January Newsletter
Greetings and Happy New Year!
January is a time of deep reflection; a time to ground ourselves once again in the principles of nonviolence. So often, nonviolence is seen as a weak, passive, powerless thing, when in fact it's just the opposite. Dr. King once said, “We adopt the means of nonviolence because our end is a community at peace with itself. We will try to persuade with our words, but if our words fail, we will persuade with our acts.” Far from being ephemeral and amorphous, nonviolence has shape and form.
At the Center, we define nonviolence as “A lifestyle based on love, truth, and community; a commitment to justice and liberation; and speaking up for the truth in ways that do not harm, control, or marginalize others.” Like Dr. King, we understand that nonviolence requires active participation, not passive by-standing.
So many of our clients have experienced violence, be it interpersonal or historical or systemic. But with skill and compassion, our team of advocates and interventionists invite clients to be active participants in their own change process. It isn't easy to convince folks who are surviving violence that nonviolence is an option. It’s hard, but we do it; and because we do what is hard, our clients, their families, their relationships, and their communities are better for it.
This January, we invite you to join us in being active participants in the change process. One action you can take is to support the King family’s call to boycott all MLK Day celebrations until the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act are passed. That’s the kind of direct action that Dr. King himself would call for.
Donor and Grant Highlights
Thank you, Barnes & Thornburg!
We are proud and humbled to be a 2021 recipient of the Barnes & Thornburg Social and Racial Justice Foundation grant
As a feminist, anti-racist organization, we feel confident that this award will go a long way toward fulfilling our mission and supporting the work we do to provide high quality, culturally affirming programs and services to a diverse range of historically and systemically marginalized populations throughout Allen County and beyond.
We would also like to extend a special thank you to St. Joseph Community Health Foundation for their support of $20,000.00.
This will allow access to healthcare for the refugee, immigrant, and minority populations we serve. Thank you for helping us provide education, case management, medical translation, and other related services to historically marginalized and non-English-speaking populations in our community.
What do our donors have to say?
“We support the Center because it was so beneficial to our own personal growth and because their work and values are important in making this a better community.”
“I support the Center for Nonviolence because violence begets more violence and does not achieve the objective.”
