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River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding
Greetings to all as summer bows to autumn! The bustle of school days have awakened some of us much too early. Temperatures are dropping, freeing us from air conditioning as life continues on it's forward momentum. There are not only changes in the air...but changes on the ground!

October is Community Peacebuilding Month, complete with our annual Unity Day march. We invite you to join us in recognition for and gratitude of our unprecedented collaborative efforts to introduce cutting-edge programming and trainings. These trainings in partnership with agencies within our county, offer the necessary resources to help prevent, reduce, interrupt and heal from conflicts that oftentimes result in harm to others. 

March with us as we magnify the UNITY 
in our Comm UNITY!   

In Solidarity with Pacer's National Campaign to End Bullying.

Make Plans to wear
ORANGE and show your support!
    
UNITY in CommUNITY
Our 4th Annual March & Rally for Peace 
WHEN:  October 21 at 4  - 6 PM
                            WHERE:  Steps of the Hippodrome State Theatre                            
Save the Date 
Saturday, December 5, 2015   -    7 PM
Annual Fun-Raiser at The Wooly
Benefitting the River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding 
Join us for celebration, fun, silent auction, dance, food, drinks, photo-ops, 
surprises, connection and meaningful conversation.
Let's continue working together for a safer and more vibrant community!
Facilitator Training

We had a great group of potential facilitators of our Communication & Self Esteem Program at our half day training.  

We are getting prepared for the increased number of requests for programming.
  Police/Citizen Dialogues - Expanding Outreach!
I t's been exciting to watch our Police/Citizen Dialogues grow over the past few months. We truly believe that healthy communication breaks the cycle of violence and creates a safer community. These dialogues have become an essential part of creating understanding, providing pathway towards healing.

RPCP joins wit h ot her community members in the start-up of a new initiative temporarily calling for CommUNITY Dialogues with the intention of :

* Healing from/reparations for/restoration of interracial harm
* Celebrating differences  and similarities
* Responding to local issues and conflicts

The Law Enforcement and Minority Youth Dialogues have grown throughout the county, enhancing community policing in neighborhoods.  We continue to partner with the Gainesville Police Department and Alachua County Sheriff's Office in facilitating dialogues in a new variety of venues.

Pictured to the right is our very first Law Enforcement/Student Dialogue at the  University of Florida! We are set for seven more over the next coming months. Law Enforcement present was University Police, Gainesville Police, Alachua County Sheriff's Deputies & Florida Highway Patrol! It was an amazing evening!



Pictured to the left is the facilitation of dialogues in specifically targeted areas  encouraging community members to express their needs, hopes, and dreams as a way to identify the resources necessary to help reach fulfillment.  Pictured is the circle  in the Duval area arranged by GPD.
A. Quinn Jones  Exceptional Student Center

RPCP is proud to be part of the team helping with the merging of Horizon Center Alternative School with A. Quinn Jones Exceptional Student Center. Our Restorative Justice Practices Training for the school leadership team was a great success and we look forward to offering on going support to teachers as well as students throughout the year.  
Hello & Farewell
 We are so happy to have welcomed our Fellow from the Philippines, Leonardo "Bau" Bautista. He joins RPCP through the State Department's International Leadership Initiative for four months. Bau is a professional with a Master's Degree in Conflict Transformation and has been working in his home community of Mindanaw on various peacebuilding initiatives for many years.

He will be here mid August through mid December. The State Department had 1,500 applicants and from that they chose 60 to be placed in organizations that matched their areas of expertise.  He will be working closely with us to help develop our Peacebuilding Training Center and the many facets of community peacebuilding.  In addition, he brings to RPCP his many years of experience in the international field. He works at the Balay Mindanaw Foundation ( http://www.balaymindanaw.org/bmfi/ ) in the Philippines as a Community-Based Peacebuilding Area Manager.
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Special Welcome to our newest staff member, Mackenzie Donovan!  

Mackenzie will be fulfilling the position of Executive Assistan t and comes to us with a myriad of amazing talents. She will be supporting our team, increasing our capacity and contributing her well rounded perspective through her project management, social media, and exceptional verbal and written communication skills.
We are so grateful to add Mackenzie to our team of wonder-workers!  
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And even though she's not going far, we take this time to express total gratitude to Liberty Phoenix Lord for her amazing contribution to RPCP since it's founding!  Liberty has served as our Business Director, Graphic Artist & Designer, IT person and overall thought partner and beloved inspiration.  

We are so happy that we are closely related and that she will remain a part of RPCP forever!
RPCP's  Communication & Self Esteem Series 
at the following locations: 
  • Department of Juvenile Justice
  • Big Brothers/Big Sisters - Mentored Youth Ages 14-22   
  • Project Youth Build - Co-Ed Youth Ages 16-24
  • Union Juvenile Residential Facility - Moderate Risk Young Sex Offenders Ages 12-19
  • Alachua Academy Residential Facility - Low to Moderate Risk Females Ages 13-18
  • Fort Clarke Middle School - 6th, 7th and 8th graders
  • Lancaster Correctional Facility - Male Youthful Offenders Ages 15-24
Photo Above:  Youth at graduation where they teach back what they learned.
Be The Movement:  Take a Step for Peace Conference

We hope  that you will consider joining Jeffrey Weisberg and Heart Phoenix at the Peace Alliance's, Conference in Washington, DC,     October 16 -20, 2015. 

Come together with like-minded allies from around the nation as we dialogue with, and learn from, some of the world's most inspiring leaders and experts for a kind of peacebuilding think tank. 

This will be your chance to go directly to the Nation's Capitol, the driver of our national agenda, and make your voice heard in the Halls of Congress in support of impactful peacebuilding legislation and policies. 
RPCP Community Peacebuilding Training Center
(Offering a Model and Design Process)

In early spring of 2016, RPCP will be offering our first two week, live-in intensive training of the model and design process we have created for a Center for Peacebuilding. This training seeks to introduce interested individuals or organizations to the soup-to-nuts "how to", which will include facilitation skills, curriculum, programs, philosophy, coaching, etc. as a way to translate this work into other communities  nationwide.

If you have interest in joining us for this two week immersion, please send an email to info@centerforpeacebuilding.org and we will be in touch with you within the next few months.
Our deepest gratitude to the Aileen Getty Foundation, Richard C. Goldstein Private Foundation, and the Dharma Foundation. Their generosity is assisting us in the supporting the manifestation of this training, which will serve as a model and design process for other Centers for Peacebuilding that could be translated in other communities.
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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