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About Addie Wyatt Center for Nonviolence Training

The Addie Wyatt Center for Nonviolence Training (AWC) empowers communities facing violence with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s philosophy and methodology of Nonviolent Conflict Reconciliation; a process for adopting nonviolence as a way of life and for addressing the underlying causes of unjust social conditions. AWC is one of only a few nonviolence training centers in Cook County. It is focused on training in the tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. At a time when violence is becoming the new normal in many impoverished communities in Chicago, the AWC implemented “Peace in the Schools” in 2016 as a pilot project funded by The Allstate Foundation. Our focus is on nonviolence training for youth, youth workers and teachers. “Peace in Schools” has allowed the AWC to develop a strong foundation of support from Chicago’s South Side and West Side communities and partnerships with city agencies including the Chicago Department of Public Health, Office of Violence Prevention and Behavioral Health, and the Chicago Housing Authority. Since August of 2016, the AWC has served 30 community organizations, 6 colleges, 7 high schools and 1 grammar school. The AWC grew out of the Fortieth Anniversary Commemoration of the Chicago Freedom Movement, the anniversary of the year when Dr. King and his family took up residence in North Lawndale to protest slum housing conditions and poverty. The co-founders -- Pam Smith, Mary Lou Finley, Sherri Bevel and Gail Schechter are Certified Kingian Nonviolence Trainers. Together we have decades of experience promoting, managing and training for social justice causes in educational, political, business and nonprofit settings, working alongside freedom fighters, notable public figures and movement veterans. We were motivated to establish the Addie Wyatt Center by a deep desire to apply our nonviolence and organizing skills towards the alleviation of violence in Chicago, especially gun violence.

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