Peace Fellows Visit Telpochcalli in Little Village
On Friday, June 14, Chicago Peace Fellow Maria Velazquez invited her peers to the Telpochcalli Elementary School, an institution in the Little Village neighborhood that the community organization she leads, called the Telpochcalli Community Education Project, helped to create.
Maria hosted a street festival for members of the community to enjoy time together to start the weekend. The event featured a youth band and stoneware made by students of the school. The festival featured an all-youth band and food provided by local residents. The tortillas were hand-made and the aguas frescas (juice) were freshly squeezed. Around 100 members of the community sang and danced to enjoy the breezy spring evening.
According to their website, “Telpochcalli (Nahuatl for "house of youth") is a small school dedicated to integrating the Mexican arts and culture into an innovative academic and social experience and development of fully bilingual/biliterate students in English and Spanish. The school is comprised of students, teachers, parents and artists who aspire to nurture an understanding and appreciation of the self, family, community and world.”
Maria, a Chicago Peace Fellow, has been the executive director of the Telpochcalli Community Education Project for over three years. She started out as a volunteer at the school and when the position of executive director opened up, she was reluctant to apply at first. Maria can be shy but she is very loving and compassionate and works really hard to take care of the people she serves. She explained, “I do this work to help people. I really like to see people happy.”
Maria gave other Peace Fellows a tour of the school and their community space. She showed her “living” asset map where she encourages parents and volunteers to add what they see as assets in the community to the map. She noted that it helps people see the value of their community and people really like doing it. Maria talked about her summer program with teens that is completely led by the teens. This summer, they are focusing on health and how they can have an impact.
“It took some time to get them going [in reference to the teen council], but now they are leading it and we are now working to get younger people involved so that they can learn how to lead earlier".
The Telpochcalli Community Education Project’s roots go back to 1998, when a group of parents in the Little Village neighborhood got together to advocate for better educational facilities. Just as it is now, Little Village’s population was growing fast with new immigrants as well as many young families, and the parents were upset by the failure of the Chicago Public Schools to fulfill a promise to build a high school in the neighborhood.
Many parents participated in a sit-in and hunger strike that got public attention and ultimately, a new administration at CPS agreed to build the Little Village/Lawndale High School. Under Maria’s leadership, the Telpochcalli Community Education Project has continued to be a strong advocate for Little Village, recently stopping a merger of the Telpochcalli Elementary School, which is already overcrowded, with a high school in the area.
The Chicago Peace Fellows will be active all summer with events and knowledge sharing. Stay tuned for more articles and opportunities to join us.
Peace Fellow Spotlight: Robin Cline
How has Gather informed the work that you do? Have you made any meaningful connections between Gather and your work?
These past few weeks, I’ve been reading “Winners Take All,” by Anand Giridharadas. This book, a sort of “emperor's new clothes” take on how social innovation projects are packaged in the modern context of wealth, philanthropy, and big technology, is not an enjoyable read. The book presents person after person involved in social innovation projects that at first glance are projects touted for the greater good, but upon closer inspection are problematized by deep power imbalances.
While making my way through this good but troubling read, I was spending time with neighborhood leaders from parts of Chicago struggling with violence in their communities. The book didn’t talk about people like us. In “Winners Take All,” there was no mention of the urgent and sometimes invisible work of boots-on-the-ground work folks do, bringing people together, connecting with those in need, being a bright spot resource for communities, noticing and connecting community assets.
[quote]I am thankful for the Peace Fellows opportunity to brighten the light on the invisible work we do in our communities, but most importantly, for making us visible to each other. I’ve gotten a lot of tidbits of wisdom in these last few months simply by being in the presence of the other fellows, but also from literal things they have said. -- Robin Cline[/quote]
A recent new friend from the Peace Fellows, Diane Latiker, shared that she tells teens she works with, “We don’t do what we don’t want to do.” I understood what she meant right away. That as a culture, we are we excited to shop for the shoes we want, we know how to crave the food we want, we know how to want certain things. But we are less skilled in knowing how to want important things, like peace in our communities, and civic action. As part of the Chicago Peace Fellows, I appreciate the time to think about how to activate and steward civic desire. And on the other hand, another Peace Fellow, Jacquelyn Moore, when speaking of desire, said, “Passion is not a business plan.”
Identifying and activating the passion, then putting tools behind it, came up over and over again in our conversations. The biggest advice from all the Fellows that was more implicit than stated was, “Don’t stop. Keep doing. That’s what we do.”
