In the Fall of 2019, at the invitation of Sr. Marlys Jax, OSF, Kendall Hughes (a retired Federal Prison Chaplain and Methodist Minister) and Sr. Sue Reif, OSF, co-led a six-week program on Restorative Justice through the Spirituality Center at Assisi Heights. Positive comments from local justice system panel members and community participants generated a Steering Committee that spearheaded “Three Rivers Restorative Justice”.

Through consultation and training with Ted Lewis of the Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking at the University of Minnesota Duluth, we began our pilot project in 2021 with funding from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. As of 2024, we have signed referral agreements with four Justice system partners, and trained 24 community members as facilitators. This has resulted in 100 cases being referred to us involving youth and adults.

Our name, Three Rivers Restorative Justice, has two levels of significance:

• The Root, Zumbro, and Whitewater rivers not only flow through Olmsted County, but also reach into surrounding areas. It is our aim to flow into the neighboring counties. And

• Our mission flows into the lives of three groups of people: those harmed, community members, and those who cause harm. Healing waters flow within the banks of respect and accountability to all three groups.

We have come a long way, watch below one of our early pitches for funding:

We are a program of Olmsted Outreach, a Minnesota nonprofit corporation that is tax exempt under the IRS 501 (c)(3) code