The Alternatives to Violence Project: A Path Towards Peace

The Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) was born in 1975 at Green Haven Prison in upstate New York. A group of prisoners concerned about increasing numbers of young offenders in the criminal justice system sought the support of local Quakers and began developing a program to teach youth about nonviolent conflict resolution. Together the volunteers and the prisoners created the first AVP workshop.

Since then, AVP has grown exponentially. Today, AVP workshops are held in prisons in 41 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as in more than 50 other nations around the world. Last year some 14,400 people participated in AVP workshops in correctional facilities, communities, and schools.

According to the AVP manual, AVP is a voluntary process of “seeking and sharing, and not of teaching.” Working to empower people to lead nonviolent lives through affirmation, respect, community building, cooperation and trust, AVP encourages every person's innate power to positively transform themselves and the world. This belief, termed “transforming power,” affirms that each of us can choose to respond to conflict in a positive, nonviolent way. This notion can be empowering to incarcerated people because it reminds them that they have the power to break the cycle of violence that landed them behind bars -- and reminds them that they deserve a life free from the pain of violence.

It is equally powerful for community participants, who both recognize the potential of others that they may have seen as very different from themselves and acknowledge the ways that they, too, perpetuate violence. Together, incarcerated and free workshop participants explore the qualities of peaceful coexistence.

The AVP program consists of three levels of workshops, each lasting 2-3 full days and led by a team of incarcerated and community facilitators. All participation and facilitation is voluntary; no one is paid or required to take part. The first level introduces participants to the principles of AVP and explores ideas about violence and nonviolence while building trust and community in the group. The next level further challenges participants to practice nonviolent responses to conflict, while providing opportunities to explore the roots and outcomes of violent behavior. The final level, a Training for Facilitators, lets participants develop the skills necessary for co-facilitating AVP workshops. Workshops also include “light and livelies” – activities that let participants relax, be silly, and get to know each other better. By the end of the weekend a community has emerged – one rich with authenticity, cooperation, learning, laughter, inspiration and compassion.

“All of us carry the roots of violence within ourselves .… We’ve all shunned, ignored, and hurt people,” says Eleanor Novek, the New Jersey State Coordinator for AVP, for whom the AVP experience has been transformative. By practicing and sharing AVP, she has come to see “what it means to search for good in everyone and reach for the good in every situation.” Novek, a journalism professor, has seen AVP change the way she works with her college students, finding herself trying to be “much more present, to hear them, to listen actively, and get a sense of who they are.” She has learned that if one maintains the intention to live nonviolently, and practices the skills necessary for doing so, any situation with the potential for violence can also contain nonviolent solutions.

An introduction to the principles of AVP often lets prisoners experience a sense of relief. Many have never thought they are capable of anything other than violence, or been given a safe space in which to express the pain they carry as a result of violence they have experienced. Further violence towards self and others is often a result of the inability to release this pain. “It is so wonderful,” Novek says, for incarcerated men and women “to share with people and hear similar experiences, to connect with somebody.”  While prison culture often leads inmates to avoid eye contact or look at each other in threatening ways, AVP workshops allow for real connection. Novek said it is inspiring to watch as incarcerated people begin to recognize “their own value, their possibility for hope and change. They discover a whole new piece of themselves.”

When confronted by those who do not understand the value of her work, Novek asks, “Have you ever done emotional or physical violence to someone else and regretted it?" Every one of us has, of course. She continues, “Is it not possible for every person to repent, regret, and change?” She encourages those who can entertain the idea that there is good in everyone to take part in a workshop. When they do, they see the connections between themselves and the prison participants. For many, this comes as a revelation – it is the first time they see incarcerated people as human beings.

It is this – the opportunity to see each other as fully human – that paves the path to peace. AVP is creating bridges that connect those whom razor wire too often keeps divided. Within each workshop, community is built, hope is restored, and true freedom is felt. This is the work of peacebuilding, and AVP is leading the way.

If you are interested in finding an AVP chapter in your state, click here. New volunteers are always welcome.

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Photo Credit: legends2k