Jodi Read, Associate for Migration and Peacebuilding, works with the Centro de Paz de Ambos Nogales (Peace Center for Nogales, Arizona and Sonora) as part of her assignment with West Coast MCC on the U.S./Mexico border. Ms. Read divides her time between migration and peacebuilding work for MCC West Coast and local conflict resolution work at the Zuni Avenue Peace Center, a project of Shalom Mennonite Fellowship.

Following their graduation from CJP in 2000, Fidele Lumeya and Krista returned to Africa as MCC Country Representatives in Angola . In the Fall of 2003 they completed their term and moved to the U.S. Krista was accepted in the Ph.D. program of ICAR at George Mason University .  

In October, 2006, Krista says: I have completed the course work for her Ph.D. from ICAR. While working on my dissertation, I have started a job with Peace Corps as Country desk officer. I am in charge of  Malawi , Madagascar and Mozambique .

Working full time has been a bit of an adjustment. I'm finding the life of a student was kinder and gentler in comparison. But I'm enjoying my job--get to travel a fair bit and like the people with whom I work.

I'm slowly “chipping away” at my dissertation. I got my proposal accepted and need to begin working on chapters.

8/07
We moved to Manheim, Pennsylvania in June of this year (2007) and I am currently taking a short sabbatical before I start actively speaking and looking for consultancies. I am passionate about peacebuilding institutes having served for 6 years on the Mindanao Peacebuilding Institute Management Committee and as a facilitator of MPI. I enjoy explaining the theological rational for peacebuilding among churches. My hope that the stories of peace heroes in Asia I met during my 6 years as Mennonite Central Committee's Peace Resource Person will inspire others to devote their lives to seeking peace.

Previous update
After completing the graduate certificate at CJP, I accepted the assignment as Mennonite Central Committee Asia Peace Resource person. Our family moved to the Philippines . Click to read a news release of this work.

As part of my Peace Resourcing role for MCC in Asia , I have been supporting the Mindanao Peacebuilding Institute (MPI). I am on the management committee helping to plan the MPI event every May/June.  I am also a facilitator and have done courses such as Fundamentals of Peacebuilding, Active Nonviolence and Conflict Transformation for Peacebuilding. 

Part of MPI’s expanding role is to be a resource to the region by taking our facilitating and training to places outside Mindanao .  We have helped to shape the new PI in Luzon called the Annual Peacebuilding and Reconciliation Program.

We are also supporting work MCC and the Quakers are undertaking in Laos to try to focus efforts on peacebuilding.  In late September, 2006, I and an MPI colleague will be facilitating a workshop consolidating learning the Lao peace consortium has had in the past months. This is an exciting step for MPI as we encourage peace efforts beyond the Philippine Islands.

Tim has worked at the Community Mediation Center in Harrisonburg since 1992 and is currently the Assistant Director. Tim is certified by the Supreme Court of Virginia to mediate District (General & J&DR) and Circuit (Civil & Family) Court cases. He mediates for the United States Postal Service REDRESS & REDERSS II programs as well as for the Dispute Resolution Unit of the Office of Consumer Affairs of Virginia. He is a mediation and conflict resolution trainer for yourh and adults as well as having served as an adjunct faculty member at James Madison University.

Tim has an undergraduate degree in Social Work and a master's degree in Conflict Transformation from Eastern Mennonite University. Tim serves on the Board of Directors of the Virginia Mediation Network (VMN), and is an Advanced Practitioner / Educator member of the national Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR).

Since graduating from CTP, I am continuing my position as Client Business Manager in the Harrisonburg office of AT&T. I am also working toward certification as a mediator from the Community Mediation Center of Harrisonburg. My goal is to be certified in two courts by the end of first quarter 2005.

As well, Vicki is working with a professional script writer in Hollywood to produce a movie based on her work in the criminal justice system, her advocacy for Restorative Justice and the test of a lifetime, promoting Restorative Justice in her granddaughter’s death penalty trial when being accountable for the murder with which she is charged could place her on death row. Can she save her granddaughter?

The Central Virginia Restorative Justice Program which Dave Saunier developed in Charlottesville, VA, continues to grow.

Initially Dave worked with the juvenile courts where he initiated the process with “support and accountability conferences” in which victims and offenders meet. The conference may also include parents and community members where appropriate. At the end of every meeting, a plan of repair is mapped out, and passed on to the judge for approval.  

In June of 2005 after two years of planning, Central Virginia Restorative Justice also began accepting case referrals from the Charlottesville General District Court. The work has grown to the point that another alumnus, Jennifer Larson Sawin ’04 has joined the program half-time.

