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... :-)
Averting Violence with Kindness
by Michaela Sieh
Jan 13, 2016
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:
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:
The harvest of this Café can be found here