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Investing in a Larger Vision: Peacebuilding with Tabitha Montgomery of Powerhorn Park Neighborhood Association

7/2/2021

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In this Spotlight on Community Peacebuilding, we are happy to highlight Tabitha Montgomery, Executive Director of Powderhorn Park Neighborhood Association (PPNA). Tabitha is a leader who brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the job. Although this is her first professional career in a nonprofit space, her passion for mission-centered work, focus on improving broadly defined community health, and emphasis on economic and community development make her an exemplary fit for the position. Her organization works on highlighting needs within the neighborhood—including issues such as housing concerns, livability and safety, and environmental justice—and then advocating and championing for resources for the community, including leveraging events and other services to build connection. 

Tabitha sees Peacebuilding’s work as absolutely essential to the communities in her neighborhood. We focus on issues of trauma awareness, racial healing, resilience, and restorative justice through a lens that prioritizes concepts such as truth-telling, acknowledging people’s humanity and stories, and repairing harm and meeting needs in a way that creates authentic justice. She believes communities are craving new approaches that facilitate, establish, and maintain community health in a way that focuses on developing and strengthening relationships instead of being expedient. In her opinion, we need a redirection towards authentically meeting needs and putting in the work to create long-term solutions. Resilience, trauma healing, and restorative justice develop deeper muscles and skills to be in relationship with one another in ways that don’t rush. “It’s not a binary track,” Tabitha says, “but the idea of creating an ecosystem of people and tools and systems. It’s not just investing in one system, but investing in the larger vision.” This vision builds community at the speed of trust. This is Peacebuilding.
 
Tabitha’s vision for her neighborhood includes providing opportunities for people to think deeper about how they can contribute—what they can offer, what skills they have, and what they care about—in a sustainable way. She imagines a community in which it is not just one group of people or one organization, but a collaborating collective that gives part of themselves to create something larger. She wants to develop more pathways for people to do that, including giving people time and resources to contribute to the world in a way that does not take away from their ability to care for themselves or their loved ones. 
 
Furthermore, Tabitha believes in the power of sharing—a simple act of giving something without being sure how the other person will use it. She seeks to meet each person on their path and does not believe that being dismissive or resigning to stay stuck in frustration are acceptable tactics. She says we must not allow our belief systems, indignation, or passion to preclude others in community from being seen and heard in a way that allows them to meet us on this journey. Nor does she believe that the end goal is homogeneity—instead, she believes in adapting and adjusting belief systems to practice deep listening and utilize informed, empathetic approaches towards the creation of genuine solutions that strengthen the whole neighborhood. 
 
We are grateful for the peacebuilding leadership Tabitha shares and practices. We are glad to be on this journey with her, PPNA residents, and other Minneapolitans as together we transform trauma into nonviolent power to repair, restore, and renew Minneapolis peace by peace. 

Join us at an upcoming training! Learn more here. 

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Imagining a New Way of Being Through STAR: Community Spotlight on Sonja Fernandez-Quiñones

7/2/2021

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Sonja was born and raised in Puerto Rico. She has an undergraduate degree in political science as well as a law degree. After graduating from law school, she and her husband came to the Twin Cities for a couple months before moving here permanently in April 2017. She has worked on a variety of projects, including legal writing, research, and content creation. She is also involved in a digital magazine in Spanish for which she is the editor. As of November 2020, Sonja has been the Systems Change Advocate at the Sexual Violence Center. She coordinates with the Hennepin County Sexual Assault Multidisciplinary Action Response Team. This team, which is made up of law enforcement, prosecutors, nurses, and victims’ services providers, comes together to figure out how to make a victim’s experience as smooth and painless as possible as they move through the system. She also works 1-1 with clients as an advocate, making referrals, providing counseling, and assisting survivors in navigating the system. 
It was a long journey to STAR for Sonja. After meeting an individual at a protest in 2019, she reconnected with him after the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 and was invited into conversations around restorative justice and grassroots organizing. Several people in these conversations had attended STAR and spoke highly of the training. When Sonja started working at the Sexual Violence Center, she began having conversations with her coworkers and supervisors about the implementation of restorative justice. The Executive Director and program manager agreed to sponsor her to take STAR. They saw how many survivors don’t want to go through the regular retributive justice system and needed ways of healing beyond prosecution. 
For Sonja, the most transformative part of STAR was embracing the process and allowing it to change her. Tapping into trauma, learning about the cycles of violence, and applying the strategies to break free were all relevant not only to her work with sexual assault survivors but also to her personal life. She learned her reactions are normal and that there is a “possibility of a life past trauma”. STAR gave her hope for herself and for other people—for communal and transgenerational healing. 
She believes we are currently at a turning point. The systems are showing cracks and falling apart. In her view, the teachings of STAR are pivotal for this moment. What are we going to build after the system crumbles? How do we move forward? How do we find different ways of healing and coping that don’t rely on demonizing and punishing others? STAR offers a foundation for imagining a new way of being in relationship with each other that generates and creates healthy power for personal and structural transformation.  
Sonja is excited to be on Peacebuilding’s board. She looks forward to helping promote STAR and spread the word about Peacebuilding through creating new relationships and building bridges. 

Learn more about Peacebuilding's 2-hour, 8-hour, and 38-hour STAR offerings here! 


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The Origins of the Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR) Training: A Conversation with Carolyn Yoder

7/2/2021

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Carolyn Yoder MA, LPC was one of the individuals who developed the Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience training (STAR). STAR was instigated at a time when the United States was still shocked and reeling from the attacks of September 11, 2001. Funded with a $2,000,000 grant from the Church World Service in New York City, they realized the needs were different with the 9/11 tragedy. As a nation that was deeply impacted by this horrific event on a large scale, we needed a transformative method of addressing psychological trauma, finding meaning, and working toward healing without demonizing others. Amidst the aftermath, STAR was initially created as a one-week training for community leaders and caregivers. People from around the world attended—community members, chaplains, mental health personnel, and medical staff. STAR’s aim was to equip these individuals with the knowledge and skills that would help heal their communities. 
 
The vision for STAR from the very beginning was to expand our understanding of trauma’s harmful impact beyond the individual. STAR also looks at the effect of trauma on communities, groups, and nations. It includes historical, generational, cultural, and structural trauma. The goal was for trainees to learn a new, deeper understanding of psychological trauma. First, STAR offers an understanding that trauma is a normal physical response to frightening situations, and that it impacts the body as well as the mind. Second, STAR trainees learn that trauma is something each and every one of us can address—no special educational degrees are required. When we recognize the signs of trauma—us vs. them stories, redemptive violence narratives, good vs. evil language, etc.—we can step back and address the situation through a healing lens that builds resilience. And third, STAR tells us that there are tools and strategies that can make a difference right now. We can address root causes, learn self-regulation skills, and engage in restorative practices to address community as well as individual trauma. At the end of the first STAR training, trainees were hopeful and empowered. The results were not only gratifying, but extremely clear: what STAR offers could help people in new and different ways. 
 
Right now, we are living in a time of collective trauma. There is not a single person who isn’t affected by what is happening with COVID-19 and racialized trauma, which means we have all the more reason to use a community-oriented approach. It is more important than ever to have restorative justice-focused strategies to address trauma and transform conflict. We need to go deeper than simply looking at our struggles as a mental health challenge; we need new ways of understanding each other and addressing the situations in which we find ourselves. The collective trauma we’re living through is creating polarization, isolation, and suffering. We can either add to the pain and wounds of the world, or we can be what Carolyn calls “agents of calm” to transform psychological trauma into nonviolent power with positive, productive alternatives to revenge within our spheres of influence. We have the opportunity to use STAR concepts and skills to calm ourselves to think creatively and clearly, accessing deep wisdom and healing as a collective for positive structural change. 

Join us at an upcoming STAR training! Learn more here. 

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