Ways to Help
Initiatives & Involvement
We invite you to join our mission.
Together, we can make a lasting impact in healing trauma and building hope in our community.
Initiative: Community Connections Peer Mentors
This initiative provides stipends to selected graduates from the Community Connections Program to come back and volunteer as peer mentors. These individuals support other teens in developing empathetic communication skills within the program.
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Community Connections teaches empathetic communication skills to teens referred to the program through diversion, a part of probation, or simply community referrals.
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While this program is sometimes called a Restorative Justice program, Community Connections does NOT currently faciliate restorative justice conferences for the teens in its program. This is something Connection First has been eager and willing to offer for our community.
Involvement: Volunteer with Our Restorative Services
1. Community Representative for Conferences with No Direct Harmed Party
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In some of our criminal cases, there is no directly participating harmed party—such as when someone’s property is damaged, but the person impacted is unavailable or unwilling to participate. In these cases, RJ still happens with trained Community Representatives who help speak to the broader impact on our shared community.
What You'll Do:
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Participate in Community Conferences as a community voice
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Speak to how harms like these affect public trust, safety, and wellbeing
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Engage in dialogue that promotes reflection, accountability, and repair
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Model empathy and active listening
Training & Support:
We provide all the training you need, including our self-paced Community Conferencing Training Manual and personalized preparation for each case. No prior experience is necessary—just a willingness to listen, share, and support healing. It’s especially helpful if you’re active in the community or have some awareness of how crime and harm affect those around us.
2. Surrogate Impacted Party – Criminal Cases
In our criminal cases—whether involving more serious harm (like burglary or robbery) or lower-level offenses (like theft or property damage)—there are times when directly harmed individuals cannot or do not wish to participate. In these situations, we seek Surrogate Impacted Parties—volunteers who have experienced a similar type of harm—to represent the human impact in the restorative process.
What You'll Do:
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Join a facilitated Community Conference as a surrogate for the impacted party
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Share your lived experience of a similar harm to help the responsible party understand the deeper impact of their actions
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Support a meaningful and empathetic conversation that focuses on accountability and healing
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Contribute to co-creating repair agreements with the responsible party
Training & Support:
We’ll provide full training through our self-paced Community Conference Training Manual and work closely with you to ensure you feel prepared and supported throughout the process. We welcome volunteers with lived experience across a wide range of harm—from shoplifting to more serious crimes—who believe they are ready to support others through restorative dialogue.
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Interested in learning more? Reach out to juliana@connectionfirst.org.
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Interested in volunteering in the above capacity? Please complete the CC Training Manual below.
Initiative: Become a sustaining, monthly contributor
Becoming a sustaining, monthly contributor is an effective way to ensure that your funds make a lasting impact.
We are asking donors to partner with us to ensure our organization sustains its mission.
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Click on the donate button at the bottom of this page and select which fund you would like to contribute to, and check the box next to monthly donations. Select “use my funds where needed most” if you do not wish to designate a particular fund.
Initiative: Restorative Justice
Currently, we operate the Adult Restorative Justice Program for Leon and surrounding Counties and we are grant-funded through the City of Tallahassee. However, if you would like to see Restorative Justice grow in our community, please consider donating to this fund.
Your donation can help us taking on more cases. You can click on the Donate button and select “Restorative Justice”.