Join hosts Joy Gilfilen (Restorative Community Coalition) and criminal justice educator Karen Ball for a powerful installment as they explore the foundational principles driving the iChange Justice movement.

This episode draws on five years of work and the wisdom of global, national, and local thought leaders. We dive into our core philosophy: "When we invest in punishment, we perpetuate harm; when we invest in people, we cultivate safety."

In this episode, you'll hear the essential impact of insights from:

Mel Hoover (Mel-Rose Ministries): On the ethical grounding of restorative practice.

Marc Santos (NobleGoldman Network): Pathways to systemic change through regenerative economics.

Kurt Krueger (Peacemakers Circles): Methods for conflict resolution and peace education.

James White (ESATTA Cooperative): The power of community support and self-advocacy.

Irene Morgan: The vision steering the Restorative Community Coalition.

We connect the dots between activism, education, and policy to show the concrete actions needed to build a more humane future. Don't miss this crucial conversation about choosing people over punishment!

Find iChange Justice every Thursday at noon.

Host Joy Gilfilen welcomes Larry Ballesteros—a Native American leader and symbol of deep resilience (tribal name: Bear from the Earth).

Larry reveals his journey from incarceration to innovation, detailing how he co-created the grassroots Transitioning Offenders Program (TOP) after realizing the system was designed to fail those being released (leaving prison with only a $40 check).

Larry and fellow inmates built a comprehensive, data-driven reentry network right from inside the walls. When audited by state officials, their inmate-run program demonstrated a stunning 92% success rate (7.8% recidivism)—a record unmatched by formal programs at the time.

In this powerful conversation, Larry discusses what it truly takes to transform lives behind bars, the power of self-mastery (requiring participants to read Jonathan Livingston Seagull), and how programs like TOP offer a blueprint for the future of restorative justice.

Airing Everywhere on November 20th.

From the healing ceremonies at Wounded Knee to her work with the Grandmothers Society, Grandmother Ejna Jean Fleury shares a living teaching on consciousness, remembrance, and the return of the Divine Feminine.

Host Joy Gilfilen welcomes Grandmother Ejna Jean Fleury — Miniconjou, Oglala, Hunkpapa, and Ihanktonwan of the Great Sioux Nation; First Peace Ambassador of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe; and founder of the Crow Creek Kunsi / Unci Grandmothers Society, Divine Mothers Love, Sacred Earth Council, and Healing Hearts at Wounded Knee.

Recorded just before she opened an international women’s congress, this spontaneous conversation became a teaching on healing, consciousness, and the sacred feminine. Grandmother Ejna recounts her journey from the ceremonies at Wounded Knee — where she has led healing gatherings for decades — to her global outreach connecting the Divine Mother traditions found in cultures around the world.

She speaks of the quantum reality of love as a field of life itself — a living energy that unites all beings beyond the boundaries of culture, language, or form. Through story, memory, and ceremony, she calls us to return to that field, to remember our relationship with Mother Earth, and to live as conscious caretakers of creation.

This episode is both personal and universal — a remembrance of who we truly are and a call to embody peace in every choice we make.

Healing Hearts at Wounded Knee

#209 – iChange Justice Podcast – From Chaos to Coherence: Dr. Christine Habercorn on Community, Economics & the Future of Justice

Host- Joy Gilfilen and Karen Ball welcome Dr. Christine Habercorn, an elder stateswoman of civic leadership and long-time consultant with the Restorative CommUunity Coalition. With more than 50 years of political and community experience, Dr. Habercorn brings a rare perspective shaped by decades of business, activism, teaching, and global travel.

Beginning her work in the 1970s alongside Robert F. Kennedy and Jerry Brown, Christine became deeply engaged in civic reform, economic development, and community action across multiple states and countries. Her lifelong commitment to healthy social progress and her understanding of global systems provide a powerful context for this wide-ranging conversation about change, leadership, and the human spirit.

Together, Joy and Karen explore with Christine discuss how the past 15 years have transformed the way we think about justice, economics, and community connection. From activism to technology, and from trauma to trust, Dr. Habercorn helps illuminate how coherence emerges from chaos when people focus on community return to service and compassion.

Building on her earlier appearance in Episode #113, “The Business of Justice,” she connects economics, governance, and technology to the deeper human need for meaning, resilience, and hope.

Building on her earlier appearance in Episode #113, “The Business of Justice,” she connects economics, governance, and technology to the human need for coherence and hope.

Joy Gilfilen speaks about the evolution of the iChange Justice Podcast — how a lifetime of unexpected experiences shaped her understanding of law, leadership, and community transformation.

