Circles, Care, and the Architecture of Equity: Joshua Abiazar in Conversation

Joshua Abizar’s life has always been in motion, between countries, cultures, and the complex terrain of identity, empathy, and leadership. Born in Manhattan to a Dominican immigrant family, he moved with his parents to the Dominican Republic shortly after birth, spending the first eight years of his life there. Joshua moved back to New York and would return to the DR during the summer break. “It was a very big shift in my worldview,” he reflects. “I experienced the reality of those who never left, those who settled in the States, and those who could travel back and forth. I was a foreigner in New York and a foreigner in the DR. I had to navigate that.”

That early life taught him lessons in resilience and perspective. He recalls the vibrancy of Dominican culture — the music, the celebrations, the energy of the streets — and the sharp contrasts of poverty and privilege. “Dominican culture taught me how to cultivate community,” he says. “We can be pretty loud, take up a lot of space. If there are only two of us, there is a party. There is joy in the struggle. And there’s a rebellious streak, too. I can be pretty hard-headed. My partner and I have been together for 13 years, and I’m still learning how to listen.” That duality — joy in connection, but the shadow of stubbornness — reflects a larger historical context: the Dominican Republic’s history of dictatorship and racial inequities, and a cultural throughline of pushing against oppression.

From New York, Joshua inherited a different, complementary set of traits: blunt kindness, entrepreneurial drive, and a knack for seeing people’s potential. “We get a reputation for being assholes, and I guess who wouldn’t be in the container we are in,” he says with a laugh. “But we really see each other, we care. I call it Diligent Empathy.” His parents modeled resilience: his mother started her own hair salon, his father built businesses from scratch. “These are very New York characteristics — hard-headed people who had to start from nothing.”

Growing up as a first-generation Afro-Dominican from the Bronx, Joshua’s understanding of leadership and community was shaped by early exposure to conflict. “Conflict doesn’t have to be the sole influence of your life,” he explains. “It can definitely have a big effect — it can lead to loss of life — but there are multiple ways to navigate it and avoid it. I think of conflict like the weather. It’s a thunderstorm. You can build a house, infrastructure to protect your crops, but the storm will come. You want to lessen its impact. If you know it’s coming, you can learn the lessons from it. It doesn’t have to drive your future.”

“Life is not black and white,” he continues. “To really resolve conflict, you have to look at the larger picture. We all have grief and loss. How do we weather that impact?” Joshua has faced this personally: his mother became ill with cancer, and the pandemic made her passing premature. “I had to turn this into my focus. At one point, I was very angry. My capacity for empathy and understanding shifted as I navigated my own internal conflicts. I think about Star Wars, Darth Vader — the children who lose their parents, who asked for help and didn’t receive it. What conditions send someone to the dark side? That’s the kind of thinking that drives my work.”

Joshua reflects deeply on his younger self and the leader he hoped to become. “If I could sit with my 10-year-old self today, I would ask: ‘What kind of leader do you see me becoming?’ There’s a thread of consciousness running through my life. I was always okay, always holding on to a belief that the future me would embody empathy, curiosity, and understanding, with the fierceness and discipline of a drill sergeant. I ask myself now: how aligned am I with those traits? And at what cost? My younger self would probably be surprised at the level of spirituality I’ve grown into, given that I considered myself a hard atheist back then. But that thread — the curiosity, the commitment to interconnectedness — has always been there. Growing up in a Catholic household gave me an attunement to systems, rituals, and the ways lives intersect. I see all these other rivers flowing through my life.”

Joshua’s professional approach is grounded in this philosophy. He is the founder of UsirConsulting and a restorative justice practitioner, blending systems thinking, somatic healing, and culturally centered practices. At the heart of his work is The Second Circle. “Second Circle is about appreciation, reintegration, and healing,” Joshua explains. “We have a circle to prepare people for college, or a soldier for basic training, students in high school — but when the soldiers come back from war, or someone comes back from jail, the hospital, or after a suicide attempt, where is the circle? That’s what this work is for. “It was taught to me by my mentor Kevin J. Fong from the Kahakulei Institute. It became a lifeboat while Iwas caught in the storm.”

