 2004.
COMMUNITY LUNCHEON ROUNDTABLES
Community Luncheon Roundtables held every fourth Thursday of the month in the education building of Elizabeth Street UMC (1209 N. Elizabeth Street) from Noon to 1PM. Lunch, presentation from a peacemaker, and lively discussion are provided. Since 1992, all are welcome.
RESTORATIVE JUSTICE DURHAM
A collaborative project to integrate restorative justice practices in Durham’s criminal justice system. Working alongside volunteers, community partners, and criminal justice practitioners, we seek a restorative justice process that repairs of harm of crime and restores the relationships—both individual and collective—that were hurt by wrongdoing. Since 2018.
Criminal Justice Resource Center
Mission: The mission of the Criminal Justice Resource Center (CJRC) is to promote public safety through support for the local criminal justice system and to supervise and rehabilitate justice-involved individuals through a wide array of supportive services so that they may achieve their full potential as contributing members of their community.
There are many initiatives and resources through the CJRC. We list 13 below, some of which have multiple programs and resources within them.
Spirithouse Harm-Free Zone
The Harm Free Zone (HFZ) supports a community-centered vision that helps us repair the damage of racism, and the oppression of poor people of color by providing tools and trainings to both strengthen and develop our capacity to prevent, confront and transform harm. The Harm Free Zone emphasizes independent and self directing community autonomy as a necessary step towards creating shared collective accountability strategies and practice.
Bull City Homicide
Bull City Homicide aims to track and account for every murder victim in the city of Durham, North Carolina.
Please note their disclaimer. This is how it begins: “By sharing links to media about violent deaths in Durham, we expand the awareness of the problems we are facing. However, we’re also perpetuating the focus on violence at the expense of the efforts being made to make our community safe…” read more
Prescriptions for Repair
An initiative of the Duke Institute for Health Innovation, in collaboration with community stakeholders, Prescriptions for Repair seeks to understand and learn from the experiences of gun violence victims. Using a structured restorative justice framework, they will provide gun violence victims with an organized process to tell their story and have their experience heard (coherent narrative), to identify what needs to be done to make things as right as possible, and to offer prescriptions of repair to the greater community.
Durham HEART program
Durham Community Safety Department (DCSD) works to enhance public safety through community-centered approaches to prevention and intervention as alternatives to policing and the criminal legal system.