April 2007:

Since returning to the U.S. following my term with Restorative Justice Ireland Network in Belfast, Northern Ireland, I have been working as Executive Director of Offender/Victim Ministries in Newton, Kansas. We are a restorative justice organization that has been in operation since 1972. We have been practicing victim-offender conferencing since 1983.

My primary responsibilities are not too different from any non-profit director: fundraising, communicating with constituents, managing personnel, writing grants, etc. I also participate in facilitating the victim-offender conferences as one of our primary facilitators. In addition to conferencing, we offer a program for shoplifters, prison visitation, prison arts, anger management and victim support.

Michael Shank is the Government Relations Advisor at George Mason University's Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. At the University, Michael advises the Institute's conflict experts on strategic policy and media initiatives related to domestic and international conflicts.

For the past decade, Michael has worked as an analyst-adviser to the UN, government and non-governmental representatives in the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia and the United States on "Track II" diplomacy initiatives, energy and environmental policy and civil society capacity-building.

In 2006, Michael served as the Press Secretary for Citizens for Global Solutions - a Washington-based organization advocating on behalf of international institutions, law and treaties - handling communications and media relations for the organization. In 2004-2005, Michael served as the Director of Public Affairs for World Culture Open in New York City. In that role he coordinated with UN agencies and Culture Ministers to develop culture-based analyses and frameworks for development and diplomacy initiatives.

As a doctoral student at George Mason University's Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, Michael writes regularly for the International Herald Tribune/Daily News in Egypt, Arab News in Saudi Arabia, News International in Pakistan, Foreign Policy in Focus in the US, and is a frequent contributor to the Financial Times, Richmond Times-Dispatch, and The Hill.

April 2008

October ’07, I began working for Catholic Relief Services (CRS) as their “Regional Technical Advisor” for Peacebuilding in Southeast Asia. The job is based in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The heart of my job involves supporting, advising, and monitoring the work of CRS local/international staff and partners (mainly civil society and citizen activist groups) in various peacebuilding programs throughout Southeast Asia, especially in places were inter-ethnic, inter-religious, and resource-based conflicts have been prevalent. Many of these programs involve dialogue, training in mediation and conflict transformation, capacity-building for NGOs and local government, advocacy, and other educational and community-building activities to promote reconciliation and equitable development.

There are four main aspects to what I do with the staff and partners 1) Strategic: needs assessment, and project envisioning, design, development, problem-solving. 2) Technical: project monitoring and evaluation according to specific qualitative and quantitative tools, formulas, and criteria. 3) Learning: research and information sharing about peacebuilding practices and theories, mainly best and innovative practices, but also learning from what doesn’t work. The sharing involves some writing, networking with other CRS regional peacebuilding advisors, organizing a regional learning conference here, and coordinating a Learning Alliance with the Kroc Institute at Notre Dame (which involves John Paul Lederach). 4) Funding: research, development, writing, and review of new project proposals because acquiring sustainable funding for new and continuing projects is a high CRS priority.

Doing all this requires a fair amount of travel throughout the region to countries where CRS is active, including East Timor, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, and right here in Indonesia--a huge area to cover! Some aspects of the job, such as the strategic, I’m more naturally drawn to, but all of it is fascinating, even if a bit overwhelming sometimes. I’m learning a lot about time management and multi-tasking, along with the complex cultural and historical dynamics.

I can be reached at gshapiro@seapro.crs.org

For Ally and me, moving to Jakarta meant creating a second home. After graduating from CJP in the spring of ’06, I plunged into searching for a peacebuilding position, but nothing came for quite awhile. Meanwhile Ally and I returned to New England, and at the beginning of ’07 we found a house and several acres of land in rural Vermont and moved into the place we now call home base. But the wider world beckoned, and finally, in October ’07, I was accepted for this CRS peacebuilding position that felt right. The position is for an indefinite period, but CRS is saying I can expect a tour of duty of two to four years.

Regards to all!  

I am working as an Intensive In-Home worker with adolescents referred by the local juvenile court services unit. I do this work through the local mental health organization (Community Services Board) in Harrisonburg. Most of the kids are working at anger management, impulse control and general coping and relationship skills in the home and community.  

I use a lot of conflict transformation skills and I am nudging the court services unit to look at some restorative justice approaches to complement their array of services.

I have recently joined African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries (ALARM) as Africa Coordinator, Peacebuilding and Reconciliation Program. It is very demanding as we are involved in eight countries, including Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo where the conflict is overt and still hot. I need your prayers and encouragements as I seek a good and appropriate way to deal with the issue.

