ICP Newsletter, June, 2022

ANNOUNCING AN AWARD: The ICP Peace Month Mentor Award!

All Liaisons or friends who MENTOR a new City of Peace that announces in September will receive a gold and burgundy Lapel Pin — a distinct honor from International Cities Peace. The ICP Lapel Pins were donated by Liaisons Bev and John Titus of Urbana, Ohio, which established as a City of Peace in 2016.

Contact your colleagues, friends, and family today! ICP is approaching 400 Cities of Peace on our way to 1000. You are an extremely important part — a mentor of peacebuilders; a strategist for global peace; a human being, being humane!

Tell them this! To become a City of Peace is a profound personal journey and a service to your community. We have four months until Peace month in September. Time and Peace is of the Essence. It’s up to you/we/us. Together we can achieve what some consider impossible, yet we know it MUST come soon!

Send this link to your network and friends: https://www.internationalcitiesofpeace.org/how-to-establish-a-city-of-peace/

Or, introduce them to the Lead Facilitator: info@internationalcitiesofpeace.org

THE ICP PEACE DAY VIDEO IS BACK!

During the pandemic, it has been difficult to plan community-wide events to celebrate the United Nations’ International Day of Peace. We must be careful, but it is time to plan peace events for the month of September, especially on the day itself: Wednesday, September 21st, 2022!

“Lifting the Human Race toward the dream of a unified Humane Race — End Racism, Build Peace”

CLICK THE PHOTO TO VIEW VIDEO

Each year since 2012, the Global Feast for Peace has inspired the whole world to “break bread together” in celebration of harmony and unity. Whether you are an individual, a family, a community, or a City — simply dedicate a meal to Peace Day. It can be as simple as a cup of coffee or tea, or a dinner with friends, or a group who meets at a “pot luck” to decide on peace initiatives for next year.

Go to the Global Feast for Peace page on Facebook and tell your story through photos, videos and captions. ICP will compile the Global Feast and send it with a wish for peace around the globe. Be a part! Go to: https://www.facebook.com/GlobalFeast

NEW CITY OR COMMUNITY?

Gather your friends and colleagues, create a Peace Team, plan a Peace Day event sometime in September this year — ask your City Council or Mayor for a Proclamation declaring Peace Day in YOUR CITY! It’s an easy way to interest people, get media attention for peace — AND ESTABLISH YOUR COMMUNITY AS AN OFFICIAL CITY OF PEACE. Contact ICP for details or click here on How To Establish a City of Peace.

We’ve outgrown the ICP Workstation Platform and are working on a more powerful and inclusive tool that will enable all Liaisons more training, more communication, more ways to fine-tune community peacemaking.The Google Nonprofit Workstation has limitations in number of participants. ICP Central has made the decision to upgrade the WordPress website that has delivered many tools to our member Cities of Peace. Soon, there will be many benefits.

Benefits to our Liaisons — Increased Capacity and Capability

• Individual City of Peace web page free!
• Each web page managed by the City of Peace leader
• Real-time changes to allow you to schedule and promote events
• WordPress tools and platforms will add capability
• City of Peace application automated (replacing our hard copy Letter of Intent)
• Automatic populating of the Google Map and City of Peace listing
• Easy signature agreement for release of copyright and contact information
• RSS feed of your videos and stories to social media and other websites
• Secure access to view web pages for strategic partners, donors and media
• Potential for City of Peace membership donations
• Hosting and firewall security of website and data

To build increased capacity for International Cities of Peace to expand to 1000 Cities of Peace by year 2025 will require funding. If you would like to help with this giant leap forward, please donate!

Six ICP Central Facilitators NOW Working for YOU!

ICP Central is composed of Area Facilitators composed of potential or current “Working Board” members. According to our Strategic Plan, a path to Board membership provides the nonprofit association a small but effective volunteer staff to provide value for our growing International Cities of Peace network.

First year, the potential member joins ICP Central as an official Facilitator. In coordination with the Lead Facilitator, the new Facilitator chooses a critical area of the ICP workload that is open. The official Facilitator takes responsibility for that area and create a Team to perform the job. (See Nine Areas below).

Our latest volunteer for ICP Central is Miromir Rajcevic, President of the Media Education Centre and leader of the The Danube for Peace project that has brought five Serbian Cities of Peace to our association of International Cities of Peace. Miromir will be building the Team that will leverage Internet, website and Social Media possibilities, including video, photos, stories etc.

After one year of successful team building — the Facilitator can be nominated by the Lead Facilitator to be elected for a 3-year Board position.

Current Facilitators and Open Areas of Responsibility

NEW CITIES OF PEACE THIS QUARTER!

We welcome Six new colleagues and friends who have established their community as a member City of Peace in the association of International Cities of Peace. Kenya, D.R. Congo, United States, Uganda: our community of peace cities is truly global in reach. Each City is unique with special challenges and solutions in terms of increasing safety, prosperity, and quality of life for ALL in their community.

You can know more about them by clicking on the following:

350th City of Peace
•    Park Seung-won, Gwangmyeong, Republic of South Korea: City of Peace

351st City of Peace
•    Karyn Westervelt, Crestline, California, United States: City of Peace

352nd City of Peace
•    Sarah and Alex Ongom, Migadde, Gomba, Uganda: City of Peace

353rd City of Peace
•    Swamini Shraddhananda Saraswati and DJ Plante, Reading, Pennsylvania, United States: City of Peace

354th City of Peace
•    Aggrey Kere Nyongesa, Ruaraka, Nairobi, Kenya: City of Peace

355th City of Peace
•    Kashali Bamenyirwe, Idjwi, South Kivu, D.R. Congo: City of Peace

356th City of Peace
•    Frances Jeffereis, Bridgewater, Massachusetts, United States: City of Peace

As Secretary-General António Guterres has said:
“Racism continues to poison institutions, social structures, and everyday life in every society. It continues to be a driver of persistent inequality. And it continues to deny people their fundamental human rights. It destabilizes societies, undermines democracies, erodes the legitimacy of governments, and… the linkages between racism and gender inequality are unmistakable.”

ICP is putting in place the infrastructure of global peace. That’s the bridges and roads necessary for true progress in peacemaking. Without a sound infrastructure, we will remain hindered in our peacemaking. The infrastructure entails localizing a culture of peace — and that cannot be done by outsiders. It can only be done by those who live in the communities.

When a community decides to establish as a City of Peace, they are not only empowered by the network but also gain authority within their community. Our Liaisons, or leaders, of Cities of Peace know what is needed in their area. They know the solutions, are committed, feel a responsibility. Peace is not rocket science, as we say. It is fundamental to what everyone feels toward their community. Empathy. Compassion, Compassionate Action. Unity of purpose.

Thanks to the growing support we are receiving from you and others. A huge thank you to the Jubitz Family Foundation for their 2022 grant to partially fund the upgrade to our Peacebuilding Superhighway. This Capacity Building grant will begin to provide our association with more efficient and effective technologies to share more tools and resources.More support is needed to meet our mutual goals. Please help. Thank you.

Sincerely and with appreciation,

J. Frederick Arment
Chair of the Board, Cities of Peace, Inc.

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