The Community of Practice (CoP) in Youth Driven Spaces (YDS) is a unique partnership between the Michigan Afterschool Partnership and the Neutral Zone. The aim is to serve a cohort of youth-service agencies across Michigan to strengthen youth voice and decision-making and to help grow and sustain youth-driven practice. Over the course of six months, participating agencies will move through a learning and coaching process designed to deepen youth–adult partnership and embed youth-driven practices across programs and organizational components. A full description of the program, activities and guide to the application can be found here. Applications are due July 10, 2026 by noon.

An application process will be used to select 6–8 Michigan community-based agencies that serve older youth to participate in the CoP. Each agency will engage 2-3 staff and 3-5 youth leaders who will learn and lead together.  Between September 2026 and February 2027 teams will take part in:

• An in-person full-day Summit on September 26, 2026

• 3 half-day virtual training sessions

• Monthly coaching sessions 

Neutral Zone offers a 2-day Introduction course and a 3-day Train-the-Trainer.

The Introduction to Restorative Practices and Circles provides the theoretical grounding for RP, applied strategies and practices to effectively implement RP, as well as an introduction to the history of RP, as it relates to indigenous and native peoples. Workshops in this series are designed to be active, engaging and focused on applying practical strategies necessary to implement RP in classrooms, schools, and youth organizations that are rooted in sound theoretical principles.

Train the Trainer (ToT) course for Restorative Practices exclusively for school and youth program staff who have completed the 2-Day Intro Restorative Practices workshop. The ToT aims to prepare participants to lead the Intro to RP & Circles training to colleagues and youth alike. The training is organized around the following themes:

• How to be an Effective and Self Aware Trainer

• Facilitation and the Restorative Practices Content

• Training Others in the RP Content

Learn more about Neutral Zone’s Restorative Practices and Circles training at Eastern Michigan University.