A Visit from Cheri Brown, National Coalition Building Institute

On Wednesday from 8-11 am at the Plantory, several CKCPJ members met with Cherie Brown, founder and CEO of the National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI).  We got to experience a sampling of the training NCBI does, and to talk with Cherie about possible next steps in creating a local chapter of NCBI here in Lexington.

 

NCBI has for 30 years worked with public and private organizations to address issues of oppression and to improve relationships among and within personal identity groups. This award-winning leadership training organization is based in Washington, D.C. You can read more about the organization from their pamphlet "About NCBI" in the .pdf file here.The guidelines on how to become an NCBI chapter are available from this .pdf file from their website. The primary goal of the organization's services, said Brown at our meeting, is to provide a consistency across all their chapter organizations and affiliates in becoming and remaining in tune with NCBI Principles.  See more on this in the 46-page booklet: "Principles Into Practice: Strengthening Leadership for a Diverse Society" (National Coalition Building Institute, 2003).

Last month, three peace education trainers (Gail Koehler, Sarabeth Brownrobie, and Tanya Torp - from the CKCPJ initiative Lexington United) went to a 3-day awareness workshop with NCBI.  They returned to Lexington with a manual, Leading Diverse Communities: A How-To Guide for Moving from Healing into Action, that lists 32 of those principles that guide the NCBI work, and four case studies with examples of NCBI principles applied in situations of conflict. They are working with CKCPJ leadership to determine their next steps in how to found a NCBI chapter here in Lexington.

Betsy Neale and Cherie Brown, 11 September 2013 at the Plantory

Betsy Neale, founding director of CKCPJ, reminded Cherie Brown this morning that they had first met nearly 30 years ago at a training Betsy had attended. It was a wonderful moment to see these women embrace and remember together the long journey in peacemaking they have taken since they last saw each other.

The short session this morning was exhilarating - and reminds us that even as we work with others on peacemaking, we always need some time for healing ourselves.  Peacebuilding takes its toll and the best activist - one who seeks to contribute to the empowerment of others - must find time to become refreshed and rejuvenated in these basic exercises rooted in personal identity exploration.