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Article

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Citizens for Peace

Activities & Accomplishments

2015

Monthly Membership Meetings: Second Tuesday of each month: 7-9 pm at Unity of Livonia (Five Mile Rd. east of Middlebelt)

Jan. 13: Gary Weinstein on Forgiveness

Feb. 10: Conversations on Compassion

March 10: Women and Peace with Kim Bergier and Laura Dewey

April 14: Guns in America with Linda Brundage

May 12: World Beyond War with David Swanson’s keynote talk from the Pax Christi Conference

June 9: Kickoff of the Summer of Youth with Kevin ‘Mr. Peace’ Szawala & Students, and Betty Appleby sharing her Peace Quilt story

July 14: Restorative Practices in Michigan Schools with Bill Sower

Aug 11: Ending Juvenile Incarceration in Prison/ Ann Abdoo/ Taureen Thomas

Sept. 8: ISIS: A Century in the Making with Dr. Saeed Khan

Oct. 13: Previews of “Gandhi’s Gift” with producer Cynthia Lukas

Nov. 10: Candle Lighters: People Who Illuminate the World presentation with Robert Weir

Dec. 8: Annual Veggie Potluck / Raffle drawing for Education Fund/ Anne Jantz Book Signing

Education Committee Meetings: Members attend in-person meetings and then communicate via email to plan and implement such programs as the Nuclear Waste Campaign, the Education Fund Raffle and the Season for Nonviolence Random Acts of Kindness Campaign. They also continue to work on the Nonviolence and Peacebuilding Bibliography and contact libraries about possible donations.

Citizen Action Committee Meetings: Members meet on the first Tuesday every other month and discuss their progress with various actions and share ideas and strategies to implement and further their goals. Members are working on the issues of human trafficking, moving money from the Pentagon budget to peaceful purposes and passage of the Youth PROMISE Act.

Peace Alliance Action Team Meetings: Members of Citizens for Peace and others are invited to participate in monthly conference calls from The Peace Alliance. There is a speaker, discussion and then explanation of the action for the month to increase support for the Youth PROMISE Act and other legislation that supports peacebuilding.

Speaking Engagements

August 6: Colleen Mills was on the panel at the Wave Goodbye to Nukes Program

April 28: Presentation on the key elements of the Youth PROMISE Act by Ann Abdoo to

the Youth Partnership Coalition in southwest Detroit.

Supporting Other Organizations – attending these events

Feb. 18: League of Women Voters Community Conversation

Mar.22: MCHR’s Anniversary Dinner

April 11: Pax Christi Conference – Peace as Policy

April 17: Peace Action’s Charlie King Concert

April 25: Tour of the Fetzer Institute, Kalamazoo

May 1: MI Roundtable for Diversity Program on Juvenile Justice

May 18: The Huntington Woods Peace, Citizenship and Education Project Program on Changing Attitudes Towards Israel at the Birmingham Temple

May 23: Nonviolence Workshop offered by the Newago County Women in Black

June 7: WILPF Program Reporting on the 100th Anniversary Convention at The Hague

June 14: MI Stop the Nuclear Bombs Campaign Fundraiser

June 27: Peace Action Move the Money Workshop

Aug 6: Peace Action Wave Goodbye to Nukes Program

Sept. 11 & 12: Cities of Peace Sustainability Summit in Celebration of the United Nations International Day of Peace at Marygrove College, Detroit

Sept. 20: Kevin Szawala’s Students Empowering Students 10th Annual P.E.A.C.E. DAY (Promoting Ethnic And Cultural Equality Day) in Ann Arbor

Sept. 27: WILPF 100th Anniversary Celebration

Sept. 29: Churchill High School Rededication of their Peace Pole Ceremony

Oct. 5: Alliance to Halt Fermi 3 Presentation of The Future of Energy film

Oct. 17: League of Women Voters Auction

Oct. 21: League of Women Voters Program on Redistricting

Oct. 23-25: The Great Lakes Bioneers Conference at Marygrove College

Oct. 26: Meta Peace Team’s Active Nonviolence – Growing from the Grassroots to the Global program with Medea Benjamin

