Advoz’s 2018-2019 Annual Report: Core Concentration

Jan 8, 2020 | News

Restorative Justice Victim Offender Conferencing cases continue to be about half of Advoz’s caseload, primarily referred from Lancaster County’s Juvenile Probation and Juvenile Court.

Your dollars were a long-term community investment as we concentrated on core programs in mediation and restorative justice. Staff coordinated an impressive team of volunteer mediators in more than 350 cases of dialogue and training, serving more than 700 youth and adults. With the majority of our cases focused on addressing harm in restorative justice dialogue, many of our resources addressed this area of core services for people harmed and those who’ve caused harmed to find healing and make things right through dialogue.

Advoz’s last fiscal year began June 1, 2018, with challenges–too many referrals and too few trained mediators. By year-end, May 31, 2019, we were seeing stronger outcomes in core programs and an increase in the number of cases leading to breakthrough dialogue. Thanks to new volunteer mediators and strong partners, especially the office of Juvenile Probation, we are accomplishing more effective dialogue in our community.

Advoz leveraged more than 80 trained volunteers in working with 300+ cases this year. The above budget doesn’t reflect this volunteer time, only cash spending on core programs and services, much of which comprised of core professional staff to recruit, train, supervise and report on volunteer mediation work. The fiscal year budget represented a relatively stable year-to-year performance. However, 2019-2020 is already showing exciting growth that will allow Advoz to expand programs and realize our transformative potential.

Read More from the Advoz Blog
Role-Modeling Restorative Practices

Role-Modeling Restorative Practices

As I write this blog, I am in my ninth week of interning with Advoz: Mediation & Restorative Practices. It has been a healing experience for me to work with Advoz staff and volunteers because they center relationships in all aspects of their work. I have witnessed...

Interning for Mediation: Riley Sloat

Interning for Mediation: Riley Sloat

I am Riley Sloat, and I am currently a senior at Elizabethtown Senior Highschool. I am interested in having a career as a mediator due to the business and Personal Law class I took in my sophomore year, wherein part of the curriculum was to do a mock...

Making Peace Workshop Referral

We just published an updated referral form for our Making Peace Workshop (below). As more partners in our juvenile justice system are again working in person, this is an incredibly valuable resource to build communication and conflict resolution skills in every...

Intern Stories: Meet Brelan Wilcher

harm caused within the community. In one way, it aims to achieve this by serving as a bridge that two or more individuals can cross to resolve conflicts through their mediation programs. The organization also partners with the Juvenile Justice System to speak with individuals who have caused harm to the community and help them take steps to make things right.

Working Upstream to Undo “Criminal Minds”

Working Upstream to Undo “Criminal Minds”

By Chris Fitz "Matthew” was only 13 years old. But this wasn’t his first run-in with the law. In our meeting, he fluently relayed the ways that adults in his neighborhood called the police about him—and how those complaints added up. He used terms like “complaint,”...

On Collaboration

On Collaboration

In the following post, I will explore what I learned about collaboration while creating the last two infographics in partnership with friends and Chris Fitz. This is the sequel to last week's blog post and the final in a series covering a new set of infographics....

On Creating Dialogue about Exclusionary Discipline in Education

On Creating Dialogue about Exclusionary Discipline in Education

Before I share what I learned while creating Zero Tolerance and Restorative Justice (RJ) in education for Advoz, allow me to introduce myself briefly. My name is Catherine Wise. I am a college student studying neuroscience and Spanish at the Texas Christian University...

Adjusting to Move Forward: 2019-20 Annual Report

Adjusting to Move Forward: 2019-20 Annual Report

As we reflect on the last 18 months, we want to thank each of you for helping Advoz arrive in 2021 in a stronger position than we were before COVID-19 first hit. Looking back to last year, right before the pandemic, we had experienced an organizational change with a...

Intern Stories: Meet Kiarelys Ortega-Balbuena

My name is Kiarelys Ortega I am currently attending Millersville University for my bachelor's in Social Work. I originally chose Millersville because of the close proximity to where I live. I help out my parents...