4th Community Conversation
Join us April 15 for our next community conversation.
Join us April 15 for our next community conversation.
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#nhv #peace #healing #reconciliationJoin the Peace Commission and community partners for a dedication of a new Peace Monument at the Sound School for International Day of Peace, September 21, 2023. Mayor Justin Elicker will present a proclamation on behalf of the City of New Haven and atomic veteran Hank Bolden will share an inspiring message of peace and resiliency. Students from the Sound School will offer reflections on what peace means to them.
Please join us Dec. 20 at the NHFPL Ives Main Branch, 6-7:30pm EST, for our second Community conversation on cultivating peace in moments of violence and conflict. RSVP not required but appreciated.
We want to express our sincere gratitude to our wonderful partners at Sound School and Urban Resources Initiative, our special guest of honor Mr. Hank Bolden, Mayor Justin Elicker and Alders Carmen Rodriguez and Evette Hamilton, and to everyone who attended and participated in our ceremony for International Day of Peace. It was a beautiful and meaningful occasion.
Join us Feb. 14 for our third Community Conversation on striving for peace and love in the midst of conflict.
Please join us at Christian Community Action, 660 Winchester Avenue, on September 21 at 3:30pm to celebrate International Day of Peace and the installation of a new neighborhood peace monument.
“Just smile,” suggested Conte West Hills Magnet School Assistant Principal Thomas McCarthy, as the passport to a more peaceful world. “And it will spread all over.” McCarthy shared that vision of contagious harmony and joy as the emcee of a song-filled celebration of peace last Friday at Conte West Hills, a magnet school in Wooster Square that enrolls 600 students from kindergarten through 8th grade. The celebration at Conte kicked off a series of events to mark United Nations International Day of Peace that took place citywide over three days, including the 10th annual West River International Day of Peace Festival on Sunday and a peace-themed press conference at City Hall on Monday, organized by Mayor Toni Harp and the New Haven Board of Education.
After a brief program in the Conte school auditorium, punctuated by solo and ensemble performances from student musicians, and student readings and reflections on peace, the event moved outdoors into the school courtyard to dedicate the new Wooster Square Peace Monument, a newly planted lilac tree (donated by Urban Resources Initiative) and granite marker bearing a message of peace (donated by the City of New Haven Peace Commission) situated in a grove of cherry trees just outside the school library. The Peace Commission has been working with community partners like Conte since 2008 to establish peace monuments at parks, greenspaces, schools and libraries across the city, which are dedicated on International Day of Peace each September. There are now monuments in eight different neighborhoods all over the city, and counting (next year’s location has yet to be determined).
As the ribbon was cut on the new peace monument by members of the Peace Commission, two doves – a universal symbol of peace – were released into the heavens by Principal Dianne Spence and a student helper. Smiles were everywhere, Assistant Principal McCarthy noted approvingly. (The tradition of releasing birds or butterflies to symbolize the aspiration for peace was begun at the dedication of the Dixwell Peace Monument in 2013.)
Peace Commission Chairman Seth Godfrey, who shared with the students his fond memories of swimming in Conte’s pool as a young man growing up in New Haven in the 1970s, expressed his own vision of peace spreading across New Haven: “One day in the not-too-distant future we hope to have a peace monument in every single neighborhood of New Haven, with each serving as a daily reminder of our great yearning for peace. That achievement will be yours as much as ours.”
We are pleased to be a member of the Back From the Brink Coalition for the prevention of nuclear war. We hope you can attend this important and timely event.
Join us on January 12 for our annual MLK Day reading of “Beyond Vietnam.”
Thanks to all who participated in our #Hiroshima vigil on August 6. There will be another vigil August 9 at 11am to commemorate the bombing of #Nagasaki. Hope you can join us.
Our next meeting will be held Tuesday, April 16. The public is invited to join us. See agenda below.