Report on 2015-16 Mike Yarrow Peace Fellowship

Report on 2015-16 Mike Yarrow Peace Fellowship

By Bruce Pruitt-Hamm 

Background

After sponsoring and organizing the Peace Activist Trainee Program for 14 years under the leadership of Mike and Ruth Yarrow, with WWFOR Organizer Ellen Finkelstein as the Lead Trainer and Director, the Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation faced the dismal prospect that this program might have to be laid down for several reasons.

First, Mike and Ruth Yarrow were compelled to retreat from active leadership in the program when Mike had a recurrence of his colon cancer. His death on June 2, 2014 ultimately led to Ruth moving back to Ithaca to be closer to her children.

Second, Ellen Finkelstein was reluctantly laid off by the WWFOR in October 2014 due to chronic funding issues. Assistant directors Dante Garcia and Kaeley Pruitt-Hamm had moved on to other jobs and commitments and were unable to take over as directors.

In a bold experiment in volunteerism, Bruce and Janis Pruitt-Hamm took over as the directors for the program, renamed it the Mike Yarrow Peace Fellowship and redesigned the program to include a one-week intensive training in the summer followed by a year of mentoring and support.

An Advisory Board of former PAT participants and staff were formed to provide guidance and support to the directors. Mentors were recruited to assist the peace fellows and other volunteers stepped forward to help with logistics for the training. The prior four week PAT training program was redesigned to take place within an intensive one-week period of time, with nearly the same number of hours of actual training, but omitting the common project, since each peace fellow was going to work on their own project during the rest of the program year.

MYPF Proposal

The WWFOR proposed a budget to support the training of 10 Peace Fellows to the Abe Keller Peace Education Fund. The fund graciously provided a grant of $10,000 and we were able to fund 6 Peace Fellows. Originally proposing a budget of $17,000, WWFOR modified its plans and has managed to carry out the program for less than $10,000 so far this year.

Intensive Training

The intensive training occurred, as planned, from June 28 to July 2 in Seattle and July 2 through July 5 at the Seabeck conference grounds on Hood Canal for the Northwest regional FOR conference. See Ex. 2: Intensive Training program agenda.

Both the participants at the Seabeck conference and the peace fellows enthusiastically appreciated the participation of the peace fellows in the conference, not only integrating them thoroughly but providing key opportunities for leadership and presentation. The Seabeck conference organizing committee wrote to the MYPF directors following the conference, stating: “The peace fellows contributed to so many aspects of the conference-introducing the keynoter, participating in the activist fair, adding spice to the talent show, and even driving the golf cart. In retrospect, we recognize that including them in the conference was brilliant! We received lots of favorable comments about the MYPF being a Seabeck on the evaluation forms too.”

After the Intensive Training

Sadly, at the close of the conference, the Directors, Bruce and Janis Pruitt-Hamm, received word that their daughter, Kaeley Pruitt-Hamm, a former Assistant Director of the Peace Activist Trainee Program for the last four years, had become seriously ill with Lyme disease and a host of related co-infections and conditions forcing her to leave her position as staff with the Friends Committee on National Legislation in Washington DC to live with person Janis so that they can provide 24/7 caregiving and financial support.

Bruce and Janis were generously supported by Mary Lou Finley, one of the 11 volunteer mentors, a retired sociology professor from Antioch University-Seattle and a Martin Luther King nonviolence trainer, who took over for them regarding ongoing follow up with the Peace Fellows as the Peace Fellows embarked on their respective projects.

The six peace fellows and their respective projects are summarized below.

Name

School/Project

Tibaria Alnouri

Interlake High School

Interviews with immigrants, collecting information which counters stereotypes and sharing it.

Edwin Carlos

Newport High School

Develop nonviolent communication workshops for high school students, working with psychology club at his high school and others.

Sofian Mahmoud

Pacific University

Increase awareness at his college about what is happening in Palestine today; start a Middle East Peace/Palestine club.

Sophie Morada

Garfield High School

Organize a feminist club in her high school, with a focus on intersectional feminism and women of color. Her goal is to empower young women, particularly those who have been marginalized.

Sitara Nath

University of Portland

Implement a restorative justice program in a high school in Portland.

Komalpreet Sahota

University of Washington

Bring Kingian nonviolence ideas to students at a middle school in Kent.

Future Plans

The future of the program is uncertain at this time. On the positive side, the new design of a 1 week intensive training to replace the 4 week PAT model, the use of volunteer Directors and Mentors made possible by this redesign, all worked very well. The work done on the 2015 program lays critical groundwork that will make programs in future years much easier to organize. However, the loss of our volunteer Directors for the foreseeable future throws into question the continued viability of the program, barring recruitment of alternative leadership. We hope to clarify the situation before the end of the year.

Leave a Reply