The Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) is a volunteer-run conflict transformation program. Teams of trained AVP facilitators conduct experiential workshops to develop participants’ abilities to resolve conflicts without resorting to manipulation, coercion, or violence. Typically, each workshop lasts 18–20 hours over a two or three-day period. The workshop events place a strong emphasis on the experiences of the participants, building confidence that everyone contributes something of value to violence prevention. AVP groups and facilitators are active in communities and prisons across the United States and in many other countries.
The project began in 1975 when inmates at Green Haven Prison in New York State asked local Quakers to help them teach incarcerated youth how to resolve conflicts nonviolently. The success of the workshops quickly spread by word of mouth, and the program took root in many State and Federal prisons throughout the country. Workshops are now offered in communities, businesses, churches, neighborhood centers, community associations, women’s shelters and other locales.
The fundamental objectives are:
to encourage individuals to take responsibility for themselves and the consequences of their behavior,
to serve as one another’s community
to find options other than fight or flight when faced with conflict.
The P&JC has promoted and supports workshops and facilitates training in prisons and in the community, and has done so since 2009. More information may be found here. For further information on work done in Maryland prisons contact Martha Baer and for work in the community, consult Kit Hanley.