Today we feature one of our new nonprofits who will be joining us this year on Sunday, December 10th. Now more than ever, we want to rally around organizations such as ADVOZ who have worked in the Lancaster area for over 30 years in their humble pursuit of peace and conflict mediation. Read on to find out about their history and plethora of avenues to pursue peace and plan to visit them anytime between 10am-3pm.
Pronounced “ad-vōss,” the word comes from the Latin for ‘voice,’ inherently meaning, ‘adding voice to the dialogue.’ Its expanded mission, to transform conflict and build community with face-to-face dialogue programs, was discerned by consensus by the boards of both founding organizations.
Lancaster has a rich tradition of leadership in building peace. The Lancaster Mediation Center (later CRS) was founded in 1980 early in the US mediation movement. Similarly, in 1994, LAVORP (later CCP) was formed at an early stage in the restorative justice movement. By 2017, both organizations worked in ever more proactive ways with people in conflict and have come of age.
The merger now allows Advoz to take a new proactively with local schools. With restorative practices techniques of inclusive dialogue and classroom circle process, Advoz is part of a movement gaining steam nationwide to reverse the harmful trends of zero-tolerance discipline that exclude youth from their peers and increase their chances of lifelong criminal involvement. In 2016, 30% of juvenile justice cases referred to restorative justice from around Lancaster County happened at schools. Already underway at the School District of Lancaster, Advoz’s Restorative Schools project will equip more schools to address harm in youth violations “upstream” and prevent needless justice system involvement.
https://advoz.org/news/working-upstream-to-undo-criminal-minds/
Stay tuned for next week’s feature of another new nonprofit that focuses on helping families secure affordable, safe and reliable housing which is VITALLY important in today’s housing crisis. Your holiday purchases can be part of the solution in solving the housing crisis which has left many individuals & families without reliable, warm, and dependable housing following the aftermath of the pandemic and economic instability.