Before joining ALARM, I have been volunteering (and I am still doing that) with Rwandan National Forum (RNF) as the head of the commission of Policy and Strategy.

In all these positions, I found CTP program very helpful in terms of giving me skills that are required to do this kind of job. I am so glad that students from all over the world are still coming massively in CTP for the same training.

I am a restorative justice (RJ) coordinator for Denver Public Schools. Initially working with a grant focusing on neighborhood justice under VORP of Denver, I developed an RJ program in Cole Middle School, the lowest performing middle school in Colorado. A year later, Cole reduced suspensions and police tickets and was recognized as the outstanding safe school in the metro Denver area. The Cole model is now being used in two high schools and is being expanded to three more Denver Public Schools. The long term plan is to have an RJ coordinator in every middle school and high school in Denver Public Schools.

The way in which the Cole model works is that a paid staff RJ coordinator works directly with the discipline staff (assistant principal, dean) to take referrals for situations that are amenable to a restorative/conflict resolution intervention. These can be incidents like fights, arguments, defiance with teachers, etc. The RJ process is presented as an alternative, and the student/family is given the option to choose it. If they do, the administrator will adjust the consequence accordingly, either reducing or eliminating the suspension or other consequence in light of the resolution/restoration agreed upon.

I also chaired the committee to revise the district-wide discipline policy and procedures. This is in the process of community feedback and completion. Restorative justice is integrated into the new policy as a principal strategy for behavior interventions.

We have two daughters, and I enjoy reading, writing, running, hiking, skiing and spending time with family and friends.

I am currently working as a program manager at Fairfield Language Technologies in Harrisonburg with the Endangered Language Program. It’s been a privilege to work with Native American and First Nation groups who desire to preserve and revitalize their languages. Thus far I’ve worked with the Seminole tribe in Florida, the Inuttitut language in  Labrador and Iñupiat of Alaska.

In addition to my work with the Endangered Language Program, I am also working within the Charlottesville, Virginia, community with the IMPACT program which seeks to address social needs and inequities through mobilizing congregations. I also help coordinate the newly formed Peace Conversations Group at the Unitarian Church in Charlottesville.

Occasionally I lecture in Howard’s restorative justice class on the implications and challenges of justice and restoring relationships in various cultural contexts.

In my "spare" time I continue to do photography and rock climb at locations in North America.

Since graduating from CJP in 2000, I have primarily focused on working with youth and children in peacebuilding and conflict transformation.  

After graduating in 2000, I took a position in Belfast, Northern Ireland , with the task of setting up pilot conflict transformation and restorative discipline programs within elementary and high schools in an area of the city experiencing high sectarian tension and violence. This position was initially sponsored by Mennonite Mission Network in partnership with Fortwilliam Park Presbyterian Church. My work expanded in 2003 after being awarded an EU grant which allowed the program to add several more schools to the project. I was then hired as a salaried worker and other staff were added to handle the expansion of the work.  

In 2003, I married Hedley Abernethy (CJP 2006) in Belfast . Hedley, a native of Belfast and a youth worker by trade, was interested in pursuing a Master's Degree in the field of conflict transformation. I, of course, recommended EMU, and in 2004 we moved to Harrisonburg . I spent the subsequent two years working with young people in a variety of contexts such as: teaching college courses, working with an alternative education program for at-risk middle school children, and as a fundraiser for youth mentoring through Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Currently we live in Baltimore, MD, where Hedley works with Catholic Relief Services and I work in intensive, one-on-one sessions teaching empathy, kindness, tolerance and conflict transformation skills to our toddler Liam! (Also known as staying home full time...) I am enjoying this opportunity to enhance my own skills as a practitioner by learning patience, conflict management and violence de-escalation techniques, as well as how to negotiate with those who are highly emotional and not always reasonable.      

December ‘06

I am happy to say I’ve found a position as a Long Term Care Ombudsman in Dayton , Ohio . I will be working with residents of these nursing homes and other long term care facilities to assist them in resolving complaints they have with the services they receive and in protection of their rights. I will be working in 50 or more facilities in three counties of western Ohio .  

Things are coming together for us as we are settling into the area.  

Millyellen, Kilbren and I are all doing better than could be hoped with the many stresses in our lives these days. The last challenge is finding a church in which we can invest ourselves, near Troy , Ohio, where we are currently in the process of buying a house. We moved our belongings here from storage in Harrisonburg following my practicum in Portland, Oregon. I had successful back surgery in early November, just after finishing my MA, and we received a good-health update on Millyellen’s pregnancy (the baby is due late January to mid February). As you can see, our many blessings abound.