As we embark on making decisions about our Chicago Peace Fellows summer projects, I gather the advice, the experience, and the new shared language we have about technical and sticky problems, and am eager to “Not stop. Keep doing, because that’s we do.” I look forward to discovering how we make the space and set the conditions for peacemaking in our neighborhoods. GATHER has given us the gift of time to attune ourselves to others in this city who are doing the vital work of acknowledging and lifting up both the pain and the peace that exist alongside each other in our city. GATHER has given us a chance to work together, nudge each other with new shared language, help each other, and make what we do stronger.
What are some important updates in your current work?
I am lucky to work for two organizations doing community cohesion work in Chicago. I work for NeighborSpace, a land trust in Chicago that supports community-managed leaders in many neighborhoods throughout Chicago. Summer is a particularly vibrant time for NeighborSpace, as you can imagine. Neighborhood leaders are gearing up to host community builds, garden celebrations, skill shares, and planting days all over the city. We are particularly excited about this summer as our community partners kick off both nature play/build projects and programming in Little Village, neighborhood farms in Bronzeville, and urban ag projects in Englewood. I also lead the organization Opera-Matic, a participatory arts group based in Humboldt Park. We are presenting a three-part summer series in three Chicago Park District parks entitled “Lost and Found.”
This project highlights for families and neighbors the ways in which we honor both the loss we experience as a community and the empowerment we mobilize as a group when we remember our shared places together. At “Lost and Found” events this summer, we will sing, remember, find things, and enjoy each other.
One Year Anniversary of Shyne!
Hello to the global network from San Diego!
I am pleased to share an update on the work of Shyne on our one year anniversary!
The Social Garden, a new space designed to include holistic alternative therapies to assist with healing complex trauma, officially launched with their Sprang Thang on May 25, 2019. It's a space where Shyne held its first Leadership Retreat Day back in April. We are pleased to share that the Social Garden will be home for Project SEEN on a bi-weekly basis moving forward, providing artistic expression and creative writing classes led by survivors as well.
The Social Garden is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization based in Oceanside, California. It is the sister program to the Victory Garden Sanctuary that will include a tiny home village of safe homes for survivors of sex trafficking and cults. Also, they’ll be partnering with more organizations that help survivors of sex trafficking by focusing on business development, professional development, leadership, and other survivor services.
[quote]At this time, Shyne already has 11 survivor-owned businesses in the network we are calling "The Velvet Tent."[/quote]
In the photo below is Naseem Murakami from Healing Sound Alchemy in Los Angeles. Her business partner, Andrea Saenz, is a friend of mine and they've been running events where they also support Shyne with donations.
We are working on some summer sound healing events for survivors, yoga classes free of charge, and an end-of-summer music event fundraiser. In addition to all this, Shyne has 10 new volunteers to train as soon as possible, so we’re creating those screening systems now and will launch Biz Dev LV2 on June 19 with 3 new survivor-owned businesses joining the class. Really what is being created is commUNITY - a place where survivors of sexual exploitation come to learn, share, connect, heal, find resources, network and listen.
Thank you for helping us celebrate our one-year anniversary of Shyne on June 9. I'm working to put out a newsletter soon with more updates about clients’ successes! Be inspired ❤
Solving Tough Issues through Community Parliaments in Uganda
Warm greetings from Uganda!
On Saturday, April 20, Youth Leadership for Restoration and Development (YOLRED) organized a community dialogue, called a ‘Kabake,’ where the community was granted a platform to share their experiences and derive solutions. The dialogue was attended by, among others, local council leaders, the police, child rights activists, business men and women, and the general community.
In the Layibi Division of the Gulu Municipality, there had been an epidemic of rape, robbery and violent attacks, especially on women in Library Parish. The community was engulfed in fear and hopelessness. Women could not walk out of their houses past sun-set if they were to avoid rape and attacks. Those in business had their property and money robbed, even in broad daylight, by a known gang who threatened them with violence or murder. And yet both the police and local leaders could not help the situation.
Mrs. Beatrice Ayat, a member of the local council and secretary for community service and production who represented the division chairperson, said the situation in the area had gotten out of hand because the perpetrators of violent crimes who started as children and would only steal from people had grown up and gained confidence to attack directly.
Ayat said they openly robbed people and raped women, threatening to beat the victims or torch their houses if the crimes were reported.
