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River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding
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A Letter From Our Executive Director, Jeffrey Weisberg
 Hello Dear Friends in Peace,
As Spring takes hold with emerging leaves, buds and flowers casting new life with smells and sights, we are taking pause to put in words some of our experience as we grow into new dimensions of our potential at RPCP.
We wanted to give you some highlights of these past few months with the hope to inspire you with Good News! Peace is alive and growing in spite of the daily tragedies, hardships and profound loss. While we never lose sight of this great cost to those we love and the countless more we do not know, we can take some small solace and trust that we are marching on towards a destiny of Peace.
Our overarching goal is to embed best and next practices of peacebuilding into existing systems such as the Department of Juvenile Justice, our Schools, within Law Enforcement, our Courts and in the minds and hearts of every citizen within our very own communities. We do believe that this is happening.
Just last week we received a call from our local Sheriff's Department confirming their desire for us to offer our Police Youth Dialogue Training to their Deputies. This training addresses the very pressing concern of disproportionate minority contact and the role that law enforcement has in enhancing relationships within communities. Police and now deputies will benefit from understanding adolescent brain development, the impact of trauma and effective ways to de-escalate tense interactions.
We're working with the school system to embed restorative justice practices to reduce suspensions and improve relationships. We advocate for and deliver social and emotional learning curriculum to build stronger brains and bigger hearts. And we continue to meet with our new superintendent and police chief with the hope of implementing other innovative strategies.
I could go on and on with the amazing and heartwarming news that we are involved in and in addition acknowledging other endeavors that are happening every day in many communities around the world. Let us never lose sight of what is possible when a small group of committed citizens stand for solutions and building relationships with the intention of providing safety, kindness, liberty and justice for all.
Thank you for walking the path with us.
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CHAMPION OF SERVICE AWARDED TO HEART PHOENIX
We
a
r
e so proud to announce that Heart just received
the C
hampi
on of Service Award as the volunteer of the year for the State of Florida. Christy Daly, Sec
retary of
the Department of Juvenile Justice, Chester Spellman, CEO of Volunteer Florida and several other State Dignitaries made the lovely presentation on the steps of the Capital Building in Tallahassee.
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Last Summer 17 youth joined RPCP and Be More Heroic for a week long sleepover camp in the mountains of California.
These young people went through quite a transformation within themselves and as a group as they explored the deeper meaning of leadership, authenticity, resilience, cooperation, compassion and trust with a new vision for taking it into their home communities for action and service. We filmed this event as a documentary. The following is a one minute SNEAK PEEK of their experience.
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IT'S OUR ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF OFFERING THE POLICE/YOUTH DIALOGUES!!!
It
 is one year since we started the police/youth DMC Dialogues (Disproportionate Minority Contact). We are so grateful to our Chief of Police, Tony Jones for inviting us to this pioneering effort to create more understanding and build relationships between cops and minority youth. It's working!
The picture is from last night's training. We will be starting this same type of training with the Alachua County Sheriff's Department in May. Thankful to Sheriff Sadie Darnell and Major Latrell Simmons!
We hear tell that UPD (University of Florida's Police Department) has expressed interest in offering this type of dialogue with students and it is our intention that
EVERYONE learns to resolve conflict through healthy communication in relationship thereby breaking the cycle of violence and creating a safer community.
We are most grateful to Jeffrey Weisberg for helping to create and craft the curriculum with GPD as well as facilitating this work with such heart and soul. You work magic!
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RPCP Community Peacebuilding Training Center
We hope to be offering our first two week live-in intensive community peacebuilding training in the early part of 2016 on this beautiful land in North Central Florida. Although still 8 - 10 months away, we are in the process of perfecting the programs we will be offering, working on manuals for participants, training additional trainers and thinking about all the wonderful ways we together can build strong individuals that can help forge the way in other communities to help embed best and next practices in existing systems.
Our deepest gratitude to the Aileen Getty Foundation, Richard C. Goldstein Private Foundation and the Dharma Foundation for their generosity in helping to support the manifestation of this center which would serve as a training camp, model and design process that could be translated to other communities throughout the country.
