Our Work

NPA brings to public consciousness all that is going on to build and sustain communities of right relationship – the peacebuilders, the work they do, the success they are having, the resources available, and the culture of peace that already exists – thereby also facilitating networking among peacebuilders and communities everywhere to share experiences, learn from one another, and engage in synergistic collaborations.

There is much angst, anger, and despair in the world, as reflected in the news every day. There are also examples of hope, joy, and gratitude, however, these examples are not widely shared. It is said that “energy flows where attention goes.” For the culture of peace to emerge from the seeming chaos of today’s world, it is important that we help shift our national mood from fear and despair about rampant violence and injustices to one of security and hope through an intentional focus on the peace and peacebuilding that is not only possible but already manifesting. The National Peace Academy helps to elevate and shift focus to these positive peace practices already occurring by raising awareness about existing examples, highlighting the successes and lessons of each, and drawing forth the positive peace stories that exist in mainstream media.

NPA shines a spotlight in a variety of arenas, including:

• Peacebuilding at Work. There are myriad people and programs at work in areas that, while not traditionally considered “peace” by standard concepts of the word, do model and promote cultures of right relationship in one or more of the Five Spheres of Peace. A few examples include work in and for issues of: climate change and ecological sustainability; violence-reduction (school, gang, drug-related, domestic abuse); hunger, and homelessness; prison reform; mental health; gun safety; race relations; education reform; and so many others.
• Culture of Peace Manifest. As one might imagine, with so much good work being done, many peace practices and policies have already led to, manifested, and continue to support the culture of right relationship. In this way, NPA helps the general public see what peace looks like, that it is already here, and that it can be done and only needs expansion. A few examples include:
  • The community-wide network of peacebuilding relationships in Gainesville, Florida
  • Local participatory democracy processes being implemented across the USA
  • Restorative circles that are reducing school suspensions and prison recidivism
  • Local communities exercising the sharing economy and collaborative commons.
• Sharing Resources. There is a large body of resources, experiences, and lessons learned already in the field that don’t need to be reinvented. NPA identifies and catalogues these learnings, brings them to the fore, and makes them available to the wider world for application – by others and/or in partnership with NPA – in perhaps new ways that further the emergence of positive peace in all of the Five Spheres of Peace, thus infusing the culture with best practices.

The National Peace Academy, in collaboration with partners across the country, catalyzes, convenes, and facilitates local and national gatherings and processes for face-to-face dialogue, exploration, healing, celebration, and other such opportunities for communities to discover and practice living in right relationship. We do this as both a conceptual and a physical place.

We know that, as our country moves into the future, the needs of our citizens and of our planet will change. At a conceptual and philosophical level, therefore, as the demands of the times evolve, NPA holds the space for creativity, flexibility, and continued learning around peace, peacebuilding, and building and maintaining right relationships.

At a physical level, NPA recognizes that creating a safe space is essential for building peace in the midst of violence or conflict. Peacebuilders create this space by facilitating and designing processes that allow for all voices to be heard and respected, that is, a safe place for dialogue, communion, and community building. At the same time, there is a need for physical spaces where peace is promoted, maintained, taught, demonstrated, and celebrated. Such spaces also serve as a repository or library of resources that support peace, peacebuilding, and the culture of peace, and can be the “home” of the Five Spheres of Peace.

Therefore, NPA supports the establishment and operation of Peace Places in venues across the country, ultimately at least one in every state, in partnership with local organizations who offer to house them. Examples of the functions performed at Peace Places include:

• Convening in-person and online dialogues and deliberative gatherings focusing on major issues of the day and how those issues can be addressed from the perspective of a culture of peace and the Five Spheres of Peace.
• Consulting on and offering training experiences for peacebuilding processes and practices.
• Promoting the creation of nurturing physical spaces for the peacebuilder and for those seeking to bring peace to challenging situations. This includes a library, space for meditation and circle processes, and for dancing and celebration.

The National Peace Academy serves as both clearinghouse and developer of best practices, curricular materials, positive peace perspectives, and other resources for capacitating people and organizations for building communities of right relationship. We do this in the following ways:

Peace Perspective on Issues, Policies, and Current Events. NPA, on its own and in collaboration with its partners, invites and publishes analyses and evaluations of pertinent news and policy issues of the day, as seen through the lens of the Five Spheres of Peace. NPA helps to create and bring forth a new way of looking at our world. In this way, as government, business, and civil society seek solutions to emerging social and economic crises and problems, NPA illuminates options that are consistent with growing the culture of peace. For example, in 2014, with the United States caught up in the unfolding police-violence-related events in Ferguson, MO, New York City, and elsewhere, and protestors taking to the streets, NPA published several opinion pieces about possible healing steps, and a different, pro-peace perspective on the events themselves.

