The Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice is a 501(c3) located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In 1965 our founder, Barbara Fuller, had a vision of a harmonious world free of war and injustice. Sixty+ years later we are still committed to her vision by pursuing abolitionist ideals, unarmed police response, and a Washtenaw County budget that provides funding for mental health services and support systems for people experiencing housing instability among other community priorities.
Mission
ICPJ empowers our communities, people of faith and congregations, mutual aid groups, network organizations, and individual volunteers, to make radical systemic change with love within Washtenaw County and across Michigan.
We do this by building capacity to:
* center racial, economic, and environmental justice;
* create spaces for co-learning, healing, conflict resolution, connecting with others, and collaboration; and
* move between work to educate, mobilize, and organize with a focus on coordinated systems-level change.
Principles and Practices
This is a living document that grew out of the passions of our network.
We are an interfaith and intergenerational collaborative network of individuals and organizations who share values of peace and justice. We continually strive to be more multi-racial and intersectional so we can all be our authentic selves. In pursuit of building this space together, we center anti-racism as well as the perspectives of feminism, anti-classism, and spirituality in its multiple forms.
While our network is diverse in our focus areas, lived experiences, and ways of doing the work, we share values that bind us together. We believe our actions show our values so we practice radical love in all we do. We aim to change structural systems by focusing on the interconnected root causes that continue the status quo. This means recognizing the self-determination of all peoples and the interdependence of all species. This means working to eradicate inequity in the large and small ways while being mindful of our collective and individual impact.
We will listen more, advocate for human rights, empower people to create their own change, proactively share our resources, and act with intention and humility. As we dismantle white supremacy and other oppressive power systems, we will show care for one another. As we reform the whole justice system, we will respect and value others. As we oppose military repression, occupation, and exploitation, we will respect our ecosystem.
We invite you to join us in these practices so we may achieve peace and justice for all:
- Reject systematic poverty and violence
- Invite the most impacted to help guide our work
- Build a system of equity
- Learn about the power structure
- Practice physical and emotional nonviolence
- Seek common ground for dialogue and understanding
- Recognize your privilege and how you are accountable to others
- Encourage multiple strategies in alignment with one another
- Promote truth & reconciliation with empathy for yourself and others
- Act locally too!