In the opening ceremony at this month’s SPI Community Day, each participant made an introduction and shared hopes and dreams. One military veteran came to Eastern Mennonite University to “learn how to use my leadership skills to benefit my community.”
Others asked to create cooperation through difference, to bring peace to a broken community, to raise awareness of institutionalized racism, and to promote listening and dialogue in my organization.
By the end of day, many participants shared a sense of renewed energy. One participant called her new knowledge “seeds” for the future. [View a short video of participants below.]
Learning locally
The first of its kind, SPI Community Day was an opportunity for area peacebuilders to experience what global peacebuilders come to Harrisonburg for every summer: hands-on training, experiential learning, practical tools and networking with other practitioners.
SPI is an acronym for Summer Peacebuilding Institute, which has existed since 1994, and since that year, brought more than 2,900 people from 124 countries to Harrisonburg.
As varied as their purposes for attending Community Day were attendees’ geographic origins and affiliations. They came from Richmond, Lynchburg, and Charlottesville in Virginia, from the Washington, D.C. suburbs, and Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia – from schools, farms, youth organizations, refugee aid organizations, churches and homeless advocacy groups.
And then there was Harrisonburg retiree Anne Neilsen, who introduced herself as “nobody,” drawing a laugh from the audience. Then she proceeded to give an impassioned pitch about an upcoming informational meeting to discuss disturbing reports about conditions in a regional jail.
Peacebuilding is both a local and global venture, said Bill Goldberg, SPI director, in his opening remarks. “It is wonderful to help community members gain skills that have benefited our peacebuilders working global communities. We’re so glad you’re here.”
Daryl Byler, executive director of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, welcomed a new group of peacebuilders into the SPI learning community.
“Every summer, we participate in the education of a global community of peacebuilding through the integration of practice, theory and research. Peacebuilding is not solely the domain of a few experts. It is something all of us have the opportunity to engage in every day in our schools and homes. And we all bring stories, knowledge and tools with us.”
‘Nourishment’ for people working on change
The SPI Community Day schedule – with opening ceremony, class sessions, a luncheon and speakers, and breakout networking opportunities – was modeled after that of SPI, which welcomes approximately 150 to 200 people from around 40 countries during several sessions throughout May and June.
Introductory remarks were also made by graduate students in the master’s in conflict transformation program, all of whom have attended SPI: Millicent Otieno, from Kenya and founder of Local Capacities for Peace International; Boris Ozuna, a Colombian native who works for The Fairfield Center and directs Harrisonburg’s International Festival; and Gregory Winship, who works in restorative justice with the Center for Conflict Mediation in Kansas City, Missouri.
A luncheon session featured the Harrisonburg restorative justice initiative, a community partnership that includes Lt. Kurt Boshart, a 2015 SPI participant from the Harrisonburg Police Department.
Participants sampled from a variety of workshop sessions designed to give practical skills they could use right away and a small taste of what would be learned in a full SPI course: SPI faculty taught about circle processes for staff development, trauma-informed organizations, project management for healthy organizations, playback theater, training design and other workshops covering topics that are typically taught during summer classes.
“SPI is a resource to learn and practice new tools, but it’s also a source of nourishment,” said Goldberg. “People come here and leave energized. I think we have great potential to become both a local and global incubator for change and collaboration.”
To learn more about dates and courses offered for SPI 2016, click here.