I am hoping to use my organizational leadership and congregational conflict transformation training by offering my service to local churches as I am able. Blessings to you all!  

1/25/07 Millyellen, Kilbren and I are all doing very well, especially now that little Isabella Hope has arrived.  So now that all four of us are healthy and well, we plan to move into our new house this weekend. 

Fall 2007:

Since Fall of 2007, I have been busy pursuing a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology at the Department of Anthropology at Boston University. I have a full scholarship from Boston University's Institute for the Study of Muslim Societies and Civilizations. Beginning in the academic year 2008, while studying theories of anthropology, linguistics, and human societies, I will be involved in a research project on "Civil Democratic Islam" sponsored by the Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs, a Boston University-based Institute founded by internationally recognized sociologist Peter L. Berger. Directed by Indonesianist and anthropologist Robert W. Hefner, this research project aims at assessing the impact of Shari'a implementation toward pluralism, democracy, and civil liberties in Muslim based countries ranging from the Arab and the Middle East, to South East Asian Indonesia.  

Since graduating from CTP, I have worked for the Pennsylvania Prison Society ( Philadelphia, PA) where I developed and facilitated restorative justice programs in Pennsylvania state prisons and manage services for children with incarcerated parents and their families. Through this work, I collaborate with people in prison as colleagues and co-practitioners.

My recent book, The Little Book of Restorative Justice for People in Prison (Good Books, 2006), frames restorative justice for an incarcerated audience and suggests ways in which people in prison can do restorative justice themselves. I have also created several resources, including a workbook of restorative justice reflections, for those who are interested in exploring the meaning and practice of RJ in prison. These materials are posted on the Prison Society website, www.prisonsociety.org. And, Howard Zehr and I co-edited Critical Issues in Restorative Justice (Criminal Justice Press, 2004).

I am a doctoral student at Bryn Mawr College’s Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research. My current research interests focus on the intersection of restorative justice, trauma, prison and offending.

Dianne and her family are living in Glendale , Arizona where Dianne is working as a case manager with the Salvation Army. She has been variously involved with victims of the Katrina disaster:

“I have a childhood friend stuck in a hospital in New Orleans with his three kids and his wife, a nurse, who stayed behind to help. They are tired, the kids are scared and they are hungry but hope to be air lifted out soon. The whole family and all medical personnel in this hospital who have family with them are pitching in and helping out with the patients. They have enough generator juice for five more days IF the second floor of the hospital doesn't flood anymore than it has! The generators are on the second floor!  

“I took in a homeless family of nine people last night at the shelter before I left work. They are from New Orleans and left just before the storm blew into the area. I have asked for additional funding to cover the expense of these families who will be relocating here in Tucson .”

I am currently working with the Brethren Benefit Trust as a senior writer and manager of publications at the Church of the Brethren headquarters in Elgin, IL. I joined  BBT in October, 2006. 

After graduating from EMU, my family and I returned to Nepal where I worked as a program officer, hospital administrator, with the Mennonite Central Committee until June, 2004. Coming back to the U.S., our family settled near Chicago, and I worked for two years with the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center as a congregational mediator, workshop presenter and large-group facilitator.

Sarah and I have four children.  They are attending the local public elementary school which is fifty percent Hispanic and they are learning Spanish too.

January 2008:

Following graduation, our family moved to central Kansas where I joined Kansas Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (KIPCOR). My position is Coordinator of Congregational Ministries.

KIPCOR is located in North Newton and it is a multiple service NGO, providing mediation and restorative justice services to the community. A recently recognized need is for churches to develop discernment and decision-making models to deal with a rapidly changing culture that tends to strain organizations. My position is to help develop those discernment and decision making models to help congregations avoid times of crises caused by poor process, false perceptions, and misunderstandings.

Three of our five children moved to Kansas with us, while the older two are attending Eastern Mennonite University as undergraduates. Luann is taking courses in spiritual direction.

Ms. Zimmerman jointly co-directs the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding program located at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, VA. Zimmerman gives primary attention to overall administrative leadership for the full program and oversight of CJP’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute and the Pactice Institute.

She has been with the CJP program in various administrative positions since its inception in 1994. She formerly served eight years in southeast Asia in church administration for Eastern Mennonite Missions.

She holds a bachelors in liberal arts from Eastern Mennonite University and a masters in conflict transformation with a concentration in organizational leadership.