Peace Practices needs your support to continue!
Dear PRINTS Families,
Your children are changing the world for the better. By training in the Peace Practices community at PRINTS, a successful two-year partnership thus far, they are learning Conflict Done Well and preparing for a peaceful future in a training community that includes students and faculty at UC Berkeley, business people, artists, civil servants, and disabled men of color in downtown Oakland, elders and activists, and more. Please watch videos of children from PRINTS (and beyond) below to see the ways the world has changed!
This school year, we are also working with Beacon Day School in Oakland, and loving our new relationships with the children, staff, and families there. A charter school in the South Bay has proposed to their school board that we provide our full program in 2017-18 to their staff and community of children drawn entirely from the foster care and juvenile justice systems. This is the kind of work that can make a real and lasting difference in the world, but only if it flourishes and expands.
In order to focus on making the curriculum a success for our students, for the past two years our priority has been proof of concept, providing Peace Practices at no cost to you, thanks in part to international funding. We still hope to receive some of our third year of funding, but that continues to be uncertain at best, and we must rely hereafter on the support of everyone who values the program. Earlier this year, we let PRINTS families know that their financial support would be required for the program to continue. Now is the time to signal your support.
We will offer an after-school class in Emeryville on Thursdays at 3 PM for ten children. If your child attends the San Mateo campus, please email us to let us know you want class there too. We hope to begin again there as soon as possible.
"We can't wait to sign Kaiya up for another year of Peace Practices, she loved it so much. Thank you for all that you do with the kids and in the community." - Bella Beck (Emeryville Parent)
In order to support the program as a whole, I urge you to become a donor to our 501c3, Association Building Community, and volunteer to help us raise sustainable funding. While it is possible to pay by the month for your child's peace education, if we do not fund the program as a whole we will probably be forced to close our doors at that time.
We must ask that every family donate to Peace Practices. If you want Peace Practices to continue, both at PRINTS and in the world, now is the time to offer ongoing support:
- Click below to create an automatic monthly donation of $45 for your child attending the Emeryville Campus to join us in class every Thursday at 3 PM. If there are enough children to make a second class, we will add one automatically. This donation supports the program as a whole and will continue until you end it. To submit your recurring payment in the amount of $45, click here.
Please attend our classes at other locations when PRINTS is not in session to insure that you and your child know how conflict can be done well for life. Every Saturday at Aikido of Berkeley (1514 University Ave) we offer an All Ages class from 12-1. Please come!
If your child no longer attends PRINTS, please let us know where you are now, so we may offer a program there.
We are more than happy to continue receiving donations from grandparents, friends, sponsors, and extended family. If a donation is meant to secure the participation of a specific family member, please make that clear in the donation comments area or by emailing [email protected].
Please watch the following videos to see the children in action!
When you put the link to this page on social media and forward it by email to share the program your children have made such a success, you might consider sending the video as well which illustrates Peace Practices in use not only by children, but also by young adults and adults.
Determined to remain in service to PRINTS, and appreciating the beautiful expressions of support we continue to receive,
Brandon Sensei
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President & CEO, Association Building Community