Claire de Mézerville López welcomes Kenyatta Stephens, Chief Executive Officer of Black Family Development, Inc. (BFDI) to the Restorative Works! Podcast. BFDI is a comprehensive, restorative, non-profit family counseling agency created in 1978 by the Detroit Chapter of the National Association of Black Social Workers. BDFI is committed to equity and supporting families throughout the lifespan through the implementation of Restorative Practices.

 

Kenyatta tells us how restorative practices provide the framework for a philosophical approach to supporting families that honors their expertise as family members. The importance of reflecting back on goals set as a family and recognizing how those goals are realized, adjusting as needed while remaining focused on restoration and repairing harms. She reminds us that community betterment is cross-generational, cross-functional, and cross-systems work that comes from the desire to live, grow, and thrive where we are planted.

 

Kenyatta has 28 years of Human Service experience and has a passion for education, equitable access to resources, and youth. Her personal mission is to build hope, health, and healing for communities, by helping families achieve optimal wellness within strong networks of support. She serves as a 2019 gubernatorial appointee for the Early Childhood Investment Corporation Board of Directors. From 2008-2019, Kenyatta served 3 Governors on the Michigan Committee on Juvenile Justice as a Subject Matter Expert. She attended Harvard University Business School's 2015 class of Performance Management for Non-Profit Organizations. In 2013 she attended the Georgetown University's Juvenile Justice Reform Certificate Program. Kenyatta acquired her Master's in Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing, Child and Family, from the University of Pennsylvania, and Bachelor's from the University of Michigan.

 

Tune in to learn more about Kenyatta's mission and BFDI's work in their community. And be sure to register for our 2023 IIRP World Conference, in partnership with BFDI, happening in Detroit, Michigan October 2-4, 2023