Mike Yarrow Peace Fellowship
by Bruce Pruitt-Hamm
The WWFOR has launched the Mike Yarrow Peace Fellowship (MYPF), a $1,000 grant for a year-long Fellowship that includes a week-long training intensive for high school and college students. The Peace Fellows for 2015-16 have been selected.
The MYPF launched its second annual cycle in late June of 2016. Applications for 2017 must be received by June 1, 2017. There are 3 ways to get your application:
1) You can view and save the application form as a MYPF Application-PDF or
2) download it as a Word document with this link: MYPF Application-Word or
3) use our contact form to request that we email you the application.
Call Janis Pruitt-Hamm at 206-466-2924 or email jpruitthamm@gmail.com for further information or to submit your application (by June 1, 2016).
The MYPF was founded by former Peace Activist Trainees (PAT’s) and PAT parents to honor Mike Yarrow, WWFOR’s previous Organizer who died at the age of 74 from cancer on June 2, 2014. Mike founded the PAT program in 2000 with his wife Ruth, and provided key leadership to it for its 14 years of existence, offering training in nonviolent direct action and community organizing to nearly 100 graduates. The PAT program, an annual month long intensive training program for 6 to 10 select high school students, which had been directed primarily by WWFOR’s staffperson with assistance from one or more Assistant Directors, became unworkable when the WWFOR lost its staff for financial reasons in October of 2014.
Like the PAT program, the MYPF endeavors to recruit and train teens and young adults (ages 15-20) in the theory and practice of active nonviolence on issues of peace and social justice in the traditions of Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi. Unlike the month-long PAT program, the MYPF program includes a week-long intensive training program to “kick-start” an effort by each Yarrow Peace Fellow in the subsequent year to engage in a nonviolent campaign or project of their choice with mentors and further resources. Applicants may choose their topic of interest and then receive support and guidance in how to take action on that issue during the week-long intensive training program.
The first part of the week-long training will take place in Seattle and the second half at the Seabeck Conference Center on Hood Canal, in conjunction with the 57th Annual NW Regional FOR Conference. The MYPF is run by Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation (WWFOR) in partnership with the Abe Keller Peace Education Fund.
YP Fellows learn about peace and justice issues, nonviolent movement building, and gain skills such as public speaking, group leadership, media development, conducting surveys, public relations, outreach, and lobbying. The Fellows meet individual activists, visit organizations, are introduced to current hot issues, and are mentored by experienced activists, public figures, and community organizers from the Seattle area and beyond. Applicants are encouraged from all of Washington State. Housing and other assistance can be provided during the training intensive for those not living in the Seattle area.