New Action Teams!

This message concerns growing our group and crafting it into an organization. We have a wonderful spirit of volunteerism here, but it's mostly reactionary in my experience: i post an action or event, and you show up, help, etc. i'd like to spread the wealth a little, both to invest us all more in the shared responsibility of Peace and to make this effort sustainable by taking some of the joyful burden off of a single point (me). Thank you in advance for your support!
in Peace,
-evan

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Noble Peace Prize Nominations!

The Ojai Post has graciously agreed to host the nomination form for this year's Noble Peace Prize! Last year the Ojai Peace Coalition awarded our first-ever prize to Clive and Marion Leeman of the Ojai Peace Vigil (still happening each and every Friday evening at 6pm under the Pergola downtown!) during the opening ceremonies of Living Peace in Ojai. The celebration is being planned again for this year - again on the weekend of International Peace Day, September 21 - and we're looking for your nominations for the award!
The Noble Peace Prize is awarded each year to an individual or entity that is working primarily within the Ojai Valley to create and promote cultural Peace.

MAKE YOUR NOMINATIONS HERE!

...which leads to the first Action Team opportunity:
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Noble Peace Prize Selection Team

To make the awarding of the Noble Peace Prize an official, valid, and fair process, i'd like to create an odd-numbered panel (prefereably 5, but as few as 3 persons) to review submitted NPP nominations and choose the awaredee based on a rubric we will create. The deadline for submissions is August 15, and i would like for us to have selected the recipient(s) by August 31. This team is also responsible for helping to create the ceremony/presentation of the award.
This team activates once per year, during August and September.
if you can donate your energy to this task, please LET ME KNOW.
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Independence Day Parade Team

The annual parade is our defining event...it's what we were organized around originally, and has become a great tradition. it is a fantastic opportunity to make Peace visible and to claim it publicly as a patriotic endeavor! This team can be of any size, and is responsible for finding out the parade theme as early as possible (it is usually decided in April, though i have had no luck
finding it yet this year), helping to craft an entry based on the theme, and making community contacts to support creation of and participation in parade entry. This Team is active from April to July.
if you can donate your energy to this Team, please LET ME KNOW.
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Phone Contact Team

Two-person team acts as stewards of the OPC telephone contact list, makes calls twice monthly to inform telephone contacts of upcoming actions and events per the regular OPC emails.
This Team is active twice monthly and is currently responsible for just 30-40 contacts.
if you can donate your energy to this Team, please LET ME KNOW.
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Peacenic Team

This Team plans two annual social gatherings for local peace activists: secures location, coordinates food and music, publicizes gathering. This Team is active for two months in the Spring and two months in the Fall.
If you can donate your energy to this Team, please LET ME KNOW.
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Voices of Peace Book Team

This is a new project that i'm VERY excited about, which will probably span a nice long time. Inspired by the local Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter's two publications, Ojai Valley Veterans' Stories and Veterans' Stories of Ventura County, i have decided to try publishing a book of our own to reflect the rich living history of peace work that we have here in our own
community! the tentative title of this book is Voices of Peace: Ventura County, and phase one is to begin collecting interviews to comprise the text. my first interview will be with Bill Hammaker, who will turn 100 years old next month and is still active with the Fellowship of Reconciliation.

This Team requires some specialized skills, including doing research for publication of a book, exploring funding if necessary, suggesting peacemakers for interview, doing editing and formatting of book, and making marketing/retail connections. This Team activates now and will remain so until the book is published.
if you can donate your energy to this Team, please LET ME KNOW.
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Cooperative Toy & Game Fair Team

The marketing of violent toys and games to parents and children is of great concern to me, and in terms of nipping militaristic and violent play in the proverbial bud, it seems critically important to encourage other choices. i have long been enamored of the concept of "toy exchanges" and fairs that collect violent toys, distribute cooperative ones, and provide a cooperative (non-competitive) play space to practice being children and parents in a culture of Peace. This Team plans an end-of-year fair by soliciting advertisers, participants, donors, and staff, creating a program, securing venue/location, and putting on the event. This Team is active for one year, from December to December.
if you can donate your energy to this Team, please LET ME KNOW.