Lorenn Walker, JD, MPH
Lorenn has volunteered with the Hawai‘i Friends since 1994 and has been director since . She is a public health educator and restorative lawyer with an extensive background in education and social services. She is a social scientist who who develops and evaluates learning programs. She has authored over 60 articles and 3 books since 1999. She worked as a Montessori teacher in her teens and was director of a Montessori preschool at age 22; a public welfare hearing officer during law school when she also clerked for ITT Corporation in New York City; civil and criminal trial court law clerk to Judges Russell Kono and Marie Milks; Deputy Attorney General for the State of Hawai‘i for 10 years including civil defense and fraud prosecution; Honolulu Family Court appointed counsel for indigent juveniles and adults in child protection and criminal cases; trainer of solution-focused brief therapy; consultant; teaches for the University of Hawai‘i (UH); former guardian ad litem for civil commitment hearings. She earned her Montessori teaching certification in 1971 from St. Nicholas Training Centre, London, England; bachelors degree in communication in 1980 from UH; juris doctorate degree from Northeastern University School of Law in 1983; and her masters in public health from the UH School of Public Health in 1996. Lorenn has a special interest in education and assisting marginalized individuals. She is a high drop out who experienced a challenged youth that included living on her own in her early teens and being incarcerated for a short time when she was 16.
Dawn Slaten, Esq
Dawn was raised and schooled on the Island of Oahu and received her BA in mathematics from UH at Manoa and her J.D. from the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawai‘i. She has practiced law for over 30 years concentrating in family law and worked in all five jurisdictions of the State. Dawn has supervised HFRJ’s Family Law Clinic at the Hawai’i state Women’s Community Correctional Center since its inception in 2011. She previously directed Ka Po‘e Hale, a community resource for Wai‘anae coast residents and provider of ho‘oponopono, family group conferencing and legal services to help families avoid CPS interference in their lives. Dawn was also a founder of Effective Planning and Innovative Communications, Inc. (EPIC), where she facilitated, recorded and coordinated `Ohana Conferences (aka: family group conferencing) and provided as a family-focused, strength-based gathering of family members and service providers to ensure the safety of children involved with the Child Protective Services (CPS). Dawn trains facilitators, recorders, coordinators and attorneys, and has presented on family group conferencing at national conferences. She has also managed corporate finances and provides legal representation when needed. She also provides legal consultation and family conferences to the residents of Hope for a New Beginning Shelter, an emergency shelter, which began to service the homeless in Wai`anae in October 2006 at Kalealoa. Dawn also facilitates and records HFRJ’s Huikahi Reentry Planning Circles and assists in training facilitators and recorders for the program.
Jeannie Lum, PhD
Jeannie is HFRJ’s K-12 school programs coordinator. She is an adjunct professor of education and innovation for Webster University and a retired University of Hawai’i education professor who specialized in peace building education for students learning to become teachers. She is the managing editor of the Journal for Peace Education, is the author of numerous academic publications, and has presented at dozens of national and international academic conferences. She is an educational consultant who obtained her PhD from the University of California Berkeley where she also received her masters degree. Additionally, Jeannie is a “master gardener” who developed and assists with providing PeaceGardens for schools.
Merton Chinen, MSW
Merton is a retired social worker. In addition to assisting HFRJ, he participates with the Prevent Suicide Hawaii Task Force; Hawai‘i Center for Attitudinal Healing Advisory Board; Community of Christ Church-Kalihi Congregation as an Elder; and the Hawai‘i Forgiveness Project, a resource for ideas, workshops and sponsor of the annual Hawai‘i International Forgiveness Day. Merton served as Director for the Office of Youth Services, overseeing a continuum of care for at-risk youth and young adults in our community. He also worked as a counselor for runaway teens, social worker/program development assistant for Child Welfare Service, and volunteer with Hospice of Tacoma. Merton is grateful for ‘ohana for teaching him that Love and Aloha are the keys to living a very meaningful life.
