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Fumbling Towards Repair: A Workbook for Community Accountability Facilitators
Fumbling Towards Repair is a workbook by Mariame Kaba and Shira Hassan that includes reflection questions, skill assessments, facilitation tips, helpful definitions, activities, and hard-learned lessons intended to support people who have taken on the coordination and facilitation of formal community accountability processes to address interpersonal harm & violence.
Mariame Kaba is the founder and director of Project NIA, a grassroots organization with a vision to end youth incarceration. Mariame is also a co-organizer of the Just Practice Collaborative, a training and mentoring group focused on sustaining a community of practitioners that provide community-based accountability and support structures for all parties involved with incidents and patterns of sexual, domestic, relationship, and intimate community violence. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications including The Nation Magazine, The Guardian, The Washington Post, In These Times, Teen Vogue, The New Inquiry and more. Mariame uses her extensive experience with issues of racial, gender and transformative justice to catalyze various projects.
Shira Hassan is the former executive director of the Young Women’s Empowerment Project, an organizing and grassroots movement building project led by and for young people of color that have current or former experience in the sex trade and street economies. A lifelong harm reductionist and prison abolitionist, Shira has been working on community accountability for nearly 25 years and has helped young people of color start their own organizing projects across the country. Shira’s work has been discussed on National Public Radio, The New York Times, The Nation, In These Times, Bill Moyers, Scarleteen, Everyday Feminism, Bitch Media, TruthOut and Colorlines
Mariame Kaba is the founder and director of Project NIA, a grassroots organization with a vision to end youth incarceration. Mariame is also a co-organizer of the Just Practice Collaborative, a training and mentoring group focused on sustaining a community of practitioners that provide community-based accountability and support structures for all parties involved with incidents and patterns of sexual, domestic, relationship, and intimate community violence. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications including The Nation Magazine, The Guardian, The Washington Post, In These Times, Teen Vogue, The New Inquiry and more. Mariame uses her extensive experience with issues of racial, gender and transformative justice to catalyze various projects.
Shira Hassan is the former executive director of the Young Women’s Empowerment Project, an organizing and grassroots movement building project led by and for young people of color that have current or former experience in the sex trade and street economies. A lifelong harm reductionist and prison abolitionist, Shira has been working on community accountability for nearly 25 years and has helped young people of color start their own organizing projects across the country. Shira’s work has been discussed on National Public Radio, The New York Times, The Nation, In These Times, Bill Moyers, Scarleteen, Everyday Feminism, Bitch Media, TruthOut and Colorlines
162 pages, Paperback
Published June 18, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
October 5, 2020
What are the main ideas?
* none of us know what we are doing, at least at first. and that doesn't mean we shouldn't start. not starting is part of the problem. also expecting perfection is part of the problem.
* it is possible to protect survivors while also supporting the transformation and healing of people who cause harm (pwch)
* the idea that there are pwch as distinct from people who are harmed or survivors is a problem
* community accountability (CA) processes might look different every time and vary across communities
If I implemented one idea from this book right now, which one would it be?
study the seven key frameworks that support mariame and shira's work: ending sexual violence, trauma-informed practice, harm reduction, healing justice, PIC abolition, transformative justice, community accountability.
if i could do a second one it would be: remember that pwch do so because they have had harm caused to them. when seeking transformation of pwch find the place(s) in their lives where they have been harmed; start the transformation and healing there.
How would I describe the book to a friend?
an incredible workbook and resource that will support community accountability facilitators for years. it is full of brief explorations of topics containing true depth. and the worksheets and activities are just ::chef kiss:: never have a wanted access to a copier more in my life.
this book may also helpful to read through as a pwch. the worksheets, essays, and praxis explanations demonstrate that experienced CA facilitators have pwch interests at heart, too. understanding that may make it feel more possible for pwch to engage in a process.
* none of us know what we are doing, at least at first. and that doesn't mean we shouldn't start. not starting is part of the problem. also expecting perfection is part of the problem.
* it is possible to protect survivors while also supporting the transformation and healing of people who cause harm (pwch)
* the idea that there are pwch as distinct from people who are harmed or survivors is a problem
* community accountability (CA) processes might look different every time and vary across communities
If I implemented one idea from this book right now, which one would it be?
study the seven key frameworks that support mariame and shira's work: ending sexual violence, trauma-informed practice, harm reduction, healing justice, PIC abolition, transformative justice, community accountability.
if i could do a second one it would be: remember that pwch do so because they have had harm caused to them. when seeking transformation of pwch find the place(s) in their lives where they have been harmed; start the transformation and healing there.
How would I describe the book to a friend?
an incredible workbook and resource that will support community accountability facilitators for years. it is full of brief explorations of topics containing true depth. and the worksheets and activities are just ::chef kiss:: never have a wanted access to a copier more in my life.
this book may also helpful to read through as a pwch. the worksheets, essays, and praxis explanations demonstrate that experienced CA facilitators have pwch interests at heart, too. understanding that may make it feel more possible for pwch to engage in a process.
October 17, 2019
Cannot say enough about this resource - deeply thought-provoking and world-shifting. The workbook is intended for facilitators but I found the resources helpful and engaging for anyone who is looking to think more critically about how we respond to harm and how we can work toward building deeper relationships outside of punitive systems.
March 14, 2021
Very much a workbook for facilitators, so I was not the audience. Nice overview of key TJ and abolition concepts and reflection prompts
May 26, 2020
Kaba and Hassan have given us an unprecedented resource, the first of its kind I’ve ever come across. A walk through of thoughts and exercises, tools and discoveries for community accountability facilitators. I believe this book is useful for all folks who frequently facilitate movement meetings, even outside of CA/TJ. This book has as many boundaries about who it is NOT for as who it is for, something new I hadn’t encountered and deeply appreciated. This book builds upon the creative interventions toolkit in a way that honors and complicates the original work. I believe I will use these resources over and over again to design facilitation plans & encourage others to do the same.
August 7, 2021
I’m not a community accountability facilitator but I found this book really helpful in making more concrete what community accountability could look like outside of state violence. It’s also made me think about my own conflicts and how I want to navigate and respond to harm (both as someone who causes harm and is harmed).
October 16, 2021
I'm grateful for the distinctions between accountability work and mediation offered, and I am thankful for the room for personal reflection there is every step of the way in this woorkbook. The illustrations are stunning as well. Read a borrowed copy and hoping to have my own one day to write in, share, and return to.
June 6, 2025
This book, which I picked up because I know nothing about the subject and wanted to get a sense of whether / how I might apply learnings from this space to anti-racism / race & belonging work, is brief but powerful. It gave me an important new frame to consider constitutes "success" when attempting to address harm or promote healing in important relationships.
January 11, 2020
A very thoughtful, generous, and effective guide for anyone facilitating abolitionist based community accountability processes, or anyone with restorative justice or other healing training who is interested in implementing CA processes in community with others.
August 16, 2019
A must read. Incredible resource that I am so happy exists.
October 29, 2019
This resource for CA process facilitation is truly transformative work. <3 I'm so grateful, it's made such an impact already for us.
June 28, 2020
Good overviews and examples bit mostly good resources.
June 15, 2021
A treasure for anyone in community. Gonna be re-visiting this frequently and eagerly.
July 17, 2024
Incredible, obviously. No notes
August 19, 2024
A good review for how we should address harm in our communities.
June 11, 2025
I found this to be an inspiring and helpful quick intro to CA/RJ facilitation and processes. For a longer intro, see the Creative Interventions Toolkit
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews