2020: A Look Back
Practicing peace and spreading hope in a pandemic
On New Year’s Day 2020, Pope Francis released his annual World Day of Peace message titled “Peace as a Journey of Hope” in which he called for us all to be peacemakers and sustainers of hope. His words and a reflection by the Center’s scholar in residence, T. Michael McNulty, S.J. proved to be prescient for what turned out to be a very challenging year.
The triple pandemics of COVID-19, racism, and economic inequality impacted all aspects of our lives and all aspects of the Center’s work. We quickly shifted how we work to serve those most in need and learned a lot about the necessity of peacemaking and hope along the way.
Collected below are highlights and accomplishments of the assorted ways we practiced peace and spread hope throughout the year. As the year now draws to an end, Pope Francis again provides direction through his calls in ‘Fratelli Tutti’ for unity rooted in the common good. And as Dr. Terrence Rynne points out, a possible future encyclical on nonviolence is among the things we can be hopeful for as we look to the future.
Addressing Community Needs
2020 marked the fourth year of the Promoting Assets, Reducing Crime (PARC) initiative. In January, the International Town and Gown Association (ITGA) recognized the CAMPus Impact student organization as the winner of its intern challenge.
PARC pivoted significantly at the onset of the pandemic to support residents, renters, and small-business owners. PARC and the Near West Side Partners (NWSP) did extensive chalking in the neighborhood to disseminate important public health information, held a donation drive to collect cleaning supplies and essential items for distribution to at-risk residents, and provided emergency grants to help cover rent. We also provided resources on sexual assault and domestic violence.
PARC also supported local businesses by creating a one-stop hub for information on small-business grants, ideas for creative business pivots, and best practices. One of the most popular interventions was Made in the Near West Side, a program that featured a virtual cooking demo, recipe, and meal kit from a local restaurant. In September, we celebrated the opening of Vliet Street Oasis, an urban produce stand for local growers and vendors.
Students and staff worked with alongside NWSP and the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee (HACM), on the Near West Side Transformation Plan, which focuses on improving housing and neighborhood amenities. There were also many developments with the Choice Neighborhood Initiative (CNI) Planning Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The CNI team approved six community-driven physical development projects known as Action Activities that will be implemented in 2021. They also applied for an implementation grant that could bring $35 million to the Near West Side to put the Transformation Plan into action.
Peace Education Goes Virtual
The Peace Works program showed significant flexibility by continuing to work with all of our partner schools as they transitioned to virtual instruction in the spring. With our google classroom set, Peace Works continued to engage students and families with the help of a few care packages to support their online learning and to develop skills as a family. Schools and parents were grateful that Peace Works was able to provide online delivery of regular lessons, music therapy, yoga therapy, and clinical mental health counseling.
In July, the Center for Peacemaking was selected as a recipient of the Marquette University President’s Challenge for COVID-19 Response. This provided funding to develop a web-based toolkit for educators that focuses on Promoting Resiliency and Improved Coping in Education (PRICE). Peace Works is now in the middle stages of developing the toolkit.
You can learn more about how Peace Works responded to the pandemic in our white paper titled COVID-19, Remote Learning, and the Need for Marquette University Peace Works. Furthermore, the Peace Matters blog highlighted how teachers and administrators perceive the efficacy of our nonviolence curriculum in impacting student behavior and positively changing school culture.
Distinguished Peacemakers Share Wisdom
We hosted Fr. Owen Chourappa, S.J. during Mission Week as the Center’s Ignatian Peacemaking Lecturer. During his time at Marquette, he connected with nearly 250 students and shared his knowledge of human rights from his role as the director of the Legal Cell for Human Rights in India.
In May, we tried our first virtual event, an engaging, live performance of Steinbeck: Scribe of Social Conscience. Then in the fall, we hosted a virtual panel on Black Womxn Organizing for Justice with Dr. Nishani Frazier, Dynasty Ceasar, and Vivian King as the moderator.
Students Achieve Excellence
Because of the pandemic, we were only able to run one immersion program last year. In March, Dr. Louise Cainkar took students to Dearborn and Hamtramck, Michigan to learn about the experiences of Muslims and Arab Americans in the United States. Some of the students also presented on what they learned.
Throughout the pandemic, students continued to excel. Kate Morris shared how opportunities through the Center have impacted her. The 2020 student peacemaking fellows presented on their virtual fellowships that addressed immigration, unarmed civilian protection, and housing access. And three 2020 Peace Studies graduates shared reflections on how their involvement at the Center for Peacemaking shaped their personal formation.
2020 also marked the creation of the Bud Frankel Memorial Fellowship. The inaugural fellow shared a reflection on the early progress of his project on addressing housing disparities in the Near West Side with the Peace Matters blog.
Advancing Interreligious Dialogue
We also had the opportunity to share the fruits of a multi-year collaboration with Dr. Irfan Omar. He and Kaitlyn Daly published a book with contributions from students and community members that tell the history of Christian-Muslim dialogue in Milwaukee.
This project and Dr. Omar’s class was featured in the news for its contributions to promoting interfaith peacemaking.
Moving Forward with Hope
You may be familiar with the quote from Fr. Peter Hans-Kolvenbach, S.J., former Superior General of the Society of Jesus: “The real measure of our Jesuit universities lies in who our students become.” Whether it is solutions journalism, interreligious work for social justice, or unarmed civilian protection, we are proud of all of our graduates and who they become.
We see hope every day in the students showing up to learn about nonviolence, and this hope grows every year as we see the amazing ways alumni are practicing nonviolence in their lives and professions.
This year was trying on many levels. It has tested our resilience and strengthened our resolve. Now we are ready to move forward with faith and hope.
We are ready for 2021!
