Ashland Culture of peace commission

Mission and Vision

Vision

To inspire, activate, and model a Culture of Peace in Ashland, Oregon which will serve as a beacon of light for all humanity.

Mission

The Ashland Culture of Peace Commission serves as a powerful ambassador for the global Culture of Peace movement. Rooted in Ashland and resonating worldwide, ACPC inspires individuals, organizations, and communities to embody peace in action. As an innovator of transformative peacebuilding programs and a thought leader in the field, ACPC fosters collaboration, dialogue, and local-to-global impact. It is also the proud originator and steward of the World Peace Flame in Ashland, an enduring symbol of unity and hope. Through visionary leadership and inclusive engagement, ACPC continues to help shape a more peaceful, just, and compassionate world.

How Does ACPC Accomplish Its Mission?

As a teaching/learning community we engage all sectors of Ashland, Oregon in activities that promote harmonious relationships with each other and the natural world. Activities include communication trainings, forums, talking circles, consultations, collaboration with others, articles and publications. These activities encourage participants to explore the meaning of peace within themselves and to reach out to others with curiosity and compassion.
Keeper of the Flame, for the World Peace Flame Monument at the Thalden Pavilion, Sustainability Center, Southern Oregon University Campus. The World Peace Flame is a symbol of peace, unity, freedom and celebration. ACPC maintains the flame to inspire the flames in everyone’s heart.

Values

Our values serve as the compass for our work and goals to be achieved. We acknowledge that our values are not valid unless they are experienced in our meetings, programs, and interactions with each other and the world.

We pledge to always treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves, exercising compassion, the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions.
Accountability - We commit ourselves to accepting responsibility for our actions.
"Inclusivity" - We honor, welcome, and serve all people without regard to race, class, color, creed, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
We recognize and affirm the inherent value of all people and the interconnected web of all beings, treating all with equity.

Operating principles

Our work with those we serve and the community we love is rooted in the following principles:

In all that we do we commit ourselves to justice, openness, transparency, integrity, and accountability.

We define culture in a broad anthropological sense as a set of values, attitudes, traditions, modes of behavior and ways of life beyond the narrow popular sense of music, dance and other arts.

We believe that all beings deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.

We affirm our mutual responsibility for the communal well-being of all aspects of the organization, including its financial health.

We embrace the concept of a culture of peace presented by the United Nations Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace (A/RES/53/243) which identifies eight action areas:

Human Rights
Economic and Social Development
Gender Equality
Peace Through Education
Free Flow of Information and Knowledge
Democratic Participation
Understanding, Tolerance, and Solidarity
Local and International Peace and Security

As stated by Pathways To Peace, the progenitor of ACPC, “Peace is our essential nature and a dynamic, transformative, evolutionary process.”