Communities for Healing and Justice “Coming Home Program”

For more thqn nine years we have collaborated with Communities for Healing and Justice on their Coming Home program for people returning from incarceration. The program brings together a cohort of formerly incarcerated participants with the larger community for weekly meals and programs. We have been invited each year to do one of the opening sessions for men and women returning home from incarceration. We invite each participant to ask themselves “What would better look like?” The answers are always personal and poignant. Sometimes it is as simple as finding a job—or it can be envisioning a long held dream. We meet in a circle with the participants—the circle symbolizing the equality of each person who enters the circle. At the end of each session we present each participant with a small piece of magnetic hematite. Each small stone represents that, even when they complete the program, we remain committed to staying connected with them and supporting them. In addition to presenting at one of the sessions, we attend the weekly community dinners as a way to cultivate our shared vision for building The Beloved Community.