November 12, 2012

Columbia, MD – Howard Community College (HCC) will host Maryland’s 4th Restorative Justice Conference on campus Thursday, November 15, & Friday, November 16, in the Rouse Company Foundation Building (RCF). The mission of the conference is to increase understanding and awareness of the benefits of using restorative practices, to promote use of existing restorative justice programs, and to encourage new restorative efforts. The conference will open at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 15, with a participatory drumming circle led by Dynamic Connextions President David Williams. Beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, workshops will be divided into three “tracks” – areas in which restorative practices are increasing – Education, Criminal Justice, and Community.

On Saturday, November 17, the conference will move to Towson University’s campus where a special screening of “The Interrupters” will be featured in the Lecture Hall. The screening will be open to the public.

The conference is sponsored by the Circle of Restorative Initiatives (CRI) for Maryland, a not-for-profit, statewide collaboration of which Howard Community College’s Mediation & Conflict Resolution Center (MCRC) is a founding member. Co-sponsors of the conference include Towson University, Community Conferencing Center, Maryland Mediation and Conflict Resolution Office (MACRO), Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correction, Baltimore County Conflict Resolution Center, Conflict Resolution Center of Montgomery County, Remembering the True Victims, Maryland Crime Victims’ Resource Center, Just Peace Circles, Maryland Council for Dispute Resolution (MCDR), and Positive Solutions, Unlimited.

HCC is located at 10901 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia, Maryland, 21044. Towson University is located at 8000 York Road, Towson, MD 21252. The fee for the conference is $115 onsite. For more information, visit, www.CRIMaryland.org or e-mail MCRC Director, Kathy Rockefeller, kathyrockefeller@howardcc.edu.   

About HCC
Howard Community College (HCC) is a publicly funded two-year community college serving the educational needs of the citizens and employers in Howard County, Maryland since 1970. With its slogan, “You Can Get There from Here,” the college has forged a variety of partnerships to offer career and transfer programs to over 30,000 students annually at its main campus in Columbia, the Ecker Business Training Center, Laurel College Center, and Mount Airy College Center for Health Care Education. Located midway between two major metropolitan areas, Washington DC and Baltimore, MD, Howard Community College is an affordable, community-based institution that has long been recognized for its ability to inspire learning, and the lifelong pursuit of personal and professional goals. Among its many awards is the prestigious U.S. Senate Productivity Award for organizational performance excellence.