Institute for the Study & Practice of Nonviolence

Come to Invest in Peace! Tickets, Ads and Sponsorships Available Here

Learn about Invest in Peace and benefits of supporting the Institute through these links.
Invest in Peace Brochure
Letter from the Committee Chairs

To purchase tickets:

Pricing Levels

Guest $45.00 Patron (listed in program) $100.00

To purchase ads:

Pricing Levels

Quarter Page $100.00 Half Page $225.00 Full Page $425.00

To purchase sponsorships:

Pricing Levels

Street Sponsor $1,000.00 Block Sponsor $2,500.00 Neighborhood Sponsor $5,000.00 City Sponsor $10,000.00

View cart here:

Community Leaders Inducted into 2010 MLK Hall of Fame

 

NAACP President Cliff Monteiro, Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline, Superior Court Judge O. Rogiree Thompson and Teny Gross, executive director of the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence

Mayor David N. Cicilline has inducted three Providence community leaders into the 7th annual Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Hall of Fame.  The ceremony recognized Superior Court Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson, Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence Executive Director Teny Gross and President of the NAACP Cliff Montiero for their efforts to advance civil rights in our community.  Providence is the only city in the nation with an official MLK Hall of Fame.  

AFP-RI Names the Institute Outstanding Philanthropic Organization of 2009

The Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence has been selected as the 2009 Outstanding Philanthropic Organization by the Association of Fundraising Professionals.  The award will be given at Rhode Island's National Philanthropy Day luncheon on Tuesday, November 24 at the Rhode Island Convention Center.

The Institute is in the company of impressive individuals and organizations who are this year’s National Philanthropy Day Community Award recipients.

Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, Outstanding Philanthropic Organization

Presented to a civic or service organization or foundation which has demonstrated a significant commitment to the community over above what might normally be expected. 

Brown Daily Herald: For a Select Squad, an Anti-Gang Vigil

October 9, 2009

George Miller

Metro Editor

After schoold Wednesday, three students are hanging out outside Gilbert Stuart Middle School in Providence. It’s been an hour or so since classes let out for the day, but they’re standing around talking to a grown man — a streetworker with the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, which aims to combat youth violence in the city. Two other streetworkers, Tony Kim and Ali Amoure, pull up to the curb in Kim’s car.

“Why aren’t you home yet?” Amoure asks one of them, whom he recognizes as a student at Bridgham, another middle school nearby that he watches over daily. He gets no definitive answer.

Tuesday, a student was arrested at Bridgham after trying to attack another student with a broken bottle, Amoure says. Four streetworkers were called to the scene.

Cranston Herald: Police Get $245K to Fight Gang Violence

October 2, 2009

By Meg Fraser

Cranston Herald

The Cranston Police Department received a major boost this week when they announced that they are on the receiving end of $245,995 in grant money from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Program.

The grant will allow the department to purchase seven new police cruisers, but will bring with it another addition as well – the city’s first civilian worker.

“I believe it will broaden our range of service to the community in that this is the first time we’ve used a civilian to address the problem on a social level,” said Chief of Police, Col. Marco Palombo.

The problem at hand is Cranston’s growing gang population.

WPRI: Providence Gets 10 New Streetworkers

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - A local organization is getting 10 new streetworkers to help make neighborhoods safe.

Providence Journal: Providence gang members take to the surf

Monday, August 31, 2009

W. Zachary Malinowski
Journal Staff Writer

Tropical Storm Danny kicked up a decent surf late Friday morning at Narragansett Town Beach, but the small group of gang members paddling on surfboards near the corner sea wall didn’t seem too fazed by the possibility of an impending storm or the dangers of the Atlantic.

The boys and young men from the streets of Providence are accustomed to danger: murders and drive-by shootings have been a regular part of their lives and all of them have spent time locked up for various crimes in the Training School in Cranston. Last week’s outing, was well … a day at the beach.

Providence Journal: Ranks of Providence street workers continue to grow

Wednesday, August 26, 2009
W. Zachary Malinowski
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE — Rasheed Goode, a convicted drug dealer, was deep into his eight-year sentence at the federal prison in Ray Brook, N.Y., when he saw a story in The Providence Journal about an old rival from his days on the streets of Providence.

Goode said a copy of the paper was always floating around the prison, which is located in the Adirondacks and home to many mobsters, bank robbers and drug dealers from Rhode Island.

Goode read about how André “Ajay” Benton had left his criminal past behind and had become a crusader for peace as a senior street worker at the Institute for the Study & Practice of Nonviolence, based in South Providence.