A typical circle begins carefully, intentionally. Participants enter a room arranged with chairs in a circle, lights dimmed, the space calm, sometimes with soft music or a sound bath. At the center is a red, circular cloth that helps anchor the space, sometimes holding dedications, books, or items participants bring. Joshua welcomes everyone, acknowledges the land, and leads a warming-hands exercise. Poetry is read, and participants check in with the question: “How is your heart? How are you arriving?” Grounding practices allow people to express tensions and concerns, sometimes incorporating movement depending on physical abilities.

From there, the main discussion unfolds. Joshua brings community agreements and gives credit to elders in the lineage. Discussions follow a Dharma-style format, integrating slides or prompts and encouraging feedback and breakout groups. The focus is both personal and systemic — shifting from “me vs. you” to solving larger community conflicts. Before closing, Joshua guides somatic reflection: “How does this sit in your body? What signals are you noticing? How is your heart? What are you taking away? How will you implement this in your life?” Poetry, grounding, and music seal the circle, leaving participants equipped to navigate life with empathy and understanding.

Joshua’s vision extends beyond the circle into the structured offerings of UsirConsulting, designed to integrate racial equity, inclusivity, and restorative justice into the fabric of organizations and communities. Key offerings include:

Heart & Healing Centered Education: Implementing a holistic set of tools, frameworks and topics to strengthen conversations, skills, and implementation around a myriad of topics including Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging.

Restorative Justice: Opportunities to engage in a collective restorative space for people to engage in conflict resolution and relational repair. We leave with a better understanding of ways to prevent and repair future harm.

Second Circles: The Second Circle connects people in ways that promote trust, reintegration, appreciation, and healing. Applying universal principles of community building to clarify purpose, and work towards real and sustainable change.

Coaching: Integration of tools and practices through 1:1 or small group coaching assistance. If you’re looking for ways to bring your full humanity to all areas of your life, these coaching sessions can help you stay aligned in your purpose.

AI Integration: Our AI offerings help organizations and community leaders build ethical, restorative, and human-centered relationships with technology — using tools like GPTs, automation, and digital storytelling to support creativity, wellness, and collective liberation.

“These services are designed to inspire, educate, and transform by promoting understanding, healing, and community empowerment,” Joshua notes.

When asked what a circle of belonging looks like for himself, Joshua does not hesitate. “I would have my mentor, my wife, a few colleagues who have gone through the journey, Carlo from California — we’ve done intergenerational work together. There would be sage burning, rice and beans, outside in the garden, surrounded by nature. I am a sucker for nature — find some bamboo trees, you’ve got me. My colleagues and mentors in this work would be there. We’d talk through story, grief, and interconnectedness. Media and film would bring in different perspectives. Ancestors, past and present, would be part of the circle, interpreted through arts and music. And then, we’d ask: what are we going to do after this? I love action steps. How do we all thrive? How do we all belong? Good food, good people, outside, maybe May or June so it’s not too hot. Being Dominican, we have long parties — it could go on all day.”

Joshua navigates the entrepreneurial realities of his work with the same care and intentionality. “There are no limits to the demand for this type of practice. We see how many companies have made millions of dollars based on it. We live in a capitalistic society where even dirty socks can make a profit. As an entrepreneur, I’ve had to find balance: how can I engage in work that is sustainable, restorative, generative, and does not perpetuate trauma?” Much of his work has grown through word of mouth, long-term partnerships, and public outreach via LinkedIn and Facebook, and other forms of media. He produces videos, audios, and other community-centered offerings, ensuring accessibility for all.

