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Projects for a Civil Society

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Community

In our daily lives, we face interpersonal conflict and non-physical violence everyday. PCS conducts Conflict Transformation workshops for any group wishing them. Several times a year we hold community workshops open to anyone.

These workshops train people to feel comfortable with conflict and provides them with tools to engage positively to resolve and transform conflicts in ways that preserve relationship and community.  Based on the Alternatives to Violence Project (“AVP”) model these workshops have been offered for 40 years in over 60 countries and taken by some 500,000 people.

Where do AVP participants come from?

  • Teachers*
  • Psychologists*
  • Social Workers*
  • Mediators*
  • Boys and Girls Club and similar organizations: their clients often struggle with issues of violence, and organizations always have their own conflicts;
  • Homeless: Group connection in AVP workshops works well to counter the isolation and self esteem issues that come with homelessness;
  • Ex-gang members: AVP is working with Home Boy Industries in Los Angeles and other gang intervention programs around the U.S. and around the world;
  • Retired: AVP groups have bloomed due to their commitment. AVP is a tremendously rewarding way to give back after retirement;
  • The Courts:  Drug courts, mental health courts, and veterans courts are beginning to integrate AVP into their diversion programs to great success;
  • Racial Dialog: AVP provides a powerful format for deep and profound discussion and sharing around issues of race and prejudice;
  • Faith Based Organizations:  Many faith based organizations find AVP a powerful adjunct and tool for their social justice and ministry work. Many also find it useful in-house to create a positive way to deal with conflict within the organization.
  • Interfaith: AVP offers powerful means to dialog around faith similarities and differences. As one powerful example, after 9-11 the Forum on Australian Islamic Relations hosted 23 workshops around the country to create interfaith dialog and defuse post-9/11 intolerance;

* Many professional association will provide Continuing Education Credits for these workshops.

 

If you want a workshop for your community see  our contact page.

Testimonials

““[I learned] I am not the only one who feels the way I do.””
– Incarcerated veteran

Our Prison Work

AVP in Prisons

Projects for a Civil Society continues to run Alternatives to Violence Project monthly workshops in both the Washington State Reformatory and the Twin Rivers Unit in Monroe and is looking to expand programming to more Washington Prisons.

Our Veterans Work

Veterans

PCS runs a program for veterans in the Pierce County Jail. We work with incarcerated veterans and are looking to expand our programming to offer workshops for veterans and their families in the community.

Our Youth and Schools Work

AVP with Youth

PCS offers schools and youth programs powerful tools to build community, deal with bullying and violence, and create positive culture and community.

Our Communities Work

AVP in Communities

PCS offers workshops for any group wishing them and several times a year offers workshops for anyone.

Our International and Traveling Work

AVP International

AVP has done violence prevention and recovery work in over 60 countries around the world. PCS has had guests from over 30 countries.

Our Trauma Recovery and Trauma Infomred Care Work

AVP and Trauma

PCS offers Trauma Resiliency Workshops and offers introductory training on Trauma Informed Care.

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Our Mission

Projects for a Civil Society seeks to empower people to transform conflicts in their lives and in their communities, through experiential learning, violence reduction, trauma recovery, and reparative and restorative justice. While we see this as necessary throughout society, we are especially focused on helping populations in special need including:
  • • youth
  • • gang intervention
  • • transition and reentry from detention/incarceration
  • • veterans
  • • immigrants from war torn areas
  • • people in armed conflict zones

Workshops

Projects for a Civil Society periodically offers workshops to train people in the community in alternatives to confrontational communication that will help them resolve conflicts in more peaceful ways. Please click here to view dates and information about our current workshops.

Alternatives to Violence Project

The Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) is a training program enabling participants to deal with potentially violent situations in new and creative ways. Workshops are run by our trained facilitators and are experiential (not based on lectures).
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