Dozens of cities and counting!

Imagine a Nonviolent City, where everyone strives to promote nonviolence, where all institutions teach nonviolent skills, where violence no longer runs rampant. This is our vision. This is our work.

The Nonviolent Cities Project not only envisions cities that could become nonviolent, it is working to make this vision a reality across the US and the world.

Inspired by Nonviolent Carbondale, Illinois, Pace e Bene has been working with organizers across the country to implement nonviolence in every sector of our communities, including the city council, police department, school system, library system, health care system, religious communities, and nonprofit organizations.

From “Nonviolent Morro Bay” in California to “Nonviolent Owensboro” in Kentucky to “Nonviolent Austin” in Texas to “Twin Cities Nonviolent” in Minnesota, the Nonviolent Cities Project fosters nonviolent actions (like protests, boycotts, and strikes), nonviolent solutions (like restorative justice, renewable energy, and trauma healing), and nonviolent policies (like affordable housing and healthcare, community safety teams, and violence de-escalation).

Wherever systemic or structural violence exists, Nonviolent Cities work to dismantle it and replace it with the viable alternatives that form the infrastructure of a culture of nonviolence.

We invite you to work with people in your local community to make your city a “Nonviolent City.” With “Nonviolent Carbondale” as a model, we invite you to call together activists and local leaders to launch this movement in your community, to put the word “nonviolent” in front of your city, and to help others envision, organize and work for the vision of a city rooted in nonviolence.

Nonviolent Cities organizers will promote the vision, teach nonviolence, and inspire people at every level in their community to work together for a nonviolent community. This will include:

reaching out to everyone from the mayor and city council members,
all religious and civic leaders,
youth and grassroots activists,
the poor and marginalized,
educators and healthcare workers,
children and the elderly,
housing authorities, the police chief, police officers and
news reporters and local media.

Together, we can address the issues of violence in our cities and pursue the possibilities of nonviolence in our local communities. Interested? Let us know!

Thanks to Robert Ferrell and Interfaith Mission Service for making this video.

NONVIOLENT CITIES WILL WORK TO:

Identify and address all forms of violence, including physical, structural, systemic, cultural, and more
Foster a culture of nonviolence in each person and institution
Put up signs calling for nonviolence everywhere in the community
Teach nonviolence in schools, faith groups, community groups, institutions, and more
Organize trainings in nonviolent action, de-escalation, personal and interpersonal nonviolence, nonviolent communication, and more
Call upon organizations, businesses, faith communities, etc. to promote nonviolence
Identify and advance nonviolent solutions to social justice issues
Dismantle racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, xenophobia, and oppression in all its forms
Divest city, institutional, and individual funds from violence, including weapons, militarism, and fossil fuels
End poverty and economic injustice, promote living wages and housing justice
End police violence, institutionalize nonviolence in police departments, demilitarize police, and move funds into social responders and nonviolent alternatives to policing
Replace punitive justice with restorative justice in schools and the broader justice system
Organize to end domestic violence and teach relational nonviolence among family members, spouses/partners, and toward all children
Work to end gun violence and engage local communities in resolving conflicts nonviolently
Pursue more nonviolent immigration programs and policies
Reform local jails and prisons so they use nonviolent approaches, and educate guards and prisoners in nonviolence
Address local environmental destruction, climate change, and environmental racism, and work for clean water, solar and wind power, and a 100% green community
In general, do everything possible to help their local community become more disarmed, more reconciled, more just, more welcoming, more inclusive, and more nonviolent.

Though this is a broad, ambitious vision, we believe it is an idea whose time has come, a new step forward in the visionary nonviolence of Mahatma Gandhi and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

See nonviolentcarbondale.org to learn how they have begun and continue their project.
See the “7 Steps Toward A Nonviolent City” here.
Read “The Architecture of a Nonviolent City” here.
Watch “Nonviolent Cities 101” w/ Nonviolent Morro Bay here.
Watch Cop-Free Schools w/ Twin Cities Nonviolent & EMERGE here.

Together, we will take new, creative steps toward justice, disarmament and peace, and work for a new culture of nonviolence.

FAQ

Is it okay if we’re a small town, not a city? Yes. There are Nonviolent Cities Projects in tiny communities and big metropolises. All are welcome.

Do my city officials have to approve? No. It’s great if they do, however. For example, Nonviolent Morro Bay and Nonviolent Opelika got their city councils and mayors to make proclamations declaring their community part of the Nonviolent Cities Project.

Do we have to be nonviolent already? No. “Nonviolent” Cities is a goal we’re moving toward. Most of our Nonviolent Cities Projects are trying to end violence and implement nonviolent solutions, step-by-step.

Just getting started? Join the 2024 Nonviolent Cities Cohort For New and Emerging Groups.

LIST OF CITIES WORKING ON THE NONVIOLENT CITIES PROJECT.

These cities are in various stages of organizing. Some have launched and have held events, and others are in the initial planning or exploration stages. If you are in one of the active communities listed below and want to get involved we encourage you to contact them. For others, email us for contact information.

If your community is not listed, sign up at the bottom of the page to let us know that you’d like to start exploring this project.

ACTIVE NONVIOLENT CITIES