Peace LEAP

Using technology to strengthen today’s grassroots
movement for peace and social justice

North Carolina Peace Action Education Fund (NCPAEF)
Through research and education, North Carolina Peace Action Education Fund works to educate citizens, the media and policy-makers about alternatives to wasteful military spending and the dangers of nuclear weapons trafficking and proliferation. We advocate for reinvestment in a peace economy through federal and state funding of health care, education and the environment, as these are the essential building blocks of a just and healthy society.

The primary project of NCPAEF is the Peace List Enhancement Action Project (LEAP). Through Peace LEAP, NCPAEF currently works with 28 of the most dynamic progressive nonprofits in North Carolina working to address the causes of systemic oppression and injustice.

A Brief History of List Enhancement
The technology of list enhancement is widely used among businesses and the traditional political parties. But, this proven method is a relatively new tool for progressive organizations. The League of Conservation Voters Education Fund (LCVEF) pioneered this work in the progressive community by initiating list enhancement projects within environmental organizations. With the help of list enhancement, these groups won numerous major political victories. Other progressive organizations began to realize the importance of taking advantage of list enhancement as an organizing tool to increase their political power.

Now Peace LEAP, and the collaborative efforts that result from it have begun to strengthen the political effectiveness and sophistication of the progressive, social change movement in North Carolina.

Peace LEAP Strengthens Progressive Nonprofits
Through the process of list enhancement, Peace LEAP provides partnering organizations with the technology and training needed to embolden their greatest strength and asset – their members – so that these constituents can organize to upset traditional, oppressive power relationships and engage in the design of our shared ethical, economic and political future.

Membership lists of partnering groups are “enhanced” by appending demographic information, gathered from publicly available voter registration files, to each person’s name on the list. This information includes age, ethnicity, gender, congressional and legislative district data, and how many times their members have voted in the last four elections. Peace LEAP organizations have used the enhancements internally to help with fundraising, anti-racism work, neighborhood organizing, and collaborative efforts.

 

With “enhanced” information about their members, nonprofits can:

strategically mobilize and recruit activists, volunteers, and donors;

deliberately focus their diversity efforts with concrete data;

develop collaborative efforts with other organizations;

enhance their internal organizing capacity;

and significantly increase their chances of changing oppressive public policies.

 

Building Partnerships Through Collaboration
Unquestionably, significant social and political change requires the well-organized efforts of a broad spectrum of progressive groups representing tens of thousands of citizens. By bringing together justice-oriented organizations with different backgrounds, diverse approaches to organizing and an array of issue foci, Peace LEAP serves as a platform for statewide collaborative efforts planned and implemented by partnering organizations.

In its first two years, Peace LEAP has successfully facilitated numerous effective partnerships among grassroots peace and justice organizations across the state of North Carolina. Partnering organizations have implemented 5 solid collaborations within the last 24 months and several more are currently being planned.

Peace LEAP technology has made it possible for these groups to more effectively energize their members to work together in a more sophisticated manner. Organizations’ members are being mobilized in ways that are well organized, understandable, and that clearly demonstrate political power to elected officials.

Becoming a Peace LEAP partner organization
If your organization is a membership-based nonprofit that works for a more democratic, equitable and just society, then you may want to consider becoming a Peace LEAP partner organization. For more information, please contact Bridgette Burge, Peace LEAP executive director, at 919/523-3193, or at paefleap@mindspring.com.

2002 Peace LEAP Partner Organizations
1. Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America
2. Carolina Interfaith Task Force on Central America
3. Carolina Justice Policy Center
4. Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador Education Fund
5. Common Sense Foundation
6. Empowerment Project
7. Farm Labor Research Project
8. Global Exchange
9. Internationalist Books
10. Iraq Action Coalition
11. NC Alliance for Democracy
12. NC Council of Churches
13. NC Fair Share
14. NC Justice and Community Development Center
15. NC Low Income Housing Coalition
16. NC Occupational Safety and Health Organization
17. NC Peace Action
18. Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance
19. The People’s Alliance
20. People of Faith Against the Death Penalty
21. Reciprocity
22. River City Community Development Center
23. Southern Anti-Racism Network
24. stone circles
25. Student Action with Farmworkers
26. United Nations Association-Wake County chapter
27. Women’s Actions for New Directions
28. Witness for Peace

 

NCPAEF Board of Directors

President Roger Manus, Attorney
Mr. Manus has a private practice and practices law as an advocate for people with disabilities. He is a member of Friends of Residents in Long Term Care, the Children’s Law Center, and the ManKind Project.

Vice-President Judy Occhetti-Klohr, Adoption Consultant, MSW
Ms. Occhetti-Klohr and her husband have been active for decades in the peace movement.

Secretary Cyrus King, Retired Assistant Director of NCSU Libraries
Mr. King received the 2002 NC Peace Action peacemaker award for his life-long commitment and extraordinary activism for social justice and peace.

Treasurer Dr. Dennis Boos, Professor of Statistics, NCSU
Dr. Boos has been active in the peace movement for many years. He teaches Statistics at NC State University.

Ellen Canavan, Occupational Therapist, MS, OTR-L
Ms. Canavan is active with the women’s movement and the peace movement and has served on several boards of directors. She is a therapist for people with disabilities.

Dr. Rania Masri, Environmental Justice Project Director, Institute for Southern Studies

Dr. Masri is the founder of the Iraq Action Coalition and an internationally known advocate for human rights.

Sincere thanks to the Ploughshares Fund, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, an anonymous donor with Rockefeller Family Services, and all our local major donors for their generous financial contributions to Peace LEAP.