[quote]“I am so thankful to YOLRED for organizing this dialogue. When we have a problem in our community and we meet and discuss, we can always find a solution,” Ayat said.[/quote]
The officer in charge of Layibi Division police station, Assistant Inspector of Police Wilbert Adekere, said as police, they have been aware of the insecurity in the area but could not take any action because no member of the community was opening up to tell them who the perpetrators were.
Assistant Inspector Adekere consequently invited members of the affected community to secretly walk into his office and tip him on any security problem.
The Honourable Rose Aparo, a member of the local council, said she was going to forward the people’s plight to the council for discussion. She expressed confidence that the council would arrive to a logical conclusion that would save the community.
Mr. Odong Walter (We-yoo), the Community Sensitization Officer, said he was going to meet with the area Local Councilor One and his executives to forge a lasting solution to the problem. Collins Chwa Kisembo, the Counsellor and Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at YOLRED, appreciated the community for attending the meeting in large numbers. T
The former child soldiers also had the opportunity to share their experiences and receive healing in what we called testimonial therapy, which aims to heal the traumas and symptoms of depression, low mood and PTSD within the vulnerable populations.
In addition to sharing news from our recent Community Parliament, we are pleased to provide an exciting update on the project for which we raised funds through Indiegogo: the construction of a community resource center to offer counselling, training and recreational services to the victims. Some days it feels impossible to get this up and running, but we remembered one thing that was also core during our GATHER class that "adaptive challenges require changes in values, beliefs and approaches to work."
To that end, we have set off with a group savings and loan plan with the hope of driving the group towards a self-reliant, participatory development that should be sustainable. "Start with what you have" is the principle we applied for the construction of the community resource center. The Indiegogo funds we raised during GATHER for this project was not enough to acquire the land by itself, but we are building on these donations from around the world with local support.
[quote] We are happy to report that together we were already able to secure a piece of land, where we plan to have a permanent headquarters for YOLRED![/quote]
My sincere thanks for the support the entire team at the Goldin Institute gave us during our GATHER course, especially with the Indiegogo campaign, which made all the above development possible. I will share additional updates as we progress on our services to the community and the development of our headquarters.
Best regards,
Geoffrey
Where Non Violence is Personal
The Chicago Peace Fellows recently met with a unique group of activists who are teaching non-violence techniques to gang members in the city’s toughest neighborhoods.
“My job is to stop the violence,” said Kenya Hardy, street outreach worker with the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago. “I do whatever I have to do, like a cousin, like a big brother they can look up to.”
On some days, Kenya accompanies the young men he works with to court, but on others, he may help them get stable housing or even mediate a dispute with a girlfriend.
[quote]“I’m here to show them love and show them that violence ain’t the key.”-- Kenya Hardy[/quote]
The Peace Fellows met the staff of Institute for Nonviolence Chicago in their office in the Austin neighborhood on the far West Side on May 16, engaging in an intense conversation about which strategies are actually effective. Founded just three years old, teh Institute for Nonviolence Chicago operates in 3 of the city’s most violent neighborhoods, Austin, West Garfield Park and Back of the Yards, using an approach that takes into account the high levels of trauma in these communities and aims for restorative justice, rehabilitation over punishment and vengeance. Eighty percent of Nonviolence Chicago’s 20-person team is hired from these three neighborhoods.
Each of the neighborhoods comes with distinct challenges, according to Tara Dabney, the group’s director of development and communications. Austin receives the greatest number of people released from incarceration – called ‘returning citizens’ – while Garfield Park includes a major interstate highway, which attracts open air sales of illegal drugs and prostitution, and Back of the Yards has a conflict between different gangs that has persisted for several generations. In Austin and Back of the Yards, Nonviolence Chicago has been able to negotiate truces that have greatly reduced the number of homicides and other acts of violence, building relationships with open-minded police commanders and officers. These neighborhoods and six others account for one-half of the homicides in Chicago, and the ultimate goal is to convince elected leaders to use government money for anti-violence efforts.
[quote]“In every large city where they have seen a major reduction, they have seen a large investment of public dollars” Tara Dabney[/quote]
Staff member Artemmeo Williams spent nine years in prison and found there were few services available for returning citizens when he emerged. Williams relied on his family “to reintegrate into society and not go back into prison.” In his work for Nonviolence Chicago, he provides the full spectrum of support to other young men coming back to the Austin neighborhood, even interacting with the Illinois Department of Corrections before their release.
