Presenters

Co-Presenters hide

Presenter(s): Damariz Vasquez, Brittany Martinez, Elena Gonzalez, Tina Rodriguez

Organization(s): East Los Angeles Women's Center, Beloved Survivors

Objectives:

  • Reflect on circle keeping as a practice of remembering, cultural preservation, and community healing.
  • Recognize the role of lived experience, caregiving, and survivor wisdom as foundations for leadership and facilitation.
  • Explore strategies for creating culturally responsive, trauma-informed circle spaces that strengthen collective care and community empowerment.
  • Identify strategies for centering survivors in restorative practices.

Description:  In many communities, healing knowledge has always lived within the hands, stories, traditions, and lived experiences of the people. Compartiendo Conocimiento explores how restorative circles can serve as spaces of remembrance, leadership, and collective care, supporting promotoras and survivor-advocates in becoming community circle keepers. Through storytelling, experiential learning, and ancestral practices, participants will discover how healing moves beyond the individual and becomes a shared responsibility—cultivating resilience, strengthening community connections, and nurturing future generations of leaders. Additionally, Beloved Survivors will be providing effective restorative justice practices with survivors. Participants will be able to identify strategies for centering survivors in restorative practices, tools that support survivors engaging in restorative justice processes, and leave with resources specifically for Spanish-speaking survivors.