Justice Talks is a gem of a program… the best thing we do for our AmeriCorps members. –Serve Rhode Island program officer Marisa Petreccia

Justice Talking/Meaning of Service, the popular civic reflection program for AmeriCorps members, began in Illinois nearly a decade ago under the leadership of the Illinois Humanities Council, then spread to and was adapted by over a dozen other states. The program recently marked its five-year anniversary in Rhode Island, where it took root under the name Justice Talks. The Justice Talks Civic Reflection Series is the fruit of a partnership between Serve Rhode Island, the Feinstein Institute for Public Service at Providence College, and Rhode Island Campus Compact. One of the innovations of Justice Talks has been its use of bilingual English/Spanish readings with mixed groups of participants–some speaking English only, some Spanish only, and some fluent in both languages. Serve Rhode Island commissioned Spanish translations of the readings, which are hyperlinked at the end of this article.

Recently we spoke with Serve Rhode Island program officer Marisa Petreccia about how Justice Talks was born and brought to scale in Rhode Island. An AmeriCorps alumna with a Masters in Public Administration from Northeastern University, Petreccia has been involved with Serve Rhode Island in some capacity for five years. She explains that the Rhode Island Humanities Council and Serve Rhode Island–then the Rhode Island Service Alliance, under the leadership of executive director Rick Benjamin–partnered to bring Justice Talks to Rhode Island, after participating in a PCR facilitation training.

Five years later, Petreccia describes civic reflection as "integral to the AmeriCorps experience from day one" in Rhode Island, where Justice Talks (JT) is offered to all AmeriCorps members statewide: "We emphasize that being reflective is just as important as the 'doing' of service." AmeriCorps programs are given the dates for JT in July, at the annual retreat. Facilitators, as well as members, are given thorough preparation. This year's 33 facilitators–who included AmeriCorps alumni, community members, board members and others–all attended an orientation for two evenings prior to the start of the series.

JT runs weekly from late January through March—a point when members might be struggling with burnout or dispirited by a long winter. The commission has found, she says, that JT "fosters cross-Corps collaboration and communication," which can be difficult to achieve. The six-week series is convened at partner institution Providence College, which donates an auditorium and classroom space for the 12-15 discussion groups that run concurrently. Petreccia explains that there is a nice synergy at work with the host, as Providence College offers an undergraduate major in Public Service, and new alumni often join AmeriCorps.

Serve Rhode Island has made a special commitment to making JT a welcoming place for Spanish speakers. Participants receive the two readings for each week in advance, in English and Spanish. Two Serve Rhode Island programs with high enrollments of Spanish-speaking participants helped the commission obtain quality translations of the readings, which are mostly selections from The Civically Engaged Reader.

When JT started, says Petreccia, Spanish speakers were in their own group. "But facilitators felt that although they were more comfortable having conversation in Spanish, this tended to exclude them from full participation in the Justice Talks experience." Now, Spanish speakers are mixed with bilingual and native English speakers. Bilingual members help by translating the comments of Spanish-only and English-only speakers. The bilingual conversations are slower–the group might not get to the second reading–but very worthwhile. "This requires lots of planning work," Petreccia says, "but the end product is a thing of beauty."

Whatever participants' attitude toward the civic reflection program at the start, "every week participants will say, 'I had a hard time this week—but this is the one thing I've been looking forward to—being part of this group,' remarked Petreccia. "I'm being told this informally and also in evaluations." Petreccia also shared recent participant responses to the question, What is something about Justice Talks that surprised you?

• "Almost everyone was willing to share their opinions, even if at first they seemed a little more timid. This was a wonderful thing and I believe in great part due to the safe space that was created in our small group."
• "It was refreshing to meet others committed to service, and to learn about their struggles with service, as well as being in the powerful position of being able to provide advice to my colleagues on how to deal with their various challenges."
• "I was really surprised by the readings and how well they connected with each week's topic. I like the diverse ideas that the other AmeriCorps members brought, it was very refreshing."
• "Other AmeriCorps members willing to truly listen and talk about the readings and their beliefs. I didn't think that on a Friday morning, others would be so engaged and ready to discuss the readings and personal philosophical beliefs."
• "I was surprised that I got along so well with my group and that I found myself wanting to get up on Fridays to go to Justice Talks instead of dreading it like I had before I actually went. I heard a number of different perspectives and it broadened my opinions."

Petreccia and other staffers will soon review the full five years of evaluation data. "The commission realizes we've got a gem of a program here," she says. "It's not perfect; we're still making tweaks to improve it. But it's pretty special."

• Download the readings used in this year's Justice Talks program, in English and Spanish.