Lisa Jensen, MA
Lisa has worked in the field of youth risk behavior prevention for over 10 years. She developed and provides HFRJ’s Kalihi Leadership Academy for youth in the Kalihi Valley area of Honolulu. She also developed the Peace Table, a conflict resolution education process for 5-12 year old youth, and has practiced applying the process within programs at the Family Education Training Center of Hawai’i, Catholic Charities Hawai’i, Montessori Community School, Boys and Girls Club Spalding Clubhouse, Wai’alae Elementary Charter School, and Kalihi Elementary School.
Diana L. Bethel, PhD
Diana has assisted the Hawai’i Friends as a tutor supervisor since 2021in the higher and continuing education pilot project at the Women’s Community Correctional Center. She has been the team leader of the tutor supervisors since 2022. She is a criminal justice reform advocate and believes that our criminal justice institutions must model fairness and humanity for the sake of people in custody as well as the communities that they will return. Diana’s background is in anthropological gerontology and the anthropology of medicine. Her fieldwork was conducted in Japan in an institution for the elderly where
she observed the ways that familial relationships and a sense of community were recreated in the institution. She sits on the Peace & Social Concerns Committee and the Earthcare Subcommittee of the Honolulu Friends Meeting (Quakers). She believes the power of a holistic education is its ability to assist people in discovering personal meaning, community, and solutions to the crises facing our world today.
Allison Jacobs, JD
Allison Jacobs has a lifelong commitment to racial and social justice. She received her law degree from the University of California, Berkeley and had civil law practices in Hawai‘i and Connecticut involving cases concerning employment discrimination, domestic violence, and child welfare. She’s worked as a guardian ad litem and court appointed mediator. Ms. Jacobs worked for the Hawai‘i State Legislature for three years, as a Legislative Research Analyst and for two years as a Committee clerk. She is an advocate for criminal justice reform and has worked with the Hawai‘i Community Alliance on Prisons. She has been trained in restorative practices and facilitates for Hawai’i Friends of Restorative Justice. Ms. Jacobs is also a facilitator for the First Unitarian Church of Honolulu for the ADORE (A Dialogue on Race and Ethnicity) program, created by Paula Cole Jones to raise awareness about race and multiculturalism.
She participates in Jubilee Anti-Racism Training studying elements of the white supremacy eco-system, its culture, historical timeline, and how it currently operates today.
Samantha Walker Saraniti, MSW, ASW, MBA
Samantha has volunteered in a variety of areas for HFRJ since 2003. She has an MSW from Sacramento State University and an MBA from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa.
Susana “Sana” Román
Susana “Sana” Román started as a HFRJ volunteer who became a member of the Nā Hoku Organizing Committee for the Justice Innovations Summit. Sana is a seasoned Special Education (SpEd) teacher in Hawai`i public schools since 2009, teaching all content areas from grades 7 to 12 across all settings. Sana applies restorative practices in all her classes and is an active member of the Hawaii State Teachers Association (HSTA) on the Windward Chapter Government Relations Committee, as well as a participant in the National Education Association (NEA) Leaders for Just Schools program, fighting the good fight to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline.
Special tribute to the wonderful Diane Stowell, LFMT who help launch many exciting HFRJ programs: Diane passed away in 2017, but HFRJ continues to deeply appreciate her hard work and compassion. Diane worked with Lorenn meeting people who pled guilty to violent crimes in their homes providing them with the opportunity to address damaged relationships restoratively. Diane was a licensed family and marriage therapist. In addition to seeing individual clients and families, she facilitated solution-focused and restorative interventions with adults and youth for HFRJ. She was a senior mediator and trainer for the Mediation Center of the Pacific since 1986. She was a psychologist for the Claremont Unified School District in California for 12 years. She taught seminars for schoolteachers and administrators from 1984 through 1995 on working with youth facing challenges in the US and Europe. Her post-graduate work was conducted at the School of Psychology and Marriage and Family Therapy at the California State University at Fullerton in California in 1978; she earned her masters degree from the University of Redlands in 1968; and her bachelors degree at the University of California at Los Angeles in 1956. Diane was also a phenomenal athlete with world records in swimming and many outrigger canoe race wins. Her legacy inspires HFRJ and many in Honolulu and all over the world who loved her to do their best and pursue what they love no matter what.