Summer Internship for Petaluma Youth

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Six-Week Leadership Intensive in Nonviolence

for Petaluma High School Youth

Dates: June 15-July 20, 2018

Stipend: $100/week

The Metta Center for Nonviolence is a Petaluma-based non-profit organization founded by UC Berkeley Professor Emeritus Michael Nagler, co-founder of UC Berkeley’s Peace and Conflict Studies Program. Our specialty is nonviolence: what it is, how it works, and how to draw upon its power for building healthy communities of empowered individuals. Key projects include our online Certificate Program in Nonviolence Studies and Nonviolence Radio. We work with individuals and movements from around the world and have consultative status at the United Nations.

Program Overview:

Our Leadership Intensive in Nonviolence is a six-week program for Petaluma youth created to educate and train local youth leaders to face personal and societal conflict with practical life-and community-affirming skills. We also aim to prepare students to find more opportunities for training and higher education in areas explored during the program.

Students will learn the basics of nonviolence and have on-going in-depth exploration and training in conflict tools such as constructive dialogue, conflict de-escalation and by-stander intervention, restorative practices, and self-care. Youth will also work on a final project in which they will assess a conflict in their life or community and make a plan of action for transforming it with the skills they have acquired.

The Ideal Candidate is someone who wants to make a difference in their life and community. This person has had experience with violence and is committed to ending it, but feels that they lack inspiration or guidance for how to do it in a safe and effective way.

Location and Time:

The program will take place at the office of the Metta Center at 205 Keller St. Suites 202D/B. Program time runs from 9:30 am until 2 pm, Monday and Wednesday, with program starting promptly by 10 am, and lunch at 1 pm. Fridays are optional “office hour” days from for individual research and questions.

205 Keller St. Suite 202D, Petaluma, California 94952

The Application Process:

Interested candidates should send a letter of interest, including the following information:

1. Why they are applying to the program and what they hope to achieve through it for themselves and their community.
2. A story of how violence has affected their life and what they want to learn.
3. Name three resources they have explored from the Metta Center’s website.

Please include at least one recommendation.

Send all material to Stephanie Van Hook (Stephanie@mettacenter.org) by April 15, 2018.

 

 

“We are constantly being astonished these days at the amazing discoveries in the field of violence. But I maintain that far more undreamt of and seemingly impossible discoveries will be made in the field of nonviolence.”

–M.K. Gandhi