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Resource Center for Nonviolence
Staff
Santa Cruz
www.rcnv.org

Resource Center for Nonviolence (RCNV) is, "the largest enduring local, community-based, peace organization in the nation, with a wide influence and an unusual collection of staff," explains Bob Fitch, RCNV staff member. The Center was selected by our members as one of five recipients of the Santa Cruz Community Credit Union's Community Visa Donation Fund for 2003-2004.

Resource Center for Nonviolence was founded in 1976 as a social justice organization dedicated to promoting the principles of nonviolent social change, human dignity, and enhancing the quality of life for everyone. The Center offers a wide-range of educational programs in history, theory, methodology, and current practices of nonviolence as a force for personal and social change. It has developed a variety of formats to explore the meaning of nonviolence and its prospects in shaping our daily lives and our work for social change.

Education is the main focus of the center and it offers a wide array of information on topics such as the Middle East, the draft, the military, the work and philosophy of Gandhi, and other pertinent topics. Direct action is also an important component of the center. It was instrumental in starting the Iraq Action Network, and other groups such as Peacemakers, the Interfaith Peace Coalition, and the Youth Coalition of Santa Cruz. The Center also provides internships and volunteer opportunities and offers space and resources to a number of local groups that use its location as a home base for meetings.

The community has come to rely on the center for speakers, meetings, and information on political events. The Center's website was receiving 20,000 hits a week from all over the country during the war in Iraq. The original intention of the center was to provide a physical space for the community to come together and meet. The idea was, and still is, to bring people together around common values and then let them act on their own initiatives. Many local activist groups start at the Center and then continue to grow and expand throughout the community.

The Resource Center for Nonviolence and the Santa Cruz Community Credit Union have had a long and fruitful relationship. The Center has been a loyal member of the Community Credit Union since its inception. Staff and volunteers were thrilled when RCNV was selected as one of this year's Community Visa Donation Fund recipients. "We don't usually win the Credit Union's Community Visa election," says staff member Scott Kennedy. "But the war has really increased people's awareness to the importance of our organization. The Credit Union and the Resource Center share a lot of the same values. We also have many of the same members. In fact several Credit Union employees have sat on our steering committee at different times." As a non-profit with no permanent endowment, the center is grateful for the Community Visa Donation funds it received. The contribution will help them continue their valuable work as a resource to our community.

You can visit the Resource Center for Nonviolence at:
515 Broadway, Santa Cruz
831/423-1626, fax 831/423-8716 information@rcnv.org
Office/Bookstore: M-F, Noon - 5:00; Sa, Noon - 4:00
www.rcnv.org

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