Averting Violence with Kindness

Rosa Zubizarreta shared this inspiring story about a community conversation with us.

Averting Violence with Kindness:

A community conversation on conflict de-escalation, empathy, and school safety

Hosts:

Vivian Orlowski and Rosa Zubizarreta, with support from Shelley Brooks, Elyse Trujillo, Yevin Roh, and Bruce Nayowith.

Hosting Org/Sponsor:
Southern Berkshire Clergy Association, with support from: Interfaith Committee of Southern Berkshire, RIMON Resource Center for Jewish Spirituality, The Free Legal Clinic of South Berkshire County, Inc., CHP-Southern Berkshires Community Coalition, Multicultural BRIDGE, Women's Interfaith Institue, and the Railroad Street Youth Project.

Location (City or Town & Country):
Great Barrington, Massachusetts

Who was this World Café for:
Concerned community members

Purpose:

• To highlight positive conflict de-escalation approaches as an alternative to armed guards for school safety
• To celebrate the heroism of Antoinette Tuff, and to see what we might learn from her actions
• To highlight community resources for conflict de-escalation

Number of People Attending (approx):
50

Questions Used:

Round One: What moved you? What stood out for you, from the video?

Round Two: What are some other examples of successful conflict de-escalation that you have experienced in your own life - either witnessed or heard about?

Round Three: What ideas do you have about the relevance of this for our own community?

Impact:

• People lingered for an hour afterward, in small groups, continuing their conversations.
• We heard from people that they really enjoyed the opportunity to mix with a cross-section of the community.
• We heard that others were inspired to use the World Cafe format for their own community events.
• The proposal to hire an armed guard to provide "additional security" for our local high school was eventually dropped. Not sure what impact our gathering had on that, but... :-)

The harvest of this Café can be found here