The IPCR Initiative is an accumulation of documents, resources, and observations brought together to support the propositions that we-- collectively-- have both the need, and the potential, to be
a) much more organized and deliberate about "... bringing to the fore what is often hidden: how many good people there are, how many ways there are to do good, and how much happiness comes to those who extend help, as well as to those who receive it."
b) much more multi-faceted and participation-friendly in our approaches to peacebuilding, community revitalization, and ecological sustainability
c) much more resourceful in the use of the storehouses of accumulated wisdom and "embodied energy" which are now accessible to us
As an example of the above mentioned need, here is Challenge #1, from the section "A Ten Point Assessment of the Most Difficult Challenges of Our Times" (in the document "An Assessment of the Most Difficult Challenges of Our Times):
"1) Community building associated with energy descent (see Challenges 4, 5, and 6) (as a result of either wise decisions, key supply shortages, or lack of other options) may or may not be accompanied by an exponential increase in compassion for our fellow human beings. Without such an exponential increase, an increase in the need for emergency assistance to people with basic human needs [as a result of migrations from areas where carrying capacity has been exceeded (areas such as mega-cities), for example (see Challenge 8)] may coincide with a decrease in our capacity to respond to such emergencies." (link to "Ten Point Assessment...")
The three most important documents of The IPCR Initiative are:
1) “The IPCR Workshop Primer” (425 pages) is meant to be a resource guide for facilitators of IPCR Workshops, and a resource guide for participants in IPCR Workshops. “The IPCR Workshop Primer” includes parts of The IPCR Initiative website, an expansion of some sections in the “1000Communities2” document, 4 different introductions to the “1000Communities2” document, “Brief Descriptions of The Eight IPCR Concepts, two summary pieces “48 Different Ways to Describe The IPCR Initiative” and “The Twilight of One Era, and the Dawning of Another”, and much more. (Note: The “… Twilight…” piece highlights the role of education and the need for “teacher-leaders”, and provides many ideas for how to re-energize constructive, practical, and solution-oriented discussion, and promote new approaches to partnership formation and coalition building).
2) "1000Communities2", a 161 page proposal advocating Community Visioning Initiatives, "Community Teaching and Learning Centers" with ongoing workshops, and "sister community" relationships as a way of generating an exponential increase in our collective capacity to overcome the challenges of our times
3) "Brief Descriptions of The Eight IPCR Concepts": (Community Good News Networks, Community Faith Mentoring Networks, Spiritual Friendships, Questionnaires That Can Help Build Caring Communities, Community Visioning Initiatives for Peace, Spiritually Responsible Investing, Ecological Sustainability, and IPCR Journal/Newsletters).
“The job fairs which come at the end of the Community Visioning Initiative process provide opportunities for all key stakeholders in the community (businesses, organizations, institutions, government, etc.) to demonstrate their upgraded awareness—and their interest in the welfare of the community—by offering and facilitating new employment opportunities… and thus helping with a just transition from patterns of investment which in only limited ways represent solutions to prioritized challenges to patterns of investment which in many ways represent solutions to prioritized challenges.” (from p. 10 in “The Twilight of One Era, and the Dawning of Another”)
(p. 1, 2, 6,13, 23, and 31) (the file folder can be a "display container" for these excerpts)
Free Access to All IPCR Documents
All documents, information, resources, etc. created by The IPCR Initiative are viewed as resources which ought to be made as accessible as possible to people who can make good use of them. Here is a link to the complete text of The IPCR Initiative Copyright Policy.
The Interfaith Peacebuilding and Community Revitalization (IPCR) Initative
Stefan Pasti (founder and outreach coordinator, The IPCR Initiative) is also the project coordinator for a project titled "Special Moments of Inspiration and Insight: A Reader from Books and Documents in the English Language". This project is an effort to explore the potential of the Internet in creating educational resources. A draft "Table of Contents" has been created, and 45 excerpts from a variety of genres are accessible. The current “Table of Contents” (with excerpts included) can be accessed by the preceding link, above in the "... Spiritual Inspiration..." section, or from one of the webpages at the "Special Moments..." website (see http://specialmomentsbook.net/TableofContents.html ) For more information, visit www.specialmomentsbook.net
The "Special Moments of Inspiration...." Book Project
[Also: An excerpt from “The IPCR Workshop Primer” (Section 3—
“An Assessment…”), with supporting evidence current to February, 2010]
