10th Anniversary Booklet

Ten years of catalyzing collaboration. Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement

10 years of teamwork at the heart of the Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement

Message from the Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement staff team: since our grand opening on the International Day of Peace in 2014, the mission of our Centre has been to advance expansive and innovative understandings and practices of peace locally and globally by catalyzing collaboration among our participants and partners. These pages provide a synopsis of the various indicators of the Centre for Peace Advancement’s impact over the past decade as we have pursued this mission. We also hope these pages will prompt memories for many readers. Memories of the organizations who have been in the mix, and, more importantly, memories of the people who have brought these organizations—and our Centre’s community—to life. We like to remind visitors and guests that our community is made up of a dynamic and diverse array of peace practitioners: researchers and teachers, entrepreneurs and administrators, artists and activists, students and systems thinkers. And that this community is supported by an amazing group of partners that includes advisers, mentors, and funders. Our team has been privileged to get to know all of these participants and partners as individuals. Individuals who do remarkable work, but who are also human beings with their own unique stories. People willing to share their struggles and their joys with us. We have been inspired by the individuals who have been part of the Centre for Peace Advancement because they regularly provide us with glimpses of how peace can prevail in our world despite the myriad of injustices and conflicts that are all-to evident every day. We look back on the past ten years with gratitude, and look forward to the years to come with hope.

8 affiliate organizations have been co-located in the Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement. We provide an inspiring and flexible work environment for our Core Collaborators, as well as access to researchers, students, and community engagement opportunities. Project Ploughshares works with churches, governments, and civil society in Canada and abroad to advance policies and actions to prevent war and armed violence. Centre for Community Based Research conducts and promotes research that is community-driven, participatory, and action-oriented and that combines research with education and community involvement. The Ripple Effect Education equips children, youth, and adults with the tools they need to transform conflict, seek justice, and uphold positive peace in their communities. Intercultural Dialogue Institute advances social cohesion across cultures, faiths, and ethnicities through dialogue and partnership.

TAMARACK INSTITUTE develops and supports collaborative strategies that engage citizens and institutions to solve major community issues, both across Canada and abroad. MENNONITE CENTRAL COMMITTEE shares God’s love and compassion for all through relief, development, and peacebuilding work in Canada and abroad. ALUMNI: COMMUNITY PEACEMAKER TEAMS sends volunteers who are trained in nonviolent peacebuilding to advocate for justice and stand in solidarity with the oppressed. WATERLOO PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP supported University of Waterloo students and community members to research, educate, and take action on pressing social and environmental justice issues.

32 peace start-ups have been supported by the Grebel Peace Incubator program. Embedded in Waterloo region’s dynamic social innovation ecosystem, our incubator program attracts students and community members who benefit from mentorship, training opportunities, and seed funding.

More than $113,000 in seed funding has been provided to peace start-ups from the Grebel Peace Incubator Fund under the guidance of our experienced mentors. This fund was established by Aden and Joanne Bauman to provide a 1:1 match for all contributions received from subsequent donors. Additional donations are always welcome!

MAP THE SYSTEM. This annual global competition asks students and educators to think differently about social and environmental change. Participants dive deep into issues that matter to them, analyzing and researching their chosen problems through a systems-thinking lens. Student teams compete at a campus level for cash prizes and additional support. Winning teams from Waterloo have progressed to the Canadian finals and even the global finals hosted by Oxford University in the United Kingdom.

361 individuals have been formal participants. A diversity of peace practitioners, entrepreneurs, and researchers creates a dynamic community that breaks out of disciplinary and institutional silos. Catalyzing collaboration through community connections. Every week, the Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement community gathers to share updates, discuss current projects, and make connections in their work. Emerging start-ups can connect with established organizations, student researchers can connect with Research Fellows, and entrepreneurs can connect with peace practitioners.

Research Fellows Research Fellows are peace scholars and practitioners affiliated with the Centre for Peace Advancement who have significant research expertise and experience. Research is one of the Centre’s core activities, and we enable and elevate projects that are participatory, action-oriented, and community-based

202 students have worked for the Centre for Peace Advancement, affiliate organizations, and incubator start-ups. We connect bright and committed university students from a variety of disciplines to practical learning opportunities with the peace practitioners, entrepreneurs, and researchers who call the Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement home. Student placements not only cultivate important skills and abilities, they provide invaluable pathways into high-impact careers. Placements with participants in our Centre can open doors by making connections with important networks, and help mentor students in their next steps—whether academic or professional.

129 partners have collaborated on projects. We are eager to draw in organizations and individuals beyond the Centre for Peace Advancement’s community to strengthen our capacity and extend our reach. The Centre for Peace Advancement is embedded withing the University of Waterloo’s innovation ecosystem, with campus and community partners who support a wide array of opportunities for students and startups to make a positive social impact.

50 peace innovator participants (7 cohorts, 37 projects). The Peace Innovators program mentors talented high school students passionate about social justice issues affecting their schools and communities. The program is led by The Ripple Effect Education in collaboration with Kindred Credit Union and the Centre for Peace Advancement. Students from different high schools come together for eight months to advance social innovation projects that respond to pressing issues such as racism, mental health, homelessness, and inequality. 81 peace week events over 10 years. Since its inception, the Centre for Peace Advancement has organized community events around the International Day of Peace on September 21. In recent years, the Centre has also hosted a community calendar for peace related events across Waterloo region held between September 21 and 30 (the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation)

478 media mentions highlighting the work of Centre for Peace Advancement participants. Media coverage offers a window into the breadth and depth of the impacts that our participants are having beyond the walls of the Centre for Peace Advancement.

21,653 community members have been engaged through events and projects. We are an outward facing program of Conrad Grebel University College that promotes—and is shaped by—mutual learning and shared action between our campus and our broader community. The Cultural Life of Drones, Artist Sara Matthews (pictured) Not Traumatic Enough for a Shock Blanket, Artist Yasmeen Nematt Alla, Voices Together | group exhibit, Unmasking, Breathing, Moving Forward | group exhibit

The Grebel Gallery gives life to the Centre for Peace Advancement’s strategic commitment to being a place to craft, record, map, and perform stories of peacemaking. Since its creation in 2014, the Grebel Gallery has hosted 24 exhibits. These exhibits have featured professional and emerging artists, and have engaged local and global partners. Exhibits are supported by the Grebel Gallery Team (composed of staff, students, and community members), and proceeds from the Grebel Gallery Endowment Fund, which was initiated by Grebel alumnus Jim Tiessen and his wife Karen Thiessen. Contributions to this fund are always welcome! A New History: Russlaender Painting in Ontario, Curated by David Y. Neufeld. Trinity: Then and Now Artist Mary Kavanaugh. Your Wall Can (Not) Divide Us Curated by Eric Lepp. Signs of Peace Curated by Paul Hiedebrecht.

$1,405,291 in external funding has been leveraged for projects with Centre participants. Participating in our community generates new business models and opens up new funding opportunities. Majid Mirza, founder of ESGTree, a start-up supported by the Grebel Peace Incubator, is a Ph.D. student in Waterloo’s School of Environment, Enterprise and Development. Majid has also contributed to the Centre for Peace Advancement and Grebel communities in many ways—for example, in 2021 he helped establish the Malcolm X Peace and Conflict Studies Scholarship at Grebel to support Black and Indigenous students in the Master of Peace and Conflict Studies program. Grebel Peace Incubator start-ups have also received $1,249,020 in awards and grants from other sources.

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