The Georgia Conflict Center is holding its annual benefit concert and silent auction, "Pickin’ for Peace" on Sunday, October 15th. Musician Glenn Phillips will perform. The purpose of the event is to celebrate National Conflict Resolution Month. Executive Director John Lash says the mission of the Georgia Conflict Center is to resolve conflict and end violence.
“The motto of the Conflict Center is that conflict is inevitable, violence is not,” Lash said. “Our mission is around addressing violence in the community, but we take the approach of getting as far upstream as possible when we think about how do we intervene.”
They use several methods to accomplish that goal.
“What we do is we share skills with people, help people develop skills that they need interpersonally to develop alternatives to violence. This could be communication skills, walking away, it could be self-regulatory skills, things like that.”
Lash says another main component of the center is Restorative Justice.
“We do this with schools, we do this in faith communities, neighborhoods, families. That is a process that brings people together to talk about what harms have occurred, what we can do to repair those harms and those relationships and then what kind of plan can we make going forward.
The event will also feature Maggie Hunter playing with Tommy Jordan. It’s October 15th at 6 pm at the Foundry. The concert/auction is the main fundraiser for the Conflict Center.
