News & Updates From Nonviolent Cities in Winter-Spring 2023
It’s only Spring 2023 and the Nonviolent Cities Project has been bursting into action like flowers. Local initiatives have been holding numerous actions and events in towns, cities, and communities across the United States. Nonviolent Cities work to dismantle direct, cultural, and structural violence in local communities, and implement viable nonviolent alternatives. Each group organizes trainings and actions, responding to the specific needs of each place. From disaster preparedness to getting peace books to schoolchildren, here are some endeavors the Nonviolent Cities have been working on:
Nonviolent Morro Bay, California spent several months early this year trying to recover from the 100 year flood. Many people lost homes or had dwellings and vehicles buried in mud. For unhoused residents, the disaster was an unmitigated catastrophe, especially since the county shut down the safe parking site. It has prompted Nonviolent Morro Bay to consider how disaster preparedness can be integrated into the Nonviolent Cities Project. The group has also been establishing relationships with the new all-women city council and county commission. They have reminded the incoming officials that Morro Bay has passed multiple resolutions toward a nonviolent city, and are providing educational information about what that means for their policy making. Nonviolent Morro Bay and its parent organization, Yes We Can Peacebuilders, is starting a youth group in a neighboring town which will build their own youth-led course on peace and nonviolence. There is also an adult nonviolence education group, too. One relatively recent shift toward a Nonviolent City is the mental health coordinator employed by the city that has really helped with domestic violence and violence in unhoused communities.
Nonviolent Opelika, Alabama held a Remembrance Day on April 1st for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Memphis Sanitation Strike. Youth and other community members attended, as well as the Opelika and Auburn Moms Demand Action Group. They held a unity walk in the Samford Community and the theme was "Working Together In Unity and Love." A few days later, they held another event on Beloved Community on April 4th in nearby Auburn, AL. On April 22nd, they joined the memorial for a child who was murdered through child abuse. The local chapter of the NAACP is doing work on child abuse prevention. Members of the Nonviolent Opelika group will join a peace march against violence toward children. Others in the group are working with the Poor People’s Campaign, with special focus put on the economic situation and the impacts of recent tornadoes. Pastor Carolyn Morton, the coordinator of Nonviolent Opelika, has been collaborating with Moms Demand Action and Every Town during National Gun Violence Survivor Week. She has been doing interviews on the Columbus, GA, TV station on the cost of gun violence.
Nonviolent Little Rock, Arkansas is coordinated by members of the Arkansas Peace & Justice Coalition. In February, they invited Rivera Sun, nationwide program coordinator for the Nonviolent Cities Project, to be the keynote speaker at their annual dinner. Since then, they have been working on plans for an Alternatives To Violence Project (AVP) training, looking ahead to their annual Arkansas Peace Week in September. In March, the group hosted a Pilgrimage For Peace from one side of the Arkansas River over a bridge to the other side as a memorial to the 125 people who have lost their lives to violence in Little Rock this year.
Nonviolent Owensboro, Kentucky showed up at a chili cookoff to help mainstream nonviolence and invite people to get engaged with nonviolence. They are training members in nonviolent communication and hope to hold a monthly training. They have also been holding trainings in the Six Principles of Kingian Nonviolence. Another way in which they teach peace and nonviolence is through folding origami peace cranes and decorating them. These cranes will be displayed on their Peace Cranes Christmas Tree display at the local public library. In June, the group will attend the local Juneteenth celebration and share information on nonviolence and The Poor People’s Campaign.
Nonviolent Joliet, Illinois has been working hard on hosting a local candidates forum with all the candidates. They did outreach to junior college to request questions to pose at the forum. The forum was a huge success and spread the word about Nonviolent Joliet throughout the city. In addition, they also asked everybody who was running for office if they would sign a Nonviolent City Project proclamation. Each of the candidates said yes, and the group now plans to hold them to that. They have also been making buttons for their events that say “Nonviolent City Project Joliet. Are we safe? And do we matter?”
Twin Cities Nonviolent (St. Paul/Minneapolis) supported the Green Summit on Earth Day at the University of Minnesota. On June 21st, they will be hosting a speed-meeting event at a local brewery to encourage cross pollination between nonviolent social justice groups in the area. They are looking ahead to their annual 12 Days Free From Violence in September, setting up a keynote speaker and working on a peace day walk on the Mississippi River.
Nonviolent Louisville, Kentucky held a Nonviolent Louisville Empowering Young Leaders Symposium with 70 students and 20 educators that went very well.
Nonviolent Tucson, Arizona has been undergoing a co-creative process with local members of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) to decide how to proceed with their project. They held a penny poll with multiple options and have decided to work on getting peace and justice books in the hands of kids. The WILPF branch intends to buy two sets of Jane Addams Children's Book Award winners for the community. They will meet with elementary (K-8) classroom teachers and librarians to determine the need to teach the themes of these books, share ways to use the TEACHING BOOKS database to find and use Jane Addams books and related curricular materials, and do an inservice training if invited. They will also consider applying for the Jane Addams Peace Association grant or other grants to bring an author of one of these books for classroom visits, facilitate the visit, and follow up with teachers about the visit.
Nonviolent Seaford, Delaware is partnering with Habitat for Humanity to participate in Rock the Block in May. They will provide free help with tree trimming, yard work, and minor home repairs. The group’s coordinator, Beth Kopicki, recently became a Master Wellness Volunteer through the Cooperative Extension Service and is training to teach mindfulness strategies to implement through Nonviolent Seaford. They have also been meeting many community members and doing outreach about Nonviolent Seaford. Six entries from Seaford to the statewide Visionary Peace Youth Art exhibit sponsored by Pacem in Terris have been selected for the traveling exhibit. These young artists' work will be on display in various locations across Delaware. All of Seaford's young peace artists will be honored by an exhibit and display at the Seaford District Library later this spring.
Nonviolent Prescott, Arizona has an active and involved steering committee of 10. They are taking their time to determine next steps and will be planning next month; probably going to identify specific action steps for the Nonviolent Prescott effort. Each month, they present another film in their Movies For Meaning series, often focusing on national themes, such as Black History Month.
Nonviolent Austin, Texas continues to hold their Friday vigil at the state capital. They held a peace rally for Ukraine and are working with the Poor People’s Campaign on a speakers’ event. Recently, they hosted peace activist Medea Benjamin on her book tour.
Nonviolent Wellfleet, Massachusetts: Members of Nonviolent Wellfleet have been active at a number of events in the area. On MLK Day in January, they marched to raise awareness and money for the local food bank. Their January Call to Young Poets also brought a submission from Kimesha Harriott (who was subsequently awarded a Changemaker Youth Grant for a multi-cultural festival which will be held in May). In February, Nonviolent Wellfleet coordinator Harriet Jerusha Korim was involved in the collaborative planning, writing, co-presenting and performing of an interfaith celebration of New Year of the Trees by Jewish and Christian climate justice groups. On 3.21.23, their local climate project CapeCool.org worked with 350.org Cape Cod to participate in thirdact.org's first national climate action. They confronted the 4 "dirtiest" banks that are supporting new fossil fuels projects. A music parody video by #theBeatGreens wrote, produced, performed and posted for the occasion.
Anyone can be part of the Nonviolent Cities Project. If you’d like to learn more, connect to a local group, or start a project, learn more here.