ONTARIO, CA -12/8/2015 (PRESS RELEASE JET) -- When you think about the need for peace, what do you think about first? Syria? The Middle East? Iran? North Korea? Terrorism at home and around the world?
Of course, these are all places where peacemaking efforts are needed. But conflict resolution isn’t solely the work of diplomats. It’s an essential skill we need to continually develop to ensure that we have peace in our homes, our schools, our places of employment and our communities.
With this in mind, Rotary Club members from across Southern California have organized the 2016 Rotary World Peace Conference, which takes place Jan. 15-16 at the Ontario California Convention Center.
The two-day peace and conflict resolution conference, the largest Rotary Club event in the Western Hemisphere next year, will feature more than 100 experts on various aspects of resolution.
“We need to have peace in every area of our lives. And the speakers we’ve assembled for this conference are going to show us how to get there by highlighting specific strategies we can use to bring peace to our homes, schools, places of work and the communities in which we live,” said Rudy Westervelt, convener and CEO of the 2016 Rotary World Peace Conference.
The conference is organized into 13 areas of community conflict. Who should attend is everyone from college students to health industry workers to school teachers and administrators, social workers, law enforcement personnel, and community organizers.
“Our speakers will address some of the most serious threats to peace we face as children, as students and as adult members of our communities,” Westervelt said. “This means our speakers will be addressing some very difficult topics ranging from domestic violence to cyber bullying and gang violence to sexual harassment in the workplace as well as civil rights abuses and conflicts between religions and between nation states.”
Some of the topics to be discussed include:
— The physiological effects of stress on the human body.
— How to make your home a place of peace.
— How to create safe learning environments by creating peace in our schools.
— How to solve social issues in your community.
Conference speakers will also address the lessons we can learn from recent historic events as well as the opportunities that are available to us right now to resolve current conflicts in many parts of the world, from the Middle East to the South China Sea.
Some of the experts Rotary have assembled for the 2016 Rotary World Peace Conference include:
— Father Greg Boyle, executive director of Los Angeles-based Homeboy Industries, a non-profit organization that operates the nation’s largest gang intervention and re-entry program.
— Carrie Hessler-Radelet, director of the Peace Corps,
— Opal Singleton, a training and outreach coordinator for the Riverside County Anti Human Trafficking Task Force who also serves as president and CEO of Million Kids, a Riverside-based non-profit organization that fights child trafficking in the U.S. and around the world.
— Dr. Bernd Wollschlaeger, author of the book, A German Life: Against All Odds, Change is Possible, in which he describes the challenges he faced growing up in Germany in the shadow of his father, a highly decorated Nazi officer. Wollschlaeger eventually converted to Judaism, emigrated to Israel and served in the Israel Defense Force as a medical officer.
About the 2016 Rotary World Peace Conference:
More than 100 nationally and internationally known speakers are scheduled to speak at the 2016 Rotary World Peace Conference, which takes place Jan. 15-16 at the Ontario Convention Center in Ontario, Calif. Speakers will discuss the need for peace and strategies to achieve it in every area of our lives, from home, school, work and community settings to our relationships with police as well as national and international governments. For more information and registration www.peaceconference2016.org.
Media Contact
Company Name: Rotary International
Name: Steven Levine
Phone: (760) 799-7573
Email Address: rotarysteven@gmail.com
Website: www.peaceconference2016.com