Tucson, AZ
Led by the Culture of Peace Alliance, Tucson will soon have its own City at Peace, scheduled to begin programs in the fall 2008. The Culture of Peace Alliance of Tucson (COPA) is a coalition of local organizations that promote a concept the United Nations calls the Culture of Peace, defined as "a set of values, attitudes, modes of behavior and ways of life that reject violence and prevent conflicts by tackling their root cause."

City at Peace-Tucson began as an idea in May 2007 when Gerry Straatemeier contacted City at Peace-National. Since then, Gerry has been building a Board for the program, raising funds, organizing youth and assembling an artistic team, lead by local artist and musician Robert Encila.

"The idea is that in four to five years, we'd have a lot of young leaders who had confronted their ideas about power and the abuse of power, and they'd be prepared to lead our city toward a positive vision for the way the world ought to be," Straatemeier says. "Instead of letting them get discouraged or in trouble, we need to encourage them to express their vision and make it happen so they can feel empowered--so they are empowered--to lead their community."

Rochester, NY
Sara Hughes and Kristin Rapp of ArtPeace, Inc., approached City at Peace-National in late 2006 regarding bringing City at Peace to the young people of Rochester, NY. Sarah and Kristin were developing an alternative educational model in Rochester, based on their successful youth employment program, with arts & technology at the core. The ArtPeace@East school program launched in the fall of 2007 with eighty 7th graders at Rochester's East High School. The ArtPeace team is passionate about transforming education and preparing young people to lead change in their communities.

So it makes sense that City at Peace will be a part of their model, serving as one of the after-school programs at ArtPeace and including youth from all over the metropolitan area.

"There is a demonstrable need for City at Peace in our community. The Rochester City School District cohort graduation rate was recently reported to be 39%, gang affiliation is on the rise, our city has the highest per capita murder rate in the state, and our metropolitan area is losing population due to loss of industry and resultant economic hardship," writes Sara Hughes. "Concentrated poverty and persistent structural inequalities exacerbate mutual mistrust and animosity between and among diverse groups. Despite these terrible facts, I have witnessed incredible resilience, courage, and hope among the young people of Rochester and a willingness to lead the community in a more sustainable direction with support from people and programs that sincerely prepare and empower youth to assume leadership at every level in partnership with adults."

City at Peace-Rochester will begin programs this fall 2008, bringing 40 teenagers together from all over the Rochester area to participate in the program, and bringing a much-needed voice of hope to its communities.

For more information on City at Peace-Tucson or City at Peace-Rochester, contact City at Peace—National at info@cpnational.org.

Look for more information on progress soon....