"To Bring Hope, Stability, and Healing"

Rockford, IL, November 17 – “We are providing a focal point to bring together diverse groups and individuals to be a catalyst for change in Rockford,” says Bessie Alberty, a member of an organizing team that has emerged to address broad community concerns in Rockford, IL.

Alberty was one of sixteen participants in the November 11-12, 2009, seminar, “Where Do We Go from Here?  Creating a Hopeful Future for Rockford,” sponsored by the Rockford Roundtable and On Earth Peace.  David Jehnsen was the resource person for the seminar, which focused on skills of nonviolent leadership, community mobilization and lessons learned from previous community struggles.

Rockford has been living through tense times since an African-American youth escaping from police custody, Mark Anthony Barmore, was shot to death by white police officers inside a black church on August 24, 2009.  The Barmore shooting has become a flashpoint for larger realities in Rockford: 17% unemployment, 4,500 suspensions of high school students in the last year, and a 40% high school graduation rate.  Sixty percent of high school dropouts in Rockford have felony records, and eighty percent of dropouts are African American.

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See local news video of the training:
Day 1
Day 2

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Artists Needed for the On Earth Peace Poster Contest

Each year On Earth Peace designs a poster as part of our Annual Report.  The report on the back of the poster provides our constituents and donors with important information about our programming, expanding outreach, and financial development.  However, it is the poster on the front side that they tend to look forward to the most!  We see the posters in the entryways of churches, Sunday School classrooms, and offices.  Some posters remain relevant and popular for years, encouraging peace. 

This year we are inviting young adult artists and graphic artists affiliated with the Church of the Brethren to submit a design for the On Earth Peace poster related to the theme for the upcoming year.

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You are invited to join an international peacemaking mission –

Delegation to the Middle East
                       Israel/Palestine

LEARNING: To prepare for this trip, delegates will have access to On Earth Peace resources and a network of previous participants to become familiar with the current conditions.

LISTENING: As our governments talk about a “Middle East Peace Process,” Israelis and Palestinians continue to suffer losses from outbreaks of violence.  Members of the delegation will hear the stories of survival and hope from the people whose daily lives are impacted by this ongoing conflict.

ACTION:  This delegation will meet the people whose lives are impacted by the conflict, including Israeli and Palestinian peace and human rights workers.  There will be an opportunity to work along side the CPT team in Palestine in accompaniment and documentation.

VIOLENCE REDUCTION: Each year the delegation joins in a public witness that non-violently confronts the injustice and violence there.  Upon their return home, they share their experiences with local congregations, groups, and the media to get others involved.

For more information about the delegation, click here.

To apply, contact Bob Gross, the 2010 delegation leader, at bgross@onearthpeace.org or 260-982-7751

Co-Sponsored with Christian Peacemaker Teams

Read the blog from On Earth Peace's January 2009 delegation to Israel/Palestine

The Shumaker Family Foundation has made a challenge grant of $12,500 to support the Agape-Satyagraha youth training program in nonviolence this year. The terms of the challenge grant require that On Earth Peace raise an equal amount in new or increased contributions toward the new youth program.

The Agape-Satyagraha program is a partnership of Brethren Community Ministries in Harrisburg, PA, with On Earth Peace. Two local programs are already underway, and a third is in the planning stages. For more information, click here, or see the Spring newsletter of On Earth Peace. Contributions are needed to support these local sites and expand the program to other communities.