Mend Collaborative

What Mend Collaborative does

Mend Collaborative is a California-based nonprofit founded in 2022 that provides restorative justice services to survivors of violence and incarcerated people. Its core offering is the Victim Offender Dialogue (VOD), a facilitated face-to-face meeting between a person who was harmed and the person responsible, generally held inside California or federal correctional facilities after up to eight preparatory meetings. Surrounding the VOD are three complementary programs: Day of Healing events that bring community survivors together with incarcerated survivors inside prisons, Surrogate Restorative Dialogues for survivors who cannot or do not wish to meet directly with the responsible party, and Training Programs that mentor VOD facilitators, community-based organization staff, and re-entry providers.

The organization's core methodology is a co-facilitation model in which survivors of violence and formerly incarcerated people serve as colleagues facilitating dialogues together, an approach that is described in the source material as unique in California, where most VODs are run by correctional staff. This model is supported by a referral pipeline built with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, District Attorney and Public Defender offices, the California Board of Prison Hearing Commission, and the Office of the Governor's Pardon and Commutations. All services are provided free of charge to survivors and participants.

Mend Collaborative is funded by foundation grants and individual donations. Its visible supporters include GRoW @ Annenberg, The Give to Give Foundation, Joan Leidy Foundation, The National Philanthropic Trust, Silicon Valley Community Foundation (including the Meadow Fund), the East Bay Community Foundation, and Unlikely Collaborators. The organization is co-led by Rebecca Weiker, a survivor of violence whose sister was murdered in 1992, and Miguel Quezada, a formerly incarcerated restorative justice practitioner. Revenue is not publicly disclosed; the organization operates statewide in California and has expanded into federal correctional facilities.

Name

Mend Collaborative

Legal name

Mend Collaborative

Website

https://mendcollaborative.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Mend Collaborative is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that provides free Victim Offender Dialogues, Days of Healing, Surrogate Restorative Dialogues, and facilitator training across California and federal correctional facilities, using a co-facilitation model pairing survivors of violence with formerly incarcerated people.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Restorative Justice Services

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Reentry & Justice-Involved Support Services (BPAGAEAN)

Keywords

• Restorative justice services
• Victim offender dialogues
• Trauma-informed healing
• Criminal justice reform
• Survivor support programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Grants: Mend Collaborative is a nonprofit organization that relies on donations and foundation grants to fund its programs. All services to survivors are provided free of charge.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Mend Collaborative provides facilitated restorative justice dialogues and programs, including Victim Offender Dialogues (VOD), Days of Healing, Surrogate Restorative Dialogues, Survivor Support, and facilitator Training. Services are delivered at California and Federal correctional facilities and in community settings throughout California by staff who are themselves survivors of violence or formerly incarcerated, using a distinctive co-facilitation model. All services to survivors are provided free of charge.

Product overview

Mend Collaborative offers a suite of restorative justice programs centered on Victim Offender Dialogues (VOD), which are the core offering. The organization provides Day of Healing events that bring together community and incarcerated survivors, Surrogate Restorative Dialogues for cases where direct dialogue is not possible, and Training Programs to expand VOD facilitation capacity across California. All programs are free to survivors and focus on transformation and healing at the intersection of harm and justice.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Victim Offender Dialogues (VOD) Face-to-face facilitated dialogues between the person(s) harmed and the person who caused harm, involving up to 8 preparatory meetings over a year-long period and culminating in in-person meetings typically held within California correctional facilities. Delivered free of charge to survivors in California and Federal correctional facilities and in the community.
• Day of Healing Day-long trauma-informed programs that bring community survivors together with incarcerated survivors to share and process experiences of grief, loss, harm, and resilience within California prisons. Delivered free of charge.
• Surrogate Restorative Dialogue Facilitated dialogues between survivors and incarcerated people responsible for similar or other forms of harm, designed for survivors for whom no one was identified as responsible, the responsible party is unavailable, or survivors who do not want a direct dialogue. Delivered free of charge.
• Training Programs Training and mentoring for VOD facilitators, community-based organization program staff, and collaborative partners on Victim Offender Dialogue facilitation, CDCR's accountability letter program (ALP), and restorative circles training for re-entry providers. Provided free of charge to participants.
• Survivor Support Preparation and ongoing support for survivors sharing experiences through in-prison restorative justice programs, including facilitation of support groups and collaboration with other VOD program providers. Delivered free of charge.

Quantifiable outcome

• Currently only 20% of California survivors are registered with the Office of Victim Services, indicating significant untapped market for restorative justice services.

