Institute for the Study & Practice of Nonviolence

Announcing Nonviolence Education Institute

Nonviolence Education Institute:  A fellowship to enrich schools and transform lives

Download PDF - NEI Purpose

Download PDF - NEI Details

Download PDF - NEI Application

Mission

The mission of the Nonviolence Education Institute (NEI) is to bring educators and school personnel together, as fellows, to reflect and engage in the practice of nonviolence for the purpose of building and sustaining a positive school community.   

Goals

• To learn and internalize Dr. Martin Luther King’s theory of nonviolence
• To provide practical tools to implement nonviolence in educational settings across Rhode Island
• To foster effective interactions among school community members and create a safe and supportive educational         environment for all
• To create a statewide professional network of nonviolence educators and school personnel
• To reaffirm and reinforce our individual passion and motivation for working with students

Why is this important?

How to Learn and Teach Nonviolence

Looking for a great volunteer opportunity?

Love to work with youth?

Want to learn about and teach nonviolence?

This October and November, over 3 weekends, the Institute is holding a 30-hour Nonviolence Training-of-Trainers series.

Information and an application are available by download:

Download ToT Fall 2010 Coverletter

Download ToT Fall 2010 Application

Any questions, contact Alyssa Metthe, Assistant Director of Training, at 401-785-2320 or alyssa@nonviolenceinstitute.org.

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.

Providence Journal: City’s community policing receives more high praise

City’s community policing receives more high praise
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
By Gregory Smith
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE — Prof. Herman Goldstein, whom Police Chief Dean M. Esserman calls “the father of community policing,” dropped by police headquarters yesterday.

Goldstein’s internationally influential book, Problem-Oriented Policing, is mandatory study for supervisors vying for promotion in the Police Department.

His thesis is that policing is so difficult and complex that the problems the police confront must be broken down and analyzed, and a body of knowledge accumulated that can spur well-informed action.

Providence Journal: At Jenks, nonviolent resolution is fun

The Providence Journal - Friday, April 6, 2007
By John Castellucci
Journal Staff Writer

PAWTUCKET — The audience was pumped, eager to hear the rap music, poetry and songs that everyone knew would be the fun part of the program.

But first, a couple of questions.

“I’d like to know, first of all, what you think are the biggest causes of violence,” said Pam Steager, taking the stage in Jenks Junior High School.

“Peer pressure,” one student answered.

“People pushing you into it,” another student said.

“Personality,” someone else answered.

“Seeing your parents fight.”

The answers to that question and to the question that followed — “What do you think are the ways that we could be more nonviolent?” — pleased Steager, who is director of training for the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence.

Providence Journal: School officials call in nonviolence professionals

School officials call in nonviolence professionals
01:00 AM EST on Friday, January 19, 2007
By Kia Hall Hayes

Journal Staff Writer
WOONSOCKET — School officials are enlisting the Institute for the Study & Practice of Nonviolence to help address what Schools Supt. Maureen B. Macera called “systemic” problems facing the city’s youth.

In a meeting with the Providence-based grass-roots group yesterday, school and police officials said combative speech and provocative dress, coupled with a youth culture that values acting tough and parents who reinforce those messages, have left them at a disadvantage.

The Nonviolence Tailgate Party

11:30 a.m. until (1:30) GAME TIME!!!

Saturday, October 7th, 2006

Conley Stadium (behind Mt. Pleasant High School)

The Institute for the Study & Practice of Nonviolence and The Providence School Department, along with our sponsors Aramark, Sodexho, and Dunkin’ Donuts invite you to join us for fun, food, and football!!

The Providence Streetworkers, Students and Staff from Central and Mt. Pleasant High Schools, School Department Officials and Community members will be there for a morning of fun and football!!

What is the reason for throwing the Party?  The Institute’s mission is to spread by word of mouth solutions to potentially violent situations.  We cannot do that if people don’t know who we are; and we like to Party and watch football.

There will be grills set up, music playing, loads of people, and free t-shirts (while supplies last).  Bring your families, tell your friends, bring your friends, or bring yourself.

DID I MENTION THAT THIS IS A COMPLETELY FREE EVENT!!!!!!!?

** This is a Drug, Tobacco, and alcohol free event **

'Let's talk about snitching' (Providence Journal)

'Let's talk about snitching'
"If you snitch, you get yourself killed," one girl says, but adult street workers are trying to get children to think of adults as their safety net.

Friday, July 14, 2006
BY LINDA BORG
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Let's talk about snitching, says A.J. Benton, a street worker with the Institute for the Study & Practice of Nonviolence.

"What happens," he asks, "if you hear that a middle school kid is coming to elementary school with a gun?"

March 2006 Nonviolence Training

In March and early April 2006, the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence again offered our Training of Trainers (TOT) program. This 5-week intensive study prepares participants to go out into the community and teach ISPN's Nonviolence curriculum.

We will hold another training in a few months. As always, we invite you to consider attending or referring someone who you think would benefit from these trainings.

Currently, we are working in school systems in Woonsocket, Pawtucket, Cranston, Lincoln and Providence. We start with 3rd grades and teach on up through high school. We also offer a variety of Nonviolence workshops to community groups, corporations, church groups... So, again, if teaching Nonviolence appeals to you, please contact us. Or, if you know someone who may be interested, please let them know about these trainings.

Curious? Click here to read about a previous training class.

Once trainers go into the classroom, we pay an hourly rate whenever possible. We think people who teach peace should be paid for theirwork.

For more information, contact Jane E. Jellison, Director of Training or Kate Mullin, AmeriCorps Vista.

Click here to download the TOT Brochure (.pdf file)

Beloved Community teaches Cranston kids the value of non-violence

CRANSTON HERALD   6/09/2005

By LISA DiMAIO

Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream lives on in the “Beloved Community” – a community for third, fourth and fifth graders at Edgewood Highlands where everyone is treated with respect and fairness.