The Institute for Community Peace (ICP) is a national organization that transforms community by changing the structures that cause social problems.
ICP integrates practice, research, and innovation to support a broad audience of local and national partners. Supported by research, our structural change model places community will as the central driver of structural change. Our work also supports equal partnership among community and the larger domains in which they are embedded in the resolution of enduring social problems. ICP’s work focuses
ICP integrates practice, research, and innovation to support a broad audience of local and national partners. Supported by research, our structural change model places community will as the central driver of structural change. Our work also supports equal partnership among community and the larger domains in which they are embedded in the resolution of enduring social problems. ICP’s work focuses
Another step forward, structural change manifest
"The nature of injustice is that we may not always see it in our own times," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote after recounting the legal struggles faced by same-s*x partners.
This #GivingTuesday we hope you will give a gift to ICP as we continue working on the long journey to structural change. As troubling as recent events have been, they are a wake up call that only long term systemic change will really make a difference in the issues plaguing our communities. Let's make a difference.
Systemic failure, according to john a. powell, and certainly evidence of a deep divide. Do you think the protests across the country will ignite long term change or fall off the radar?
Last night, like many across the world who were watching, we experienced deep disappointment in the decision by the St. Louis County grand jury not to indict Ferguson, MO police officer Darren Wils...
The embeddedness of structural racism rears its ugly head once again as no charges will be pressed in the Michael Brown shooting.
Some lives, some versions of the truth hold more weight than others, and that is upheld across systems in our nation.
Read the full testimony and other evidence just released by the St. Louis County Prosecutor's Office
Our latest newsletter is out, examining how structural violence manifests in community, most recently played out in #ferguson
Witnesses take note and smart phone videos. Police appear. Crime scene roped off. Black boy’s body covered or left uncovered. Crowds gather. Policemen order them back. Body is taken away.Act TwoMedia appear; pictures are taken; witnesses spoken to. Parents/friends/relatives of black boy cry out.…
In case you don't feel the effects of Neo-liberalism, this chart can verify that if you are in the bottom 90%, things are not going well.
Economic growth used to mean rising incomes for all families, but in the early years of the most recent recovery the typical household actually saw its income fall.
Today is #NationalVoterRegistrationDay and there are a lot of important elections coming up this fall. Are you involved in local campaigns to bring progressives to the decision making table?
Community members in #Ferguson are bringing their protests to the NFL. What do you think about the links between the lack of justice in Missouri, along with the culture of violence in the NFL?
"As long as there is no justice, there's no time for games."
The Washington Post published comments from citizens of #Ferguson, MO that reveal a city still divided by the shooting of Michael Brown
After postponing a council meeting, the city asked residents to write on comment cards. You can read those comments here.
Gearing up for the fall elections, Wisconsin pushes back on voting rights
A panel of Republican judges issues a stunning decision reinstating Wisconsin‘s voter ID law before the midterms
The citizens of #Ferguson are working to reform the city's use of court fees as a first step in creating change in that system.
The council in the Missouri town met Tuesday for the first time since the shooting of Michael Brown. A plan introduced would address one source of tension: heavy collection of court fines and fees.
The embeddedness of #neoliberalism is what makes it so hard to push back against. Identify shared values that we can lift to begin the next era, since unfettered marketization is not working for all of us.
Bulletproof Neoliberalism by Paul Heideman To understand how a body of thought became an era of capitalism requires more than intellectual history. Illustration by Jan Buchczik “What is going to come after neoliberalism?” It was the question on many radicals’ lips, present writer included, after the…
Congratulations to ICP's own Research Director on the publication of her new book. Check it out!
A complete guide to applied research, featuring original data and detailed case studiesApplied Research Methods in Public and Nonprofit Organizations takes an integrative approach to applied research, emphasizing design, data collection, and analysis. Common case studies across chapters illustrat...
Here is a very relatable article about understanding white privilege in the context of structural racism and how that perpetuates inequality
The phrase “white privilege” is one that rubs a lot of white people the wrong way. It can trigger something in them that shuts down conversation or at least makes them very defensive. (Especially those who grew up relatively less privileged than other folks around them). And I’ve seen more than once…
Very brief article, but the point is clear - the unrest we see in #Ferguson is indicative of the housing and economic policies that have been put in place over the last few decades. Any effective response needs to look at these policies, which are opportunities to create shift.
The same decay that sparked unrest in one Missouri town is taking place across the country
This seems all too familiar - the dialogue about violence, race and what matters in America. What will create a true shift?
Where is the furor over the killing of a 3-year-old Landover girl?
Another contentious police shooting, this time in #Ferguson MO. The community has responded with protests and riots. What response do you think is most effective in actually shifting the relationship between police and community?
Pro-same s*x marriage advocates in Utah seem confident that public opinion has shifted enough in their favor that they welcome their case being appealed to the Supreme Court.
In an unusual move, same-s*x marriage advocates fresh off a legal victory in Utah are supporting efforts to ask the Supreme Court to weigh in.
