CKCPJ PEACE Leaders

The Science is in: Studies Describe Successful Youth Programs

Anyone remember the demand that youth “just say no” to drugs and the related Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program? The campaigns started in the 198o's with Nancy Reagan's efforts. Decades later, years of controlled studies have long discredited these misguided attempts to influence youth in meaningful ways.

Recently, Scientific American reviewed those studies and the failure of the "just say no" approach.  Article authors also provided a list of elements, identified by psychologists and epidemiologists, found in successful programs.  When supported by those key elements, children and youth can learn practical, real-life skills which help them navigate harmful influences. At LexingtonUnited, we were struck by those descriptions of successful youth program elements—we noted that they precisely match our own training and goals.

 According to Scientific American, "the most effective youth programs:

-"involve substantial amounts of interaction between instructors and students

-"teach students the social skills they need

-"give students opportunities to practice those skills—for example, by asking students to play roles on both sides of a conversation—while instructors coach them about what to say and do

-"unfold during many sessions—ideally, over several years (probably because they provide students with lessons that are reinforced over time, as children mature and encounter different environments)." *

The hula hoop is passed round a closed circle of friends holding hands

When LexingtonUnited trainers teach children cooperative games and use role plays, we’re creating small temporary communities that model workable nonviolent models and provide safe places for children to practice cooperation and problem solving.

During the winter break, our summer camp graduates and LexingtonUnited trainers led cooperative game sessions every day at East 7th St. Kids Center (participants pictured at right and below), and during the school year we’ll be there every week.  In just the few weeks of regular interaction, we are already seeing an improved climate, and are looking forward to helping to model, and thus cultivate, a culture of respect.  

Our children and youth want to be positive forces for good in their world. They are are more likely to be successful when they are provided the tools to reach creative resolutions to everyday conflicts that are a natural part of human interaction. LexingtonUnited trainers are dedicated to providing those tools.  We'll be posting details about our upcoming Spring Break Camp for middle school students soon! Send us an email at [email protected] to get updated information as soon as it's available.

East 7th St. participants begin "pass the can"

*For more information: You can read the original Scientific American article titled “Why ‘Just Say No’ Doesn’t Work: and what does” by Scott O. Lilienfeld and Hal Arkowitz at http://bit.ly/SA_2013.)

 (author credit: Gail Koehler is a lead trainer at LexingtonUnited.  A version of this article will appear in the February 2014 issue of  Peaceways newsletter, a publication of the Central Kentucky Council for Peace and Justice [CKCPJ].  LexingtonUnited is an initiative of CKCPJ.)

Making Peace Means Teaching Skills

Q: “Why are we violent, but not illiterate?”

A: The answer is agonizingly obvious: “We’re taught to read!”

CKCPJ’s education project, LexingtonUnited, is guided by this insight, articulated by author Robert C. Koehler (no relation to the author of this article!), from a question originally posed by the writer Colman McCarthy.  In fact, we benefit from the rich tradition of nonviolence and teaching the skills of peace in countless ways.  

When we lead cooperative games, whether at the Carnegie Center’s “Create Peace” Family Fun Learning Night in observance of the International Day of Peace in September, or at the Lexington Farmer’s Market during the summer, we see children immediately grasp the deep wisdom of playing together in a spirit of fairness and equality.

Our 2014 Spring Break camp for middle school aged youth is in its planning stages, and we continue to pursue grant opportunities.  Peacemaking skills take time to practice.  This fall, LexingtonUnited is currently responding to requests to teach as “special guests” in university and college classes as well as fulfilling specific training sessions.   We appreciate every opportunity to introduce conflict resolution skills to new audiences.  

We also remain dedicated to longer-term trainings that allow time to create and share a series of small—albeit temporary—mini-communities focused on cultivating alternatives to conflict where real practice can take place over time.

 To this point all of our activities have been provided by our staff as volunteers; however, to grow our programming further and expand our trainer pool, we need to be able to pay for time dedicated to this important work.  