Providence Journal: Hundreds attend funeral of nonviolence advocate David J. Cartagena

Friday, June 5, 2009
By W. Zachary Malinowski

Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE — David J. Cartagena, a legendary streetworker and tireless advocate of nonviolence, was remembered Thursday morning as a bridge builder among warring youth across the city.

About 300 family members, friends, admirers and dignitaries poured into St. Michael the Archangel Church to say their final goodbyes to Cartagena, a former gang member and criminal, who turned his life around and became one of the city’s best-known advocates for peace.

Cartagena, 38, was a senior streetworker for the Institute for the Study of Peace and Nonviolence, on the city’s South Side. He was killed early Sunday morning in a multi-car crash on Route 95, near the Providence Place mall that remains under investigation by the state police.

The Rev. Raymond Malm, who celebrated the funeral Mass, told the gathering that Cartagena had devoted his life to helping others.

“The souls of the just are in the hands of God,” Malm said. “David dedicated his life to peace. Remember, this is a movement. This will change the world.”

ProJo.com slide show on David's funeral

Providence Police Chief Daniel Esserman escorts the mother of the late David J. Cartagena into St. Michael's Church.

photo by The Providence Journal/Bob Thayer

See the rest of the slideshow here

WRNI: A Peacemaker Remembered

 "Almost half of the children in Providence grow up in poverty. David Cartagena grew up poor in Rhode Island's capital, and became a criminal and gang member. But that's not how he'll be remembered. WRNI's Ian Donnis reports on how Cartagena changed not just his own life, but many of those with whom he came into contact."

Download / hear their report here (MP3, 2 MB)

NBC 10 & ABC 6: "Office on the Streets" & more

NBC 10: Crash victim was community activist

ABC 6: HOPING ITS A DREAM: Family of Nonviolence Worker Killed Speaking Out

ABC 6: OFFICE ON THE STREETS: Nonviolence Worker Lived to Change Young Lives

ABC 6: Coworkers Speak About Man Killed in Early Morning Crash

WPRI - "Remembering a Providence Street Worker"

Statement of Mayor David N. Cicilline

"Today we lost a great hero in our community with the tragic death of David J. Cartagena. David was a dedicated Streetworker with the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence who focused relentlessly on improving the lives of young people in Providence. His leadership skills, dedication and profound commitment to the youth of our city served as an inspiration for all of us. On behalf of the residents of Providence, I am extremely grateful for his service to our community. Our thoughts and prayers are with his entire family during this difficult time."

WPRI coverage

Providence Journal on David's passing

Providence gang member turned nonviolence activist killed in Route 95 crash
June 1, 2009
By W. Zachary Malinowski
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE — David J. Cartagena, a senior street worker for the Institute for the Study & Practice of Nonviolence, had put his troubled past behind him. The former member of the Almighty Latin King Nation youth gang had spent plenty of time in the Adult Correctional Institutions and, in his teens, in the state Training School.

His life changed in 2005 when he joined the staff of the nonprofit agency and became one of its most effective leaders in combating gang violence and youth crime.

Shortly after 2 a.m. Sunday, Cartagena, 38, was killed in a chain-reaction collision involving his vehicle and three others on Route 95 near the Providence Place mall. Two of the other drivers face alcohol-related charges.

Providence Journal on our future home

See the article on ProJo's website here, including a video.

A decrepit South Providence convent will be transformed into The Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence

07:41 AM EST on Monday, March 2, 2009
By Philip Marcelo
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- A temporary chain-link fence, now weatherbeaten and rusting in places, surrounds the red-brick building to keep out vandals, who have still managed to tag a few windows with bright orange paintball pellets and shatter at least one pane.

Nearly 70 years ago, the South Providence building was erected as a convent, a home for the teaching nuns of St. Michael the Archangel Church. For the last eight years it has sat vacant and decaying.

Harvard Magazine on David & Teny: "Taking It to the Streets"

Harvard Magazine profiled alumnus Teny Gross and Senior Streetworker David Cartagena in their January-February 2009 issue. Click here to view/download the PDF.

Taking It to the Streets
Teny Gross teaches kids nonviolence.

by Nell Porter Brown

David C. grew up in Providence, Rhode Island. With no father around and a drug-addicted mother, he  moved through foster homes, gathering a fragile sense of worth from a gang of friends. “All I aspired to was being important on the street,” he says. “There was nothing about a future.” He spent five years in juvenile detention and a few in prison, and still has a reputation among local cops for living up to his nickname, “Devious,” for once escaping through the police-station roof.

At 37, he is still hanging out with the kids—in the schools, at their homes, the hospital, or the mall. But as a street worker with the city’s Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, he now prevents the very violence he once provoked. 

