EXPLORING DIVERSITY - Thursday, May 25, 9:00 am - 4:00 pm, Arnow Campus Center Board Room.

A one day, pre-conference workshop brought by the Education Committee.  Participants will experience learning  activities and exercises in the morning, and small groups will discuss how to facilitate this topic and develop agendas in the afternoon.  This workshop is part of preparation for including this topic in the next Advanced manual.  

PRISON DAY at MCI Norfolk - Thursday, May 25, 8:30 am - 4:00 pm.  Shuttle to depart at 8:00 am. from lot outside Winslow Academic Center.

A day with incarcerated men, seasoned inside facilitators, and administration, at a facility that is striving to lead.  Norfolk offers innovative programming, including: Restorative Justice, Emotional Awareness (based on the nationally recognized Houses of Healing program), formal debates featuring teams of inmates going against local college debate teams, and, AVP.  Join us for a day of supporting, learning, and celebrating the work going on at this institution.

IS AVP A SOCIAL JUSTICE / PEACE ORGANIZATION? Friday, May 26, 9:00 am - 4:00 pm in Arnow Campus Center Board Room. 

An open retreat of the Board.  Alternatives to Violence Project grew out of activist roots, focusing on "finding effective ways to communicate and practice nonviolence" (Liveoak: Hoover interview).  Ghandi called politics the "art of right action."  AVP's politics is not about taking sides, but seeking to do the right thing.  What is more political than actively working toward self change of "transformation" of power structures within communities, institutions or systems?  

Please join a day long planning retreat as we explore who we are idealistically as an organization and how we act upon our shared beliefs, and as we identify implications as we move forward organizationally.  

MOVING FORWARD AS AN ORGANIZATION, Monday, May 29, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm in Arnow Campus Center Board Room

The AVPUSA post conference planning session.  In this session, we will break into small thematic groups to process things learned at the conference.  Each group identifies specific action steps for Committee of Committees, Board and committee followup in the year ahead.