BATH — The Restorative Justice Institute of Maine was awarded $150,000 from the Juvenile Justice Advisory Group to expand restorative justice practices for youth in four communities across the State. The funds will support the development of a Community Justice Collaborative, including Kennebec, Somerset, Lincoln and Cumberland counties.

The collaborative will include four communities within the state and the establishment of two entities in each of these communities: the Juvenile Review Board and the Community Restorative Practices Team.

The purpose of the former is to “make communities safer by acting as a bridge between stakeholders responsible for improving the lives of juveniles and their families,” according to a news release, “by linking key juvenile justice, mental health, social services, and school professionals in a collaborative matrix that facilitates communication and unifies corrective, therapeutic and re-integrative action by all responsible.”

The latter is a regional group of volunteers who will be trained as restorative conference facilitators and mentors and to whom restorative conference cases are referred.

Headquartered on Front Street, the Restorative Justice Institute was founded in 2011 to promote restorative justice practices and philosophy across Maine.