Community Building

Western Justice Center Partnership

The Azusa Unified School District is proud to partner with the Western Justice Center (WJC) as part of our ongoing commitment to school safety and community building.

The Western Justice Center works to equip AUSD students with the tools to confront, embrace the complexities of, and resolve conflict to become leaders who can shift school culture and climate.

Our partnership with WJC puts students in the driver’s seat at their schools – as community leaders and builders. students learn how to become peer mediators and lead restorative justice circles. Students are challenged to link their work as mediators to movements for social change, encourages them to initiate student engagement projects at their schools, and connects them to careers in mediation.

Students learn core social and emotional skills, such as self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship building and responsible decision-making. These skills are critical building blocks to success in school and in their careers. Through the arts, students are invited to reimagine their classrooms as peacemaking spaces, to see themselves in places the world tells them they do not belong, and to own their power as mediators, artists and activists.

Purpose

The purpose of AUSD’s collaborative work with WJC will be to:

Reduce conflicts that impede student success.
Reduce the number of behavioral citations, suspensions, expulsions and unexcused absences resulting from more traditional forms of school discipline.
Improve student social and emotional learning.
Improve school climate, including methods that foster student safety and support.
Collect demonstrative evidence of program impact and effectiveness
Use conflict resolution education as an avenue for academic and career advancement

WJC Programs and Services

Mediation Boot Camp

Customized on-campus training for students in how to serve as a peer mediator and/or how to facilitate a community-building circle. Virtual training is available in special circumstances and was developed during remote learning.

Generally, WJC trains 15-30 students per school. Several schools can participate in Mediation Boot Camp at the same time with the total number of students not to exceed 75 to 100 people.

ABCs of Conflict

Specialized training for educators that provides grounding in conflict resolution theory and restorative justice and provides basics of conflict resolution; how to create and sustain a peer mediation program, how to use restorative circles; how to address bias and bullying; and, how to deal with trauma-related behavior in youth. The training curriculum is designed to help the school teams create peer mediation programs and integrate restorative practices at their schools.

Multiple schools can participate in ABCs of Conflict at the same time with the total number of participants not to exceed 35 to 40 people.
A shorter version of training, called Mini-ABCs, can be used at any time during the school year and is a good fit for training larger groups of people.

Community Circle Workshops

Customized on-campus training for students, educators, administrators and/or community stakeholders in how to facilitate a community-building circle, which is a type of restorative circle. Circle workshops can be focused on students only, adults only or a combination. They can be used for general communal engagement purposes or to address a specific area of conflict in a school setting.

Peer Mediation Invitational

Participation in WJC’s regional peacemakers summit, the Peer Mediation Invitational, which brings together students, educators, administrators and community partners for an opportunity to learn, be inspired and plug into the larger movement to make our schools safer, more inclusive learning environments.

The number of students who attend PMI from each participating school will be determined on a year-to-year basis.

Dorothy Wright Nelson Peacemaker Award

In 2023, the Western Justice Center presented their inaugural Dorothy Wright Nelson Peacemaker Award to three recent AUSD graduates to honor their work as the founders of Azusa's Student Union.

View their stories below.

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