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Almost eleven years a
go, Jeffrey and Heart were part of a team that co-founded The Peace Alliance,
a nonprofit based in Washington DC that is a
grassroots educational and advocacy organization focused on transforming how individuals, communities, and nations res
pond to conflict and violence.
Heart remains an active Board Member. Much of what we learned during our time as national activists, we have applied to our local community...thus the birth of the River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding. We at RPCP are excited to introduce to the Peace Alliance's,
Be the Movement! Take a Step for Peace Initiative.
The Peace Alliance is committed to growing a movement of a million strong for peace. Together, we will create a critical mass necessary for peacebuilding to be our societal norm. We can make it happen!
Please visit the website at www.peacealliance.org to learn about the 5 Cornerstones of Peacebuilding and see how you can get involved!
Check out this awesome brand new video:
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Peace Through Sport - EXCITING PILOT PROGRAM!!!!
Gainesville Area Community Tennis Association and the River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding start our first 6 week Pilot Program at Boulware Springs Charter School for 3rd and 4th graders.
During this program, the University of Florida's
Sport Management Department is conducting a Pilot Study on the effects of Physical Literacy and Emotional Intelligence. We are focusing on using Tennis for Physical Literacy and emphasizing Conflict Resolution to gain Emotional Intelligence.
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RPCP's
Communication & Self Esteem Series is currently running
at the following locations:
Department of Juvenile Justice - Youth on Probation
Big Brothers/Big Sisters - Matching mentor volunteers with Children
Project Youth Build - Co-Ed Youth 16-24 years - Institute for Workforce Innovation
Union Juvenile Residential Facility - Young Sex Offenders - Moderate Risk
Alachua Academy Residential Facility - Female - Low to Moderate Risk
Fort Clarke Middle School - 6th, 7th and 8th graders
Lancaster Correctional Facility - Males aged 15 - 24 years
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The Gainesville Area Community Tennis Association, River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding, and Eli Meyers Studios sponsored:
Many families joined with us and other world-wide series of events calling on governments meeting in New York this April-May to cooperate on a process to abolish and eliminate nuclear weapons. In Gainesville, we hit 16,000 tennis balls; each ball symbolizing one of the 16,000 nuclear weapons still in existence.
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Advisors With PK Yonge Students 500 Students from southeastern US
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JOIN US FOR OUR MAY/JUNE EVENTS!
Join us for this Friday night sleepover in the beautiful countryside outside of Gainesville. We'll share dinner Friday and Saturday nights, breakfast, lunch, yoga, walks, swimming, laughs, tears and sacred dialogue as we explore the inner workings of our deepest selves and ground the gifts that are ours to share.
Guided by Heart Phoenix, Kathryn Kvols & Teri Martucci
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Peace4Gainesville - A Community Partnership
Thursday Afternoon, May 28 at 3:30 PM
CIED Center, 530 West University Avenue
Join with a unique blend of community partners who together have taken a multidisciplinary approach to address the causes and consequences of trauma through a coordinated comprehensive community effort that would respond to and foster resiliency and healing.
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Exploring the Masculine
Saturday, June 6 thru
Sunday, June 7, 2015
This weekend retreat is for men looking to:
- make major life changes
- face fears that limit them
- move from isolation to friendship and brotherhood
- discover purpose, energy, aliveness
- find out what Men's Work is all about
Facilitated by Eric Diamond, Jeffrey Weisberg
& Michael Broas
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Many people ask us how they can help. Thank you for your interest. Please forward this newsletter along to your community and join our mailing list.
As a nonprofit organization, so much of our work is dependent upon the contributions and generosity of others.
All donations are tax deductible. Please consider making a one-time donation or become a MONTHLY DONOR! Your partnership makes a HUGE difference! Thank you in advance.
Or mail check made payable to:
RPCP
2603 NW 13th Street
Gainesville, FL 32609
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