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
(Click to download the full version of the Strategic Plan or a Two-page Strategic Plan Summary)
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:
¨ Support and empower development and implementation of local action plans
¨ Host annual State Coordinator and Student Peace Alliance Retreats
¨ Support grassroots volunteers in hosting 8-12 regional conferences in 2010
¨ 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:
¨ Create Major Gift Programs
¨ Improve Stewardship
¨ Hold Fundraising Events
¨ Establish a Grant-Writing Program
¨ Train Fundraising Superstars
¨ Develop Sustainability
Below are updated documents and materials about The Peace Alliance. You can also find updated materials on the Student Peace Alliance website.
Two-page Strategic Plan Summary