Nov. 7: Peace Action’s Annual Peacemaker’s Award Dinner

Nov. 19: League of Women Voters Program on Money in Politics

Dec. 9: Michigan Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence Unite, Reflect, React Vigil on the Lansing Capitol Steps

Dec. 12: Gray Panthers Soap Box Gathering

Dec. 13: League of Women Voters Holiday Gathering

Special Events

March 16: Workshop with Dan Kahn of the National Peace Alliance

Oct. 12: Cynthia Lukas, Producer of Gandhi’s Gift Film, Presentation for the Center for Peace & Conflict

Studies Program at Wayne State University

Oct. 13: Cynthia Lukas, Producer of Gandhi’s Gift Film, Presentation for the Marygrove College students in the Masters in Social Justice Program

Working with other Organizations

Feb. 18: Partnered with the League of Women Voters of Northwest Wayne County for the Community Conversations hosted by the Center for Michigan. The survey gathered information on a variety of key issues important to the citizens of Michigan.

April 17: Charlie King Fundraiser Concert with Peace Action of MI

Program to honor the 2014 Season for Nonviolence:

Feb. 7: Season for Nonviolence Discussion of the book The Day the World Came to Town – 9/11 in Gander Newfoundland

Jan. 30 – April 4th: Random Acts of Kindness Campaign

Nonviolence and Peacebuilding Bibliography

Since 2007, the Education Committee has been working on a Nonviolence and Peacebuilding Bibliography for children and adults. It now lists over 800 titles. Since June of 2007, there have been 3,201 downloads of the Nonviolence and Peacebuilding Bibliography. This bibliography is shared with public libraries, so they can select titles, and the Citizens for Peace then donates the materials. So far Livonia Civic Center Library, Redford, Westland, Farmington Hills, and Commerce Township public libraries have added books to their collections about peace and nonviolence. Through MelCat, (MI e-Library), these books are available to all Michigan citizens.

Tabling

This activity involves setting up a table at an event and passing out information and talking with people about the mission and activities of Citizens for Peace.

Jan. 11: Martin Luther King Program at Hope United Methodist Church

Mar. 11: Pax Christi Conference

Mar. 13: Citizens for Peace materials at the Buck Dinner

April 17: Charlie King Concert

Sept. 11: Cecilia St. King Concert

Nov. 14: Holiday Mart at Swords into Plowshares Peace Gallery

Dec. 6: Care & Share Fair at the Community Unitarian Universalist Church in Brighton

Fund Raising Events

April 17: Charlie King Concert

Sept. 11: Cecilia St. King Concert

Dec. 8: Education Fund Raffle

Contact with Political Leaders:

Aug. 25: Meeting with Chris Matus, Senator Peters’ Regional Representative at Detroit office

Throughout the year, we have called, emailed and sent postcards to numerous political leaders

on a variety of important issues relating to peace and nonviolence.

Nuclear Waste Campaign

There is an ongoing letter writing campaign, to stop the licensing of nuclear power plants until there is safe storage for the radioactive waste from 100 plus nuclear power plants in the U.S. In addition, members are actively writing their legislators to prevent the State of Michigan from being a site of disposal for low and medium levels of radioactive waste. More information can be found on the Citizens for Peace blog “Nuclear Age R We Safe?”

Media Coverage

Livonia Observer Newspaper

Notices and press releases of all meetings and special events

Detroit Free Press Play Section

Notice of the Cosmic Comedy Show

Online Outreach

Monthly newsletters sent using Constant Contact

Website: www.citizens4peace.com

Facebook: CitizensforPeaceLivonia

Publications

The Political Action Guide for Peace (2015-2017); published by Citizens for Peace.

The Get Involved Guide; a Guide to Peace and Political Action by Dana Marks; published by Citizens for Peace.

Disciplines

Peace and Conflict Studies

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