For nearly five years, Joy has hosted the iChange Justice Podcast as a thought-leadership platform exploring how restorative justice, regenerative economics, and community empowerment intersect to build a more humane society. What began as a local conversation about jail reform and reentry in Whatcom County has grown into a wide-ranging inquiry into how justice, governance, and the economy intertwine across generations and cultures.

From her early life on a ranch in Eastern Washington to working inside the legislature, law enforcement, and business development, Joy shares how firsthand experiences revealed the patterns that shape modern systems. Whether in government, science, or economics, she found that systems rewarding control and extraction often undermine the life they depend on.

Those insights led to her work documenting jail trauma and advocating for prevention-based justice. Through over 200 episodes, the iChange Justice Podcast has become a public forum for transformation — amplifying voices from inmates, sheriffs, elders, educators, reformers, and innovators alike.

As Joy explains, “The future of public safety isn’t about control — it’s about prevention, education, and rebuilding civic resilience.” The podcast invites listeners to rediscover authentic intelligence — the human capacity for empathy, ethics, and courage that no algorithm can replicate.

Each episode offers a piece of that larger mosaic — from Paul Levy’s Wetiko Mindset (Episode 165) to Patricia Anne Davis’ Indigenous wisdom (Episode 124), Don Kirchner’s justice reform (Episode 118), and Marc Santos on regenerative economics (Episode 78). Together they form an archive of social courage and civic learning.

In this solo reflection, Joy connects the dots — from ranch life to policy, from justice to regeneration — to ask a question at the heart of it all:

How does it work? And how can we make it work better for everyone?

206-iChange Justice Podcast – Ripples of Healing:

How Service Transforms Communities with James White

Hosted by Joy Gilfilen with co-host Karen Ball

What does it mean to live a life centered on service — not as a title, a role, or a retirement project, but as a daily practice that transforms the world around us? In this powerful new conversation, host Joy Gilfilen and co-host Karen Ball sit down with James White, founder of the ESATTA Cooperative, to explore how grassroots service and cooperative action can heal individuals, strengthen relationships, and create ripples of transformation throughout entire communities. ESATTA STANDS FOR EMPOWERING SELF-ADVOCATES............."

James shares his deeply personal journey into purpose-driven work and how the ESATTA Cooperative has become a model for collaborative learning and restorative practice. Through workshops, educational programs, and community-based projects,

ESATTA fosters environments where people come together to share knowledge, build trust, and take collective action for the common good.

This episode builds on themes explored through previous iChange Justice episodes such as Episode #31: "Rehumanizing Our Systems”, Episode #43: James White’s earlier conversation on cooperative work. Also, pivotal discussions like “Increasing Community Resilience” (Episode #81), “Restoring Human Dignity” (Episode #88), and “Expanding Our Collective Capacity” (Episode #89). Each of these conversations has highlighted the urgent need for new approaches to justice, community building, and social well-being.

This episode #206 continues that thread — showing how service, compassion, and cooperation can shift us from isolation and disconnection to meaningful connection and shared healing.

Far from being a lofty ideal, service is a way of life — one that changes how we solve problems, how we relate to one another, and how we design the future. It is the foundation for grassroots movements that honor humanity, human dignity and help build emotionally resilient communities from the ground up.

Learn more about James White’s work and upcoming workshops at ESATTACooperative.com

Host Joy Gilfilen welcomes back Ilona Krohn, an economist whose research traces the hidden emotional and structural roots of our economic and social systems. Together they explore how the global obsession with profit and control has shaped local taxation, governance, and public safety — and how these deeply embedded behaviors are driving cycles of trauma, competition, and inequality in our communities.

Ilona reveals how economic systems built on scarcity thinking have conditioned generations to believe there is never enough — not enough time, money, resources, or worth — and how that fear fuels everything from political division to personal burnout. She connects the dots between profit-driven decision-making and the erosion of community wellbeing, showing how “more concrete and steel” doesn’t stop crime; it privatizes it.

This episode dives deep into the psychology of economics, the unconscious trauma that underlies modern systems, and the need for a collective shift toward conscious, compassionate leadership. Joy and Ilona challenge listeners to question the assumptions that equate profit with success — and to imagine what healthy, regenerative, community-based business models could look like if we re-centered human value over financial value.

“Technology has outpaced our consciousness. Now it’s time to evolve emotionally — to reconnect our economics with empathy.”

It’s a thought-provoking continuation of Ilona’s earlier appearances (#32 and #37), expanding the conversation from survival to awareness, and from scarcity to shared responsibility. Together, they outline a path toward an economy that serves life — not the other way around.