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In the fall of 2009 The Peace Alliance staff and board of directors engaged the network in developing a Strategic Plan for 2009-2011.
We
expect that the initiatives of our 2009/2011 Strategic Plan will be a
game-changer in terms of how our nation approaches peace and conflict.
The plan, which the network helped craft through their feedback (read comments about the process),
provides a powerful roadmap to help realize the practical applications
of peace in our personal lives, communities, country and world. Our
efforts will help both strengthen and support peacebuilding in our
public policy. This will make an immediate impact on the health of
communities across the nation. We will work, in partnership with the
Student Peace Alliance
Legislative Advocacy
We take a two-pronged legislative approach when working with
the federal government to make peacebuilding a national priority. Our advocacy efforts focus on 1) federal
structures that will coordinate, fund and prioritize peacebuilding and 2)
providing support for actual on-the-ground peacebuilding work. We work on the following initiatives:
I. U.S. Department of Peace (HR 808): We hold that a
U.S. Department of Peace is the most comprehensive measure to date that
provides strong structural support to sustainably prioritize violence
prevention and peacebuilding efforts in our federal government.
II. The Youth PROMISE Act (HR 1064/S 435): An innovative
piece of legislation aimed at empowering community stakeholders to drive local youth
violence prevention and intervention efforts.
III. International Peacebuilding Legislation: Introduce
or endorse legislation aimed at supporting international practitioners actively
engaged in applied peacebuilding projects in areas plagued by conflict and
violence.
To
facilitate our legislative goals we will:
¨ Establish Legislative Advisory Councils
¨ Develop and Join Broad-based Coalitions
¨ Strengthen Congressional Leadership
Community Peacebuilding
We aim to play a vital role in supporting peacebuilding
projects and programs on a community level through local alliance building,
community education, personal peace practices and service efforts in our
communities. Nationally, regionally, through local grassroots, and
individually we will work to:
Develop and Join Coalitions: Work with peacebuilding and violence
prevention practitioners locally and nationally.
Peace Skills Training: Connect
our grassroots organizers with partnering trainers around the country to train
in nonviolence, nonviolent communication, conflict mediation and personal peace
practices.
Host Educational Events:
Disseminate new data on violence and its solutions to the media and general
public.
Be the Change: Incorporate conflict prevention techniques
into our organizational culture and establish formal practices to resolve
conflicts as they arise.
Mainstreaming Peacebuilding in the Media
We plan to generate media that highlights evidence-based
violence prevention and peacebuilding programs working to make a difference in
local communities in the U.S. as well as internationally. Our goal is to bring the field of
peacebuilding into the national spotlight.
We will work with
media in the following ways:
Research Dissemination: Collaborate with non-profits, NGOs,
academia, and/or congressional offices on the dissemination of research,
violence statistics and most importantly, evidence-based violence prevention
solutions and legislation.
Create
a Rapid Response Network: The
network will promote our efforts through writing letters to editors, blogging,
and making calls to educate the media about peacebuilding.
Establish Regional Media
Structure to Enhance Grassroots Media Capability: Place a strong focus on generating
regional media and training the grassroots network to improve our
media-generating capacity through print, radio, television and other modern
mediums.
Build and Empower our Grassroots Network
To accomplish all of our strategic objectives we must grow
and maintain that which makes our organization so unique -- our grassroots
network of citizen advocates and community peacebuilders. We will:
Grow Strategically:
Implement our targeted recruitment plan through small teams led by staff, Board
and volunteers that will build local volunteer teams in the Congressional
districts of key committee members; building greater influence on key pieces of
legislation.
Support Network-wide
Strategic Planning and Gatherings:
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Support and empower development and
implementation of local action plans
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Host annual State Coordinator and Student Peace
Alliance Retreats
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Support grassroots volunteers in hosting 8-12
regional conferences in 2010
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Host the 2010 Student Peace Alliance National
Conference in Austin, Texas and the 2011 Peace Alliance National Conference in
Washington DC
Coordinated National Actions: Create
materials and support structures for simultaneous actions across the nation
supporting our organizational priorities.
Utilize Social Networking and
New Media: We will
use our social networking site, DoPeace and additional social networking
mediums, to provide a space for organizers to stay in touch with each other,
mobilize support for our actions, and encourage broader public education.
Ensure
Financial Sustainability
Funding is a critical component to every social change movement
and in order for us to accomplish our goals we must secure our financial
resources. We expect that our work
to raise funds will enhance our efforts to educate the public about the growing
field of peacebuilding and deepen the national understanding of and commitment
to peacebuilding in every sector of society. To create a culture of financial sustainability we will:
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Create
Major Gift Programs
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Improve
Stewardship
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Hold
Fundraising Events
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Establish
a Grant-Writing Program
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Train
Fundraising Superstars
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Develop
Sustainability
Below are updated documents and materials about The Peace Alliance. You can also find updated materials on the Student Peace Alliance website.
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Two-page Strategic Plan Summary