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• Unlikely CollaboratorsflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic partner that provided financial support and collaborated with Mend Collaborative and The Moth Community Program on storytelling initiatives to share powerful stories from the community, reaching wider audiences with narratives about harm and healing.
• The Moth Community ProgramflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated with Mend Collaborative and Unlikely Collaborators on storytelling initiatives. Through the Moth Community Program, survivors and formerly incarcerated individuals share their stories of healing, creating empathy and understanding in wider audiences.
• GRIP Training InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated with Mend Collaborative to co-host a Restorative Justice Symposium at Mule Creek State Prison, bringing together survivors, GRIP participants, Office of the Governor Parole and Commutations, Office of Victim and Survivor Rights and Services, Department of Justice, and other stakeholders.
• Smart Justice CaliforniacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership at policy retreats and summits. Mend Collaborative attended the 2023 Smart Justice CA Policy Retreat and Summit along with over forty legislators and advocates, presenting at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility about restorative justice and victim impact programs.
• California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerState agency partnership for facilitating Victim Offender Dialogues at California correctional facilities and incorporating CDCR's accountability letter program (ALP) for program participants.
• California State Prisons (Various)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnerships with California Men's Colony Prison, Lancaster State Prison, San Quentin State Prison, Central California Women's Facility, and others for hosting Days of Healing and VOD programs.
• Human Rights WatchminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAdvisory Board member Andrea Steele previously ran the Northern California office of Human Rights Watch. Trino Jimenez has supported projects for Human Rights Watch. Elizabeth Calvin is a senior advocate and attorney with Human Rights Watch's Children's Rights Division.
• Pride Center of VermontminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAdvisory Board member Kim Jordan serves as Director of the SafeSpace Anti-Violence Program at Pride Center of Vermont, providing advocacy and support for LGBTQ+ survivors of violence.
• Anti-Recidivism CoalitionminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStaff member Pamela Thompson serves as a manager at the Anti-Recidivism Coalition supporting program participants on their path to reintegration.
• Healing and Justice CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner organization highlighted in Day of Healing events and collaborative healing work.
• Smart Justice California - Get Proximate ProgramminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAdvisory Board member Philip Melendez leads Smart Justice California's Get Proximate Program, bringing people with power and influence into proximity with mass incarceration.
• Sister Warriors Freedom CoalitioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative partnership for training for healers, providing specialized training programming.
• Living Outside Violence Everyday (LOVE)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProgram co-founded by Lynne Acosta for incarcerated women. Lynne brings her direct life experiences from LOVE to her work as a VOD facilitator and trainer at Mend Collaborative.
• Broken By Violence (BBV)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOrganization founded by Ebony Antoine that provides direct services to grieving families impacted by violence. Ebony supports survivors of violence through her work as a Mend Collaborative VOD Facilitator while leading BBV.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Impact Justice: California-based nonprofit driving criminal justice reform through restorative and diversion programs for youth and adults; comparable to Mend Collaborative through its direct victim-offender and survivor-centered programming.
• Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility: Nonprofit implementing restorative justice practices, peer support, and conflict resolution programs; comparable to Mend Collaborative through its restorative facilitation model, though more focused on school and community settings than corrections.
• Insight Prison Project: California-based nonprofit offering in-prison restorative justice, victim-offender dialogue, and survivor support programs; directly comparable to Mend Collaborative's VOD and Day of Healing model within California correctional facilities.
• Center for Justice Innovation: National nonprofit that operates restorative justice programs, victim-offender mediation, and community courts; directly comparable to Mend Collaborative's VOD and community-based restorative offerings at broader scale.
• Anti-Recidivism Coalition: California-based nonprofit supporting formerly incarcerated individuals through reentry programming and policy advocacy; shares Mend Collaborative's justice-involved population focus and is referenced as a partner organization for Mend staff.
• GRIP Training Institute: California-based nonprofit providing restorative justice training inside correctional facilities; co-hosted the Restorative Justice Symposium at Mule Creek State Prison with Mend Collaborative and operates overlapping VOD facilitation programs.
• Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth (RJOY): California-based nonprofit pioneering restorative justice for youth impacted by violence and incarceration; shares Mend Collaborative's victim-offender dialogue methodology and survivor-centered approach in a California context.

Broad incumbents

• Prison Fellowship: Large national nonprofit operating victim-offender reconciliation programs, in-prison restorative programming, and survivor ministries; broader incumbent with overlapping restorative justice capabilities and far larger funding base.

Emerging players

• Community Justice Exchange: National network supporting community-based restorative justice and harm-reduction organizations; comparable to Mend Collaborative as a peer-capacity-builder rather than direct program operator.

Regional players

• The Forgiveness Project: UK-based charity that uses storytelling and victim-offender dialogue to advance restorative justice; comparable to Mend Collaborative through its victim-offender facilitation and storytelling methodology, but operates in a different geography.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@mend-collaborative
• Xx.com/mendcollabs
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/mend-collaborative

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Mend Collaborative