Abstract
The Restorative Justice model provides practitioners with guidelines for being with youth and solutions for meeting their needs. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the needs of youth through group conversations. Eight Restorative Justice circles with approximately ten youth were conducted in eight schools in Oakland. Participants confirmed the need for Restorative Justice programs city wide and throughout the justice systems. The youth verbalized their needs and some suggested solutions to those problems. Respondents asked for support, respect, and that their community build the bond between community members. The strongest theme from the responses was that of collaboration between the community and the youth. The participants not only desired change within the community itself, but also commented that they would like to be part of the community and have a hand in creating the change they desired.