District 6900 is making a huge investment in our youth this year! Rotary International Zone 33/34 has launched the largest local peace initiative in Rotary history and District 6900 is leading the way!

Youth & Peace in Action is a project that will be providing virtual peacebuilding training to high school students (they will receive peacebuilding certification), peace project training for student leaders, implementation of peace projects and peace training to teachers (in July) during the 2021-22 school year. More information is available at https://www.youthpeaceaction.org/. This project is a tremendous way to generate lots of excitement at your Interact Clubs this Fall and NOW is the time for ACTION! Do you know a group of high school students that would love to become peacebuilder certified? Would you high school and community benefit from peacebuilding?

If so, ask your schools/student organization to REGISTER FOR YPA at https://www.youthpeaceaction.org/ as soon as possible. If you are very certain that the school will implement the program this Fall, YOU can sign-up for your school. It takes about five minutes.

What’s critical to share with the schools?

• YPA is provided at no charge to the school for 2021-2022
• YPA is a turn-key program that does not require the teacher sponsor or Rotary Club to provide any content! Our partners NewGen Peacebuilders and Outward Bound Peacebuilders will do ALL of the heavy lifting! Your club members may be involved but it is not required.
• YPA can be implemented through any service club—Interact, National Honor Society, Boys & Girls Club, etc.
• YPA will provide two social studies teachers professional development training at the end of July 2021

Want to know more? Link from here to a video summarizing what the initiative is. Rotary is providing virtual information sessions to further introduce you and school personnel to Youth & Peace in Action every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 5:00 p.m. ET. Register for training at www.youthpeaceaction.org or https://tinyurl.com/YPA-InfoSession. Please attend and invite the schools to attend!

There will also be an opportunity for Rotarians to receive peacebuilder training and be involved in the peace projects!

In addition, about ten colleges and universities in the State of Georgia, including GA Tech, KSU, UGA and GA State, now have curriculum for peacebuilding and are working with the Atlanta Peace Initiative in expanding Atlanta as a global center for peace. What that means for high school students that are college-bound is that Georgia institutions are looking for peacebuilders and the certification Youth & Peace in Action will provide will set these students apart from others applying to these schools. To learn more about peace education at universities in Georgia, go to https://atlantaglobalstudies.gatech.edu/Peace.

District 6900 is leading the way because YOU are amazing leaders and know that providing tools for peacebuilding to our youth will build stronger communities and a better world. DO NOT miss this opportunity!

Have more questions? Call Andre Marria at 229-221-7230 or Becky Stone at 770-634-2717! We are here to help you bring this great program to your schools!