“As a business, I am conscious about not doing this in a way that isolates me,” he says. “I still do my free community groups. I have my global community of belonging, and people can join for free. Recently, I took up the position of a Restorative Practices Coach. You want the big grant, the big client — but if I can cultivate a space where 500 people in a building can be in continual practice, what does that mean for a community at large? Everyone is a client and everyone is a community member.”

Joshua is equally committed to challenging assumptions about equity and leadership. “Imagine a room full of leaders who think they already ‘get’ equity,” he says. “I would have them spend a day in the Offices of the DSS or any agency intended to be used by people in the margins. You get an on-the-ground perspective. Then we’d have lunch in SoHo — a place where there’s a lot of economic movement and a lot of people who don’t have access. You can’t understand equity just from a PowerPoint or a report.”

Joshua Abizar’s story, from the streets of the Bronx to the vibrant neighborhoods of the Dominican Republic- to the circles he facilitates across the country — is a testament to observation, empathy, and intentional action. “It’s not just a session or a circle,” he says. “It’s a way of being. It’s how we create a world where everyone can belong.”

Core Elders/Ancestors & Living Teachers

• Kevin John Fong — Kahakulei Institute
Second Circle practice, Indigenous Hawaiian frameworks, relational leadership, pono (right relationship)
• Grace Lee Boggs — Activist, philosopher
Beloved community, critical connections, intergenerational movement building
• Dr. Gail Christopher — W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT), racial healing as systems change
• Aunty Puanani Burgess — Hawaiian elder
Cultural humility, Indigenous ways of knowing, relational accountability
• Maestro Jerry Tello — National Compadres Network
Healing-centered work with men of color, trauma-informed community healing
• Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz — Educator, scholar
Racial literacy, healing-centered education, culturally sustaining pedagogy
• Dr. Angel Acosta — Acosta Institute
Healing-centered education, global pedagogy, decolonized learning spaces

Ancestral, Intellectual & Movement Lineage
• bell hooks — Love as a practice of freedom, education as liberation
• Paulo Freire — Critical pedagogy, praxis, dialogue
• john a. powell — Othering & Belonging, structural belonging
• Resmaa Menakem — Somatic abolitionism, racialized trauma
• Augusto Boal (and Julian Boal) — Theatre of the Oppressed, embodied liberation
• Juanita Brown — World Café, collective intelligence
• Bobby Harro — Cycles of socialization & liberation
• Joe Weston — Fierce civility, restorative dialogue
• Michel Foucault — Power, discourse, systems

Organizations & Communities That Shaped the Work

• Kahakulei Institute — Second Circle lineage
• Acosta Institute — Healing-Centered Education
• National Compadres Network — Healing justice & community care, Racial Healing/Equity, Wisdom Keeper

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Joshua Abizar is a restorative practices coach, facilitator, and writer whose work centers equity, belonging, and collective healing. A first-generation Afro-Dominican from the Bronx, with deep ties to the Dominican Republic, his perspective is shaped by lived experience across cultures, systems, and communities. He is the founder of UsirConsulting, where he designs and leads healing-centered education, Second Circle sessions, restorative justice circles, and coaching for individuals, organizations, and institutions. A certified Second Circle Facilitator through the Kahakulei Institute, Joshua’s work draws from Indigenous frameworks, somatic practices, and the lineage of thinkers such as Grace Lee Boggs and Paulo Freire. He lives with his wife and remains committed to building a global community of belonging — where empathy, equity, and accountability are practiced, not just discussed.

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About George Cassidy Payne

George Cassidy Payne is a journalist, poet, and essayist whose work explores politics, culture, grief, and the moral imagination. A longtime community organizer and educator, he writes at the intersection of public life and inner life, often drawing on philosophy, lived experience, and place. His essays and reported pieces have appeared in local and national outlets, and his poetry has been widely shared for its clarity, urgency, and compassion. He also works as a 988 Suicide Prevention Counselor and has taught philosophy and ethics at the college level. He lives in upstate New York and believes writing can still widen the circle of belonging.