The Cooperative for Nonviolent Action
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In 2011, the Voluntown Peace Trust, in Voluntown, Connecticut created a Co-operative for Nonviolent Action to provide an opportunity for groups to work cooperatively to offer workshops, trainings, retreats and gatherings for their own groups, for co-op groups and for other interested people.
The Co-operative for Nonviolent Action (CNVA) will be made up of organizations who do a variety of social change work. Groups can work together to offer workshops and trainings. By working cooperatively we can share ideas, skills, and resources. CNVA can be a place of problem-solving and creating together, of connecting issues and shared retreats. This will increase our organizational capacity while stretching our funding as we provide popular education that leads to action for a better world.
If you are part of a group that may be interested in joining or learning more about the Co-operative for Nonviolent Action, please contact us. If you are an individual interested in the work of CNVA and the Voluntown Peace Trust, we can send you information on the other programs and VPT membership.
For more information, contact Joanne Sheehan of the War Resisters League/New England at 860-639-8834 or email [email protected].
The Co-operative for Nonviolent Action (CNVA) will be made up of organizations who do a variety of social change work. Groups can work together to offer workshops and trainings. By working cooperatively we can share ideas, skills, and resources. CNVA can be a place of problem-solving and creating together, of connecting issues and shared retreats. This will increase our organizational capacity while stretching our funding as we provide popular education that leads to action for a better world.
If you are part of a group that may be interested in joining or learning more about the Co-operative for Nonviolent Action, please contact us. If you are an individual interested in the work of CNVA and the Voluntown Peace Trust, we can send you information on the other programs and VPT membership.
For more information, contact Joanne Sheehan of the War Resisters League/New England at 860-639-8834 or email [email protected].
Urban Youth: Hartford Catholic Workers
This program consists of the Hartford Catholic Worker and its summer program, run by Christopher and Jackie Allen-Doucot. We recognize with gratitude the leadership role played by HCW in preserving the property intact in 2004, and we intend to preserve the special historic relationships of the Hartford Catholic Workers' use of Ahimsa for its summer program and as a place for respite for HCW itself.
HCW established the St. Martin de Porres Catholic Worker House on November 3, 1993. They are a community of Catholics living in the north end of Hartford, working and praying for an end to violence and poverty. HCW is not a "non-profit agency" and they do not accept government funding. Their ability to house the homeless, feed the hungry, and work with the children depends on contributions from supporters. The organization may be reached at 26 Clark Street, Hartford, CT 06120, (860) 724-7066. More information on The Hartford Catholic Worker may be found here.
HCW established the St. Martin de Porres Catholic Worker House on November 3, 1993. They are a community of Catholics living in the north end of Hartford, working and praying for an end to violence and poverty. HCW is not a "non-profit agency" and they do not accept government funding. Their ability to house the homeless, feed the hungry, and work with the children depends on contributions from supporters. The organization may be reached at 26 Clark Street, Hartford, CT 06120, (860) 724-7066. More information on The Hartford Catholic Worker may be found here.
Land Stewardship
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The Land Stewardship Core Program seeks to expand from what is now the Garden Committee to a broader collection of interested individuals and organizations (for example, schools, CSAs, and other “entities” or groups). We are committed to the four principles of the Garden’s role at VPT, but realize the Garden Committee must grow in order to fulfill the following goals:
Although our focus thus far has been on vegetables and herbs, we look ahead to our long-term goals of reclaiming all of the 57 acres of land entrusted us. This includes the old apple orchards and wells. We endeavor to create more walking trails and are working toward ridding the farm of known invasive plant species. We are members of NOFA and have taken the “Farmer's Pledge”: www.ctnofa.org
We need people power in the gardens to weed and harvest. We seek ideas and solutions for renewable energy at the farm. As the former garden committee evolves into the VPT core program of Land Stewardship, we welcome anyone who shares the vision of sustainable organic agriculture. We endeavor to become a community resource for environmental enlightenment and peace.
If you are interested in volunteering in our gardens, please contact us: [email protected]
- Provide a model of how to grow organic food, while growing food for events at VPT;
- Provide a connection to the local community through the sale of produce;
- Enable organic food to reach under served communities where it is needed; and
- Provide education on how to grow organic foods.
Although our focus thus far has been on vegetables and herbs, we look ahead to our long-term goals of reclaiming all of the 57 acres of land entrusted us. This includes the old apple orchards and wells. We endeavor to create more walking trails and are working toward ridding the farm of known invasive plant species. We are members of NOFA and have taken the “Farmer's Pledge”: www.ctnofa.org
We need people power in the gardens to weed and harvest. We seek ideas and solutions for renewable energy at the farm. As the former garden committee evolves into the VPT core program of Land Stewardship, we welcome anyone who shares the vision of sustainable organic agriculture. We endeavor to become a community resource for environmental enlightenment and peace.
If you are interested in volunteering in our gardens, please contact us: [email protected]
"Building a new society within the shell of the old” starts --
in our garden and our community,
in our actions and our rest,
in our work and our relationships.
Trusting the power that arises when people gather to share their lives and labors, the Voluntown Peace Trust invites into collaboration those who long for a just and peaceful world.
At the Voluntown Peace Trust (Peace Trust, VPT), we are committed to those who benefit least from the current structure of society—especially people struggling against racial, sexual, gender, environmental, and economic injustice. These struggles guide all Peace Trust activities, which include retreats, workshops, summer camps, agricultural projects, community organizing, and campaign building. Our work emerges from three aspects of social transformation: personal change to find healthier ways of being and relating; political action to challenge oppressive structures; and constructive programs to foster alternatives to those structures.
The Peace Trust rests on 54.75 acres in Voluntown, Connecticut, centrally located between New York, Hartford, Boston, and Providence. For over 50 years, this land has been the site of nonviolence training and action, cooperative living, and equity-based economics. With this history, along with wooded trails and streams, gardens, and retreat and conference facilities, VPT is poised to strengthen movements and build coalitions across issues. Our experiments in sustainable living, organic agriculture, and community building invite people to explore practical responses to global and bio-regional concerns, both on site at the Peace Trust and in their own lives. Our aim is to work alongside people in movements that can persist apart from VPT.
The Peace Trust rests on 54.75 acres in Voluntown, Connecticut, centrally located between New York, Hartford, Boston, and Providence. For over 50 years, this land has been the site of nonviolence training and action, cooperative living, and equity-based economics. With this history, along with wooded trails and streams, gardens, and retreat and conference facilities, VPT is poised to strengthen movements and build coalitions across issues. Our experiments in sustainable living, organic agriculture, and community building invite people to explore practical responses to global and bio-regional concerns, both on site at the Peace Trust and in their own lives. Our aim is to work alongside people in movements that can persist apart from VPT.