An International City of Peace: Ashland, Oregon’s Impact by David Wick

WATCH RECORDING: https://youtu.be/e0hdRgKYb44

With the guidance of the Ashland Culture of Peace Commission, the Ashland, Oregon City Council joined the International Cities of Peace (ICP) on May 16, 2017, with a proclamation identifying Ashland as a City of Peace. Ashland was the 164th City of Peace of the current 399 cities globally. There are only two International Cities of Peace in the world that have a World Peace Flame, and Ashland is one of them.

Very quickly, Ashland was seen as an emerging ICP model with its strong and extensive community base and innovative actions. Ashland has been acknowledged as such globally. We installed the World Peace Flame in 2018 which was followed the next year by the Ashland Global Peace Conference attended by UN Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury.

The goals of an International City of Peace are encouraging a local and global culture of peace through safety, prosperity, and quality of life.

Current actions include:

• Mayor Tanya Graham acknowledged Ashland as a City of Peace, City Council, December 5, 2023.
• The World Peace Flame is a perpetual beacon of hope, peace, and resilience for Ashland, Oregon, the United States, and internationally. Ashland Middle School Flame Keepers by Kristina McCartan-Healy
  
• Floating Peace Lanterns in Lithia Park. Inspiration by Debora Gordon
• Derry-Londonderry, Northern Ireland, the only other city with a World Peace Flame, joined ICP on 9/21/2023, a major milestone after years of bloody warfare. Ashland and Derry Londonderry, Ireland are developing a special City of Peace relationship initially focused on young people engaged in climate change, music, and song.
• Plans for establishing beneficial relationships between International Cities of Peace and businesses and corporations through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) are being developed. CSR Benefits by Susan Jain
  
• Peace on Earth by 2030, The Game

Learning objectives in this presentation:

• Learn about the role and impact of Ashland as an International City of Peace.
• Identify and discuss your action ideas for Ashland as a City of Peace.

David Wick has over 30 years of executive and management training and organizational development consulting experience and has held important positions within Sun Microsystems, Stanford University, Levi Strauss, and the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD).

He has designed extensive international training programs and has received accolades in both the business and peacebuilding arenas.

After working in the NGO peacebuilding arena since 1980 and helping to develop the early days of the International Day of Peace in civil society, David co-founded the Ashland Culture of Peace Commission (ACPC) with Irene Kai on September 21, 2015. The mission of ACPC is to provide leadership and guidance for Ashland as a City of Peace dedicated to transforming our attitudes, behