Providence Campaign team after the City Council endorsement

 

"Providence could directly benefit from programs this Department would develop or disseminate that deal with societal discord like school violence, gang and gun violence," said Councilman Cliff Wood, who introduced the resolution on behalf of the Rhode Island Campaign for a Department of Peace. “The city has already been recognized for some of our initiatives in this regard, including our community policing efforts, the work of the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, and our increase in after-school programs and summer jobs for city youth. It makes sense that we take a leadership role in increasing both the breadth and capacity of these kinds of efforts.”

 

“According to the National Priorities Project, Providence taxpayers have spent over $188,000,000 so far on the War in Iraq,” said Pam Steager, state coordinator for the RI Campaign, which is affiliated with The Peace Alliance, a non-partisan, non-profit organization leading the effort to establish a U.S. Department of Peace and Nonviolence. “Local communities are where the effects of the realigned federal budget priorities are felt the most. City and town council members, as well as our state legislators, are having to make the difficult decisions about what to cut where from state and local budgets in reaction. We have to start asking ourselves about the current federal funding priorities that affect us all in so many ways, and establish the infrastructure needed to support best practices in violence prevention and peacebuilding.”

 

While it is the first community in Rhode Island to endorse this legislation, Providence joins San Francisco, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Cambridge, Newark and other city, town and tribal councils around the country who have supported this effort to provide a seat at the table, a voice and a budget for peacebuilding and nonviolence at the federal level. The federal legislation currently has 67 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives. Neither of the Rhode Island representatives is among them.

 

You may view the resolution here.