“Whatever they need to sustain life, we’re there for them,” Artemmeo explained.
Asked by Peace Fellow Sokoni Karanja whether he might provide training to a South Side community, Artemmeo responded with enthusiasm.
[quote]“We’ll go to Mars if we have to.” Artemmeo Williams[/quote]
In her work in the Back of the Yards, staff member Elena Casada provides assistance to survivors of violence, who do receive limited government assistance but lose support after several weeks. Elena accompanies families to funeral homes, guides them through compensation applications, and finds counseling as well as support groups. She works with the understanding that her relationship with these families will be long-term, as the waiting lists for trauma-informed counselors are currently one year long.
“Whatever it takes to help them find a new normal, we do,” Elena said.
Peace Fellow Frank Latin, founder and executive director of Westside Media Project, asked the staff of Nonviolence Chicago about the effects of criminal justice policy on communities, and how to stop criminal activity.
Kenya Hardy answered that current policy makes it more likely that juvenile gang members will commit gun crimes, while many gang members actually prefer prison, because they receive stable housing and food as well as a modicum of security.
“The system is not working,” Kenya summed up. “Young men get comfortable and safe in prison. In jails, there’s a structure.”
Artemmeo added that in many cases, the young men involved in gangs wanted to get away from criminal activity, but had no resources to leave the gang structure.
“Our community is depleted of resources so we can’t do but run to the corner for a job,” Artemmeo said. “They’re not living. They’re surviving.”
Peace Fellow Maria Velazquez from the Telpochcalli Community Education Project noted that organizers at Nonviolence Chicago needed to be creative as well as flexible to respond to multiple needs and changing situations.
Peace Fellow Johnny Payton, who has extensive experience doing anti-violence work himself in the Cabrini Green public housing development and other communities, underscored the importance of building alliances across communities.
[quote]“We’ve just got to be here ‘hood to ‘hood to help each other.” -- Johnny Payton[/quote]
Peace Fellow Lisa Daniels lost her own son to gun violence seven years ago in an incident in which he was both a perpetrator and a victim, and currently serves on the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, where she is able to provide guidance and advice to try and stop other young men from killing or being killed.
[quote]“There has to be a place where we connect on a human level. They ain’t trying to shoot. They ain’t trying to kill. They want love.” -- Lisa Daniels[/quote]
For both the Peace Fellows and the outreach staff at Nonviolence Chicago, anti-violence work is highly personal. Case Manager Delano Macintyre added that he has a record for possession of a firearm himself and that his own son currently receives services from Nonviolence Chicago.
“I’m happy to see kids doing good,” Delano said. “If we don’t go to work, my son is in trouble.”
Ladies of Virtue Recognize Youth Leadership
On Saturday, May 18, the Ladies of Virtue (LOV), founded and led by Chicago Peace Fellow Jamila Trimuel, hosted their 2019 Recognition Ceremony to honor high school and eighth grade graduates as they move on to the next chapter in the program.
[quote]"Our 8th Annual Recognition Ceremony is a time where our Ladies of Virtue sisters showcase their talent, share what they learned throughout the year, and express how they made a difference in their communities.” -- Jamila Trimuel, Ladies of Virtue[/quote]
“Over 150 of our dearest supporters - comprised of our LOV family and friends, sponsors and community partners - joined us to recognize all of our girl's wonderful accomplishments," Jamila explained.
The youngest of the mentees, affectionately named the Gems, are drawn from the 4th – 8th grades. When the ladies graduate from the 8th grade, they become high school mentees, affectionately named Queens, which continues from the 9th through 12th grades. High school graduates are encouraged to join the LOV 4 Life program for alumni and sometimes even move on to become mentors themselves.
The program opened with a welcome video from founder Jamila Trimuel in which she recognized the legacy of her former mentor, the Rev. Willie T. Barrow. The Rev. Barrow paved the way for Trimuel to follow, leading her down the path to her passion of mentoring. Trimuel also acknowledged the Chicago Foundation for Women for their recent $35,000 grant to LOV to help with operations.
Throughout the ceremony, mentees from the Gems and Queens groups showcased their talents in the form of spoken word, theatrical skits, and dance performances. They also shared what they learned throughout the year and recapped some of their favorite moments, including college tours, senior trips, and a professional etiquette luncheon they attended earlier this year.