 

We express a most sincere thank you to every one of the CKCPJ donors who have helped support this growing effort.  You can follow us on Facebook, where we provide frequent updates, news, and links to conflict resolution and nonviolence resources (www.facebook.com/LexingtonUnited).

 

(by Gail Koehler, LexingtonUnited Trainer.  Note: a version of this article will appear in the November issue of our Peaceways newsletter).

Lexington United Summer Camp June 2013

Koehler and Brownrobie at The Plantory

Lexington United's first summer camp, a week-long training for youth, has concluded.

Lexington United, a CKCPJ project funded in part from a Partners for Youth grant (see their website at http://lexingtoncommunitybuilding.org), collaborated with several other local organizations to train enrolled youth in games such as "Alien Slime," "Clip-It," "Shrinking Island" and "Do You Love Your Neighbor?"

Led by Gail Koehler, Sarabeth Brownrobie and Tanya Torp, the youth learned conflict resolution, prejudice reduction and leadership skills through experience (not lectures).

 

Gamification keeps learning real

Better Bites workshop

Partnerships with other local community educators provided important diversity to the lessons learned. One afternoon, for example, Better Bites came to the Plantory to show the youth how to prepare healthy foods for their families.

 

Before receiving their graduation certificates and a stipend, the campers showed what they had learned in a capstone experience open to the whole community - Lexington United's first Community Games Night. Conducted at East 7th Street Center on Friday, June 21, the cooperative games included "Blob Tag," "Rattlesnake," and Rabbit in the House." 

Koehler plans to host another camp next year during spring break and perhaps some mini-camps at various times in the year. As Merlene Davis wrote in her Lexington Herald Leader article: "With a little help, this program could be an example of adults learning from our children."

Community Games Night at E 7th Street Center

 

The camp is a first step - ideally, the program will be incorporated into the public schools curriculum offerings. CKCPJ hopes the youth will spread the word at school, and their teachers will invite Lexington United in to work with their classes.

We know that schools that implement peer mediation techniques experience a reduction in absenteeism, suspensions and expulsions. CKCPJ wants to be a part of making our schools a better place for children to learn. 

Gail Koeher (right)

Peacemaking starts with our future, so let's create PEACE leaders right here, right now in our youth.

Lexington United

Check it out! A new project by CKCPJ Peace Educator, Gail Koehler, called "Lexington United." After taking classes in Louisville at PeaceEd, Koehler and Sarabeth Brownrobie agreed to start up skills-based training for youth to equip peacemakers for our future. After editing CKCPJ’s Peaceways newsletter for more than 5 years, Koehler is eager to share every co-operative game she's learned. Brownrobie and Koehler are also joined in this effort by Tanya Torp, longtime community activist and founder of Be Bold. See more at their new website: http://www.lexingtoncommunitybuilding.org.

"We use games and hands-on experiences to explore the building blocks of conflict resolution: affirmation, cooperation and communication. We are also proponents of positive approaches to prejudice reduction and team building through cooperative games." If you know of a teen who would benefit from training in conflict resolution, prejudice reduction or team building games, call 859-474-0487 or email [email protected].

Gail Koehler

Sarabeth Brownrobie

Tanya Torp

Funded in part by a grant from Partners for Youth in collaboration with Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government.

Perennial Peace Garden event

Join us on September 6th at noon Eastern Time in the Perennial Peace Garden at the UKy Island in Second Life. This virtual world event will be taking place at the same time as the real life ceremony at the UK campus with food and good cheer for all.

So, if you're not a member of Second Life, come on down in person to the W.T. Young Library on the UK campus. Along with many other community organizations interested in peace and justice, the CKCPJ has been invited to attend the celebration for the implementation of the new UK general education called UK Core. The event will include music and other presentations by UK students and will end with a challenge from JJ Jackson, the UK V-P for Institutional Diversity, to react to the beautiful installation of Marjorie Guyon's Nation of Nations paintings.