Providence Journal: He walks the streets to broker peace

by Edward Fitzpatrick, ProJo columnist
01:00 AM EST on Thursday, December 25, 2008

Peace.

It’s a notion we see on Christmas cards and bumper stickers. It’s something we all hope for. But for Teny O. Gross, it’s more than a Hallmark greeting or a quaint idea. It’s the goal he pursues every day on the streets of Providence.

Gross is a street worker, a peacemaker. In this age of “Bring ’em on!” bravado, peacemakers might seem out of step — soft in a hard-line era.

"A Messenger of Providence and Peace"

The Diocese of Providence's Office of Black Catholic Ministry profiled Institute Streetworker Dimky Edouard in their November 2008 newsletter. View/downlaod the PDF here.

BankRI donations help Nonviolence Institute, other organizations

BANKING
BankRI donations help youth organizations
By William Hamilton
PBN Staff Writer
Sep 16, 2008

PROVIDENCE – Bank Rhode Island recently provided a $30,500 helping hand to 15
youth organizations during summer vacation and assisted youngsters in other ways, too.

Youth organizations and events receiving support from BankRI this summer included: 

• The March of Dimes 2008 Citizen of the Year event to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality.

"In the inner city, a summer job can be a lifesaver"

In the inner city, a summer job can be a lifesaver

The Providence Journal

Friday, July 11, 2008
By W. Zachary Malinowski, Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE

A part-time summer job may have saved Anthony Ericastilla’s life.

The teenager struggled through his freshman year at Hope High School. He skipped school, hung out with gang members and was disrespectful to his parents, immigrants from Guatemala who had moved to the city’s Silver Lake neighborhood in search of a better life.

Anthony’s mother, Corina Barraza, was at wit’s end. She turned to the Institute for the Study & Practice of Nonviolence, in South Providence, for help. The institute welcomed Barraza and the staff expressed concern for her plight. They assigned three streetworkers to her son and helped him get a job in the agency’s Beloved Community Summer Jobs Program.

"Peace gang: Two rival gang members return to the streets to play the role of peacemakers"

Two Institute Streetworkers are featured in the Providence Journal, describing the challenges and the hopes they have for their communities.

The story includes interviews with Streetworkers Ray, Tou and Executive Director Teny Gross, as well as previous stories on Streetworkers program manager Ajay Benton ("He gave up crime to save others from gangs") and Senior Streetworker, Sareth Tony Kim ("Once he killed; now he turns to peacemaker").

Check out the Providence Journal's multimedia page on Ray and Tou...

or,

Download the PDF here.

Institute awarded $352,000 in federal appropriations

A warm thank you to US Representatives Patrick Kennedy and James Langevin!

A curb on street violence
Providence Journal
By W. Zachary Malinowski
Journal Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 25, 2008

PROVIDENCE — Sal Monteiro Jr., a streetworker at the Institute for the Study & Practice of Nonviolence, had a simple message yesterday for the bankers, educators, police officers, politicians and social workers who gathered at the South Side Recreation Center.

“Nonviolence is not for cowards,” he said. “It’s for courageous people. We are a small group, but we are committed.”

Monteiro was one of several speakers at yesterday’s announcement that the nonprofit agency had received $352,000 in federal appropriations to continue its battle against gang violence and help troubled youth in some of the city’s worst neighborhoods.

U.S. Representatives Patrick Kennedy and James Langevin were both on hand to praise the institute and the streetworkers.

Institute selected as Citizens Bank "Champion in Action"

text from Citizens Bank website:

Get involved in your community by helping those who are already making a difference.

Our Champions in Action* are shining examples of dedication and determination in community outreach. And they look to community members, like you, to come forward and lend a hand.

The Institute’s Streetworkers respond 24/7 to help teenagers and residents prevent and deal with conflict peacefully. The Institute’s Summer Jobs Program provides training and personal mentoring for inner-city teenagers during the most dangerous summer months. To date, more than 35 organizations have provided jobs and training to nearly 200 high school youth. Through the Nonviolence Training Program, The Institute has successfully trained 5,000 children in Cranston, Lincoln, Pawtucket, Woonsocket and Providence to use nonviolence practices. 

What you can do to help

• Make a donation -- Citizens Bank customers can make a tax-deductible contribution through Online Bill Payment available with Citizens Bank Online®. You can also send your contribution directly to The Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence at the address below.
• Volunteer -- Volunteers are an important part of The Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence.
• Learn more -- Tune into NBC 10 or contact the The Institute for the Study and Practice.

*Formerly Community Champions