LOV took extra care of their seniors during the recognition ceremony by gifting them with scholarships in excess of $5,000 and care packages full of items to get the ladies started on their college journeys. Most importantly, each high school graduate was personally recognized by her mentor in a very emotional farewell speech that should guide them through college and into their adulthood.
Advisors Meet to Discuss the Chicago Peace Fellows Progress
Advisors to the Goldin Institute’s Chicago Peace Fellows initiative came together over dinner April 30 to hear updates about the Fellows and discuss the implications of their work in a context of the city’s ongoing crisis of violence.
Over plates of pasta at a restaurant across the street from City Hall, Goldin Institute Executive Director Travis Rejman, Program Coordinator Burrell Poe and Special Advisor Gabe Gonzalez briefed the attendees on the Peace Fellows’ progress through the capacity-building curriculum the Goldin Institute created based on our 17 years of experience working with grassroots organizers around the world.
The Peace Fellows initiative was launched earlier this year with the support of the Conant Family Foundation to connect and equip 19 prior grantees from the Chicago Fund for Safe and Peaceful Communities who were provided with a stipend as well as an iPad pre-loaded with the GATHER learning software authored by the Goldin Institute.
John Zeigler, director of DePaul University’s Egan Office of Urban Education and Community Partnerships, participated in the Peace Fellows workshop dedicated to “asset mapping,” and came away impressed. Asset mapping - creating geographic representations of community-based resources - must be done methodically to be effective, he cautioned, but many of the Peace Fellows had long histories in their neighborhoods, which they used to inform their maps.
[quote]“Many people in the room were legends in their own right. What was rich in the conversation was that they could connect stories to their assets. What I heard was knitting together their stories so they became a map.” -- John Zeigler [/quote]
Deborah Bennett, a senior program officer at the Polk Bros. Foundation, one of the philanthropies participating in the Fund for Safe and Peaceful communities and supporter of the Peace Fellows program, said interviews with prior grantees revealed that many felt isolated, even from other organizers who were in the same neighborhood. They were focused mainly on their day-to-day struggles and were rarely able to get an overview of their own communities, let alone the city as a whole.
Deborah shared, "What we learned was that they really appreciated the value of bringing people together so they could figure out what was going on in their communities.” Deborah was certain, therefore, that the Peace Fellows would be able to help each other in their work even as they met with people in key institutions and shaped their understanding of life in the neighborhoods.
[quote]“We’re lifting up the ideas of those most impacted by violence.” -- Deborah Bennett[/quote]
Mimi Frankel, a member of the Frankel Family Foundation’s Board of Directors and the Goldin Institute’s Board of Advisors, questioned the efficacy of traditional approaches to counteracting gangs and illegal drug trafficking, and suggested greater involvement from the corporate sector.
[quote]“Businesses are out there and they’re looking for a way to be involved." -- Mimi Frankel [/quote]
Teny Gross, executive director of the Institute for Non-Violence, said Chicago was behind other large cities such as New York or Los Angeles in developing strategies for reducing violence, but was optimistic that the key players were in place and major change would soon be realized.
The dinner was also attended by Leslie Ramyk, executive director of the Conant Family Foundation; Lisa Dush, a DePaul University professor who is conducting an academic evaluation of GATHER; Keith Lewis from the University of Illinois at Chicago; Leif Elsmo, executive director of community & external affairs at University of Chicago Medicine; Teresa Zeigler; Gia Biagi, director of Urbanism and Civic Impact at Studio Gang; and Goldin Institute Chief of Staff Oz Ozburn.
UNSUNG HEROES: Becoming a Chicago Peace Fellow
The part of the South Shore community that I represent has a large number of multi-unit apartment buildings with a very transient population. The need for family services was explored by our late pastor, Dr. Ronald J. Behm, who instituted day care services at both the church and our community center. With the increase in violence, our outreach initiative I AM MY BROTHER’S KEEPER UNITY DAY, founded by the Rev. Bailey M. Gant, sought to address this issue believing we could “change the culture, stop the violence.”
In other words, if we provide safe, positive alternatives for our youth, they will have more of a chance to be productive members of society.