Learning Resources for Peacebuilding. The National Peace Academy, by itself and in partnership with others, actively commissions and produces – for distribution and inclusion in the Clearinghouse – stories, guidebooks, films, educational modules, and curricular materials to support teaching and building peace. For example, NPA’s Peacebuilding Peacelearning Intensive (PPI) program offers a weeklong introduction to and experience with the Five Spheres of Peace and how to apply them in one’s own life and community. The program has been a huge success, producing lasting ripples of peace across the country. An adaptation of the PPI program for high school girls is being offered at and in collaboration with Cottey College in June 2015. NPA works with partners to adapt the program to other demographic and community-of-practice audiences, including making it available, through its Clearinghouse, in modular form along with teacher guides so that others may offer it in their own communities and contexts, thus multiplying the ripples many-fold.

Teleconference Dialogues. NPA’s series of teleconference dialogues are an avenue for disseminating collectively exploring issue-oriented Peace Perspectives through dialogue and conversation. Through these dialogues, distinguished peacebuilders and peace educators are invited into dialogue with the National Peace Academy community of students and supporters. Each teleconference introduces important and emergent issues and efforts of concern to peacebuilders and invites participants to actively engage with speakers, thus exploring new ideas with a focus on positive-peace.

NPA’s free online Peace, Peacebuilding & Peacelearning Study Guide is designed for seasoned practitioners and those who are new to peacebuilding and who wish to create significant, meaningful and sustainable change in their personal lives, their communities, and the world at large. We are now entering a new collaboration that will draw upon these tools to take peacebuilding education directly into schools.

The National Peacebuilding Peacelearning Certificate Program (NCP), conducted from 2011-2013, has been temporarily discontinued. The NCP was designed to provide opportunities for gaining breadth & depth in peacebuilding and peace education or for just testing the waters. Students could take one course, sample a few, or pursue a personalized learning journey toward earning a certificate in Peacebuilding and Peacelearning. Certificate Program courses were available online or as short, in-person intensives and are conducted in partnership with leading educators, universities, and peacebuilding organizations around the country.

The National Peace Academy responds to current events that impact our country by catalyzing and convening an ongoing national dialogue, reflection, and conversations that support a positive peacebuilding approach toward building systems and structures that promote right relationships in all five spheres of peace. In response to the tragic incidents in Ferguson, New York, Baltimore, and elsewhere, for example, NPA is collaborating with The Truth-Telling Project, which seeks to provide space for individuals to tell their truths in a safe, supported way.

The Peacebuilding Peacelearning Intensive (PPI) was one of NPA’s first programs. It was designed as a weeklong summer program to provide a holistic introduction to peacebuilding in theory and practice. The PPI also supported participants in the preparation of a peacebuilding project to take back to their home, workplace or community. The first PPI took place in 2010 at Wilmington College in Wilmington, OH. The second PPI took place in 2011 at Champlain College in Burlington, VT. Be sure to checkout the peacebuilding stories of PPI alumni and videos and resources generated during the PPI on our educational resources site. The PPI has been re-envisioned as “Communities-of-Practice Intensive: Learning and Planning for Change.”

We are pleased to partner with the Metta Center for Nonviolence around their innovative tool, “Roadmap”. Roadmap serves as a multi-step, co-creative set of tools for collaborating around our various individual visions. Ultimately Roadmap will serve as a method for creating and pursuing strategic thinking toward the realization of all of our goals.

Through its Peacebuilding Peacelearning Intensive, NPA developed a framework for intensive and holistic peacelearning to advance the development of the knowledge, skills and capacities of the peacebuilder – inner and outer, personal and professional. This PPI model has received excellent feedback from participants and led to many ripples. The PPI experience is now being used as a model that provides targeted training to meet the needs of specific communities of practice.

Peacebuilder Teleconference Dialogues bring distinguished peacebuilders and peace educators into dialogue with the NPA community. Each 60-90 minute teleconference introduces important and emergent issues and invites guests to engage with speakers through moderated dialogue and Q&A. Free, advanced registration is required.

The Peacebuilding Peacelearning Conference was a special 2-day event held in Colorado from February 17-19, 2012. The conference was offered in partnership with the Peace and Conflict Studies program at the University of Colorado, Boulder and the Center for the Study of Conflict, Collaboration and Creative Governance (3CG). It was dedicated to bringing together peacebuilders from around the world to share their experiences and practical wisdom. The conference was also an opportunity to engage deeply into one of the 5 spheres of peace of the NPA program framework.

Point of View is an international retreat and research center that was originally dedicated to peace – a “Civilian Camp David” – a part of George Mason University’s Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution (formerly the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (S-CAR)). Through an historic collaboration between NPA and S-CAR, Point of View is expanding to include residential facilities and opportunities for joint NPA/S-CAR programming.