In 2020, Newark, New Jersey reached an historic milestone - Newark Police officers did not fire a single shot. After participating in de-escalation training and working closely with community groups like Newark Community Street Team (NCST), real reform is taking place. We are witnessing the impacts of community peace practice in action.

Our 2020 Visionary Aqeela Sherrills has been reimagining public safety strategy as a leader at NCST. This program uses a community-based violence reduction strategy to bring a greater sense of peace to the community. During the 2020 George Floyd protests, the cops remained in the background as Aqeela’s Street Team took to the streets to prevent escalation and violence. “There is a point of entry for the public to play a key role in public safety,” shares Aqeela, and it is time to truly reimagine systems of public safety.

Aqeela and his team passionately believe in the collective work needed to cultivate and sustain peace in our communities. Grounded in peace within and supported by peace in relationships, this community-led transformative work is setting the example for us all on how to reimagine and enact change, and to actualize community peace.

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Today we honor the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through celebration, reflection, and service. We uplift his exemplary model of peace leadership, and use it as inspiration to step into our own responsibility to practice the personal, interpersonal, community, and global peace work necessary to nourish, heal, and progress our “World House.”

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In this holiday season we are deeply inspired by and grateful for sources of light in our Euphrates community. In the Northern Hemisphere the “Christmas Star” shone brightly on the longest night of the year, and it served as a reminder that when darkness is present the light is more readily seen and appreciated. This is also true of our community of visionaries and peace ambassadors.

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On December 11th, we welcomed new friends and old friends into our global Euphrates living room to amplify the voice of our 2020 Visionary of the Year (VOTY) Aqeela Sherrills. The VOTY award is given to peacebuilders who make the impossible possible and work at the deepest levels of peacebuilding. Aqeela's message of finding the gift in the wound and viewing peace as a journey, not as a destination, reminded us that each of us is a peacebuilder.

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Mending divides and practicing positive peace will require sustained effort and resources from all of us. The good news? Our progress has found momentum this year. Help us make a greater impact in 2021 to equip, connect, and uplift global peace leaders.

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We would like to take a moment to express our heartfelt gratitude for our community. You all form our Euphrates community, a community of dedicated peacebuilders and soul-inspired leaders who serve and give selflessly and deeply inspire. We are grateful for you and grateful to be in community with you.

While this week in the United States represents a time to express and share gratitude for our blessings, it is rooted in a deeply complex and violent history. At Euphrates, we envision a future where all humanity lives from oneness with each other and the Earth.

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Each year Euphrates recognizes grassroots changemakers doing extraordinary work, striving to make the idealistic realistic and the impossible possible. Visionaries are those whose fearless and indomitable spirit allows them to transform the hearts, minds, and actions of those around them and reveal solutions where others see despair. Aqeela Sherrills is truly meeting the moment with an indomitable spirit
and a pursuit of inside-out transformation.

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This season of life continues to offer unexpected twists and turns. How are you responding? Are you swaying with the twists and turns or are you taking time to root yourself in personal peace practices that provide radical self-care? The work is immense, the care for ourselves must be even greater. In order to build bridges, heal divides, and reimagine systems, we must care for ourselves and each other, and allow ourselves to rest. What do you need right now to find your equanimity?

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This month Euphrates Founder Janessa Gans Wilder was featured in a full-length article for OOOM Magazine. This international publication focuses on “stories that inspire - about people who inspire.” We think this is a perfect platform for Janessa’s personal story and inspiring vision.

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Janessa opened our call honoring Juneteenth, Freedom Day. Then we turned to Paulette Pipe to ground our time together with an opening meditation that called forth stillness amidst noise and distraction. Stephen DeBerry moved our group into a space that explored economic inequality, architectured segregation, and the lessons he learned in a game of Monopoly with his family - we can allow ourselves to rest in the understanding that if we can play nice, we can go further, faster, with fewer tears.

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We enjoyed having 56 beautiful faces and voices from around the world. Our call reached coast to coast in the United States and beyond these borders including Palestine, Bangladesh, Tanzania, Uganda, Afghanistan, Cote d’Ivoire, India, Nigeria and more.

Paulette Pipe opened our meeting with reverent stillness, reading the poem The River Can Not Go Back by Kahlil Gibran and then inviting us to set a sacred intention and "emancipate from anything other than love!" What a profoundly perfect way to begin our time together!

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We are a global community bonded by our collective desire to inspire humanity to choose peace. We cannot think of a better time to respond to the ever present need for more profound connection and a greater sense of peace amid a landscape of uncertainty.

We are here to heed our community's call for deeper connection, resources, and inspiration. Euphrates Institute is eager to announce the launch of a new program in the service of peace: The Peace Practice Alliance!

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Once again our hearts overflowed with love and appreciation for our dear community. The gift of presence you brought to our call deeply moved us. We know that we are stitching a new garment together!

Please enjoy the fruits of this call - the notes, the links, the inspiration!

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If you are yearning for more comfort, guidance, and inspiration during this global pandemic, you are not alone. All of us are sharing in collective uncertainty. Euphrates’s offering is to inspire each of us to choose peace and to encourage our fellow brothers and sisters to do the same…As we look for ways to support our community, we are also looking for support for ourselves. We thank Euphrates’s community partners in sharing such resources.

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It’s been an eventful month for Euphrates and we’d love to share some of the good news: small grant program, chapter spotlight on Burundi, our first chapter call of the new decade and more!

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