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C ambridgeport School Pilot ProgramIn May of 1999, CMG began a two-month pilot program entitled "Conflict Transformation -Influencing Change" at Cambridgeport School, a public elementary school in Cambridge, MA. This program was developed in consultation with Cambridgeport School's faculty, in part, as a response to the nationally recognized need for more "conflict resolution" training in schools as a means for students and faculty to resolve their differences peacefully. Youth Peer Leaders from the Urban Peacemakers Program in Roxbury, MA co-taught with CMG staff. The Peer Leaders, having undergone their own transformations, used personal experiences to articulate lessons learned that illustrated the value of conflict transformation to the students. They connected with the students at a level of understanding often inaccessible to adults, with powerful results. Students discovered that they could make positive adjustments in their school, their community, and their lives. The Citadel Springfield, Massachusetts
Community Retreat
Urban Peacemakers (UP!)
Project Since 1995, CMG has provided training, as well as the training of trainers in Roxbury, Massachusetts. The UP Program is a collaborative effort between the First Church in Roxbury, MA, under the auspices of the Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry (UUUM) and CMG. This program has attracted a wide cross section of youth that face the challenge of being teens of color in the inner city. It offers mentor programs, job readiness training, self-esteem building and peer leadership training. The program is furthering its community based mission of teaching youth leaders, known as peer leaders, to teach conflict resolutions skills to other youth, both in their communities and elsewhere.While recent tragedies involving youth, such as the shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado, have turned national attention toward the need for school-based conflict resolution training, there is an ongoing and serious need for community based programs. In the 1990s, the Boston communities of Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan were ravaged by gang violence. In an effort to help local youth, the First Church approached CMG for assistance in creating a support structure to reinforce non-violent approaches to conflict. These acquired skills would be useful for youth to utilize in their harsh neighborhoods. The result was the formation of the UP Program. One peer leader graduate of UP reported that in a three-year period, he attended 37 funerals of friends. Another peer leader said, "the violence robbed us of our childhood." Community-based programs, such as the UP program, have reached out to youth to help them deal with the effects of this era of violence. At the same time, many communities are experiencing cutbacks in education and funding for effective social service programs. Over the next seven years the teen population in Boston will increase 17% while the overall population remains level. If this population of current pre-teens follow previous trends, the community will be facing enormous challenges and the potential for increased violence. At the same time, if community programs, such as UP, provide stable role models and effective peer leaders, many young people can be steered away from choosing violence as a way of dealing with their fears or frustrations. | |
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