In the fall of 2019, the Detroit Justice Center (DJC) undertook a national and local ecosystem assessment of Restorative Justice (RJ) programs and practitioners who are using RJ as a means to building alternative models of justice and accountability that is responsive to the needs of survivors and functions to reduce future harm. An emergent theme across conversations with Detroit-area practitioners was a desire to advance RJ across local sectors. Naturally, DJC and our partners recognized that the sustainable advancement of RJ necessitates strong organizing via the centralizing of local resources. To this end, the vision for the Metro Detroit Restorative Justice Network (MDRJN) was conceived. The MDRJN is therefore a special project of the Just Cities Lab at the Detroit Justice Center.