[quote]Becoming a Chicago Peace Fellow is a timely, refreshing opportunity in that it has helped me to learn more about myself and my leadership style, validated my life’s work, and connected me with passionate community leaders throughout the city who are dedicated to providing a unified approach to understanding and promoting positive initiatives to combat violence. Our collaborative efforts will surely make a difference.[/quote]
As we take the time to connect with our community peace partners through neighborhood walks, I have particularly embraced the theory of Asset Based Community Development. This paradigm shift encourages us to consider the assets in our community rather than the deficits. I immediately was drawn to this concept and explored ideas of how I can approach community members, civic leaders and businesses as we work toward our unified goals of peacemaking.
I very much enjoyed attending University of Chicago Crime Lab Executive Director Jens Ludwig’s presentation at the City Club of Chicago with other Peace Fellows. Ludwig cited crime statistics and inferred that a stronger, more positive relationship with the police department could make a difference. After that, I had the opportunity to engage in several conversations with policemen in my district, resulting in my agreement to be more active in CAPS meetings to address the concerns and present ideas of how we can build a stronger presence in our community.
Chicago Peace Fellows Map What's Working
Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) lies at the heart of the work of Goldin Institute and GATHER. The Chicago Peace Fellows got some time to hear from one of the biggest proponents of the philosophy, John Zeigler, who serves at faculty for the ABCD Institute as well Director of the Steans Center at DePaul University in Chicago.
In his opening remarks to the Peace Fellows during the Asset Mapping workshop, he discussed several aspects of ABCD and how it is a transformational way of viewing communities.
[quote]“In mapping, you have to understand the story, every community has a story. Who’s story is a map telling?” - John Ziegler [/quote]
We then got to learn about the assets that are present in the communities of the Chicago Peace Fellows. Each Chicago Peace Fellow shared an asset map of their communities and what they consider assets. The Fellows each chose many different ways of expressing their assets in the community. Many chose different assets such as churches, schools, and/or businesses. Others chose influential members of their communities and service providers. Parks and other built parts of the environment made their way to maps from Little Village to Roseland.
Chicago Peace Fellow Diane Latiker shared her map and focused on the wide range of assets, including informal gathering spaces in the neighborhood. As one example, Diane shared, “Old Fashioned Donuts has been in the community for decades. I am proud that people come from around the world to eat donuts here.”
The last part of the workshop was a robust conversation about how their maps intersect and what kind of information would be important for a shared asset map. They talked about ways that their organizations overlap such as similar services provided and overlapping service areas. Many talked about capturing information related to informal community leaders and informal gatherings. The Chicago Peace Fellows expressed that a shared asset map would include how they are connected to each other and how they can support one another.
[quote]“How do we capture the memories and experiences people have in communities around buildings that are not there anymore?” - Robert Beikman[/quote]
Principles and Practices that Empower Shared Learning
On Wednesday, April 3, the Chicago Peace Fellows came together to build a list of principles and practices that will unlock shared learning and collaborationfor the group. This workshop was hosted by Peace Fellow Alex Levesque at his Automotive Mentor Group, where he trains young men and women to remodel classic cars. His program recruits youth at high risk of being involved with violence.
Alex started the workshop with a tour of the facilities and details of his program, sharing how he helps young people find purpose through their work with cars. He told us about his triumphs in helping young people find gainful employment and some of his challenges with reaching young people and the barriers they face around employment, homelessness and violence in the community and at home.
We started our conversation about the differences between best practices and best principles with Alex’s locker full of belts. He has a locker full of belts because it is a requirement that everyone has a belt on when working on the shop floor. He noted that many young people do not wear belts and that it would be a challenge to have to turn away a participant simply because they didn’t have the appropriate attire. Many of his participants come from different parts of town and have long and complex commutes. His best principle is safety first and a best practice that he developed was to have belts at the shop for anyone that needed one.
After this conversation, we moved into a workshop where we sat in different groups and discussed what our best principles can be as a group. The group reflected on the course curriculum and reviewed the dozens of comments on the theme on the discussion board.
After a process of grouping comments into themes and prioritizing values that we can share and enact, the group refined the list to the following five core principles:
- Communicate openly, inclusively, honestly and respectfully.
- Promote compassion, harmony and peace.
- Embrace mutual support and accountability.
- Adopt an intergenerational and intersectional worldview.
- Foster a growth mindset.
The group will continue to grapple with these principles but they committed to adhering to these as a group in how they engage with each other, the curriculum and the communities in which we work. Often, what is shared between practitioners are best practices but we focus on best principles because the practices should fit the context, and principles encourage others to develop practices based on what’s best for them.