Happy August. Congress skips town after failing to pass legislation on the immigration of Central American children across the southern border, but does manage to sue the President for making Executive Orders. How are American voters justifying the lack of action by lawmakers as we build up to this year's elections?
Both parties use suit, which targets Obama’s use of executive orders, as a rallying cry for midterm elections
Shifts in the rental market in New York are the latest incarnation of economic inequality in the city. While Mayor Bill deBlasio is pushing for more progressive policies there is a strong pushback from landlords and owners. Interesting read.
Tenant groups cite illegal harassment and a growing threat to affordable housing, while landlords say buying out longtime tenants in low-rent apartments is lawful.
In the wake of this week's #SCOTUS decision in favor of #HobbyLobby, religious organizations are already pushing back on other issues of equal access, as in the letter to President Obama this week for exemption from the non-discrimination clause for hiring LGBT individuals.
The day after the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby ruling, a group of religious leaders sent a letter to President Barack Obama asking that he exempt them from a forthcoming executive order that would prohibit federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT people.
This is an interesting report on young people's opinions about race and racism. Seemingly progressive views are in fact shaped by the dominant neo-liberal frame of individual responsibility, with no regard to the structural forces behind the extreme inequality facing our country.
When you hear MTV, you don’t think “research.” But, for the last few years, the music television channel has been building a public affairs campaign to address bias called “Look Different.” Aimed at millennials, it seeks to help them deal with prejudice and discrimination in their lives. And as part…
What values do we need to lift to push back on the erroneous belief that corporations have the same rights as individuals? It is important to recognize that women's health rights are being undermined by the religious beliefs of corporations - not individuals. The ramifications of the #SCOTUS decision today in the #HobbyLobby case will severely impact working women nationwide.
The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby that for-profit employers with religious objections can opt out of providing contraception coverage under Obamacare. The decision could open the door to other employers seeking to withhold coverage for other medical procedures at odds with firm r…
Today is the day! If you believe that long-term structural change can make a difference in our country, please support Institute for Community Peace to continue its work. A donation of $24, $48 or more can make a real difference.
Do More 24 is quickly approaching! Do More 24 is a local movement powered by United Way of the National Capital Area. The day of giving connects donors with nonprofits serving in our region and all the money raised here stays here. Mark your calendar for Do More 24 on June 19th!
Tomorrow is #DoMore24 and our goal is to raise $5000 for ICP. Last year we raised over $4000 so we know this can be done! Will you support ICP to continue its work creating structural change in communities?
Do More 24 is quickly approaching! Do More 24 is a local movement powered by United Way of the National Capital Area. The day of giving connects donors with nonprofits serving in our region and all the money raised here stays here. Mark your calendar for Do More 24 on June 19th!
Two more days to DoMore24! This is a great chance to support the important work ICP is doing.
Do More 24 is quickly approaching! Do More 24 is a local movement powered by United Way of the National Capital Area. The day of giving connects donors with nonprofits serving in our region and all the money raised here stays here. Mark your calendar for Do More 24 on June 19th!
ICP's summer newsletter is here - check it out!
A few years ago in seeking to understand the connection between racism, violence and racial disparities in poor communities of color, ICP learned about structural violence. Defined as “the physical and psychological harm that results from exploitive and unjust social, political and economic syste…
For our local followers in DC, the new legislation put forward by the council seeks to address some of the structuralized oppression faced by previous offenders with the "Ban the Box" law. What's your opinion on this issue?
The Kojo Nnamdi Show features two-hours of news, political issues and social trends of the day in a magazine program format. The Kojo Nnamdi Show is produced by WAMU 88.5fm American University Radio.
If you have not yet read Michelle Alexander's new book "The New Jim Crow", please check it out. This infographic breaks down some of the most startling facts she reveals about the structuralized racism that characterizes the current criminal justice system.
The realities of mass incarceration in the "era of colorblindness."
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A rising tide lifts all yachts...more on inequality
A super-wealthy few have succeeded in defeating all of their rivals—unions, regulators, the media, honest politicians, environmentalists—and now are free to do as they wish.
One of the causes of structural change can be an exogenous shock - where a major event, like Hurricane Katrina can cause such a shift in the social fabric that change occurs quickly. Over the last few years, major shift has occurred in New Orleans, particularly in the education sector and by the beginning of the 2014-15 school year the entire district will be charter schools. This is an experiment that will provide insight to the rest of the country.
Major school district, devastated by 2005 hurricane, shifts entirely to charter schools, the first to do so.
A lengthy read, but worth it, particularly as it makes ties to current structures in the housing market and economic systems.
Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.
As debates continue about the real face of racism in the US, this article points out the much more pernicious structural forms of racism that impact our schools and communities far more than the outbursts that have been garnering all the recent media attention.
Segregation is resurgent all across the country, including right here in Massachusetts.
Excellent follow up from Ta-Nehisi Coates on the more subtle structural racism that overt outbursts (such as those recently from Donald Sterling and Cliven Bundy) tend to overshadow, despite the fact that structural racism is far more pernicious.
It's easy for polite American society to condemn Cliven Bundy and banish Donald Sterling while turning away from the elegant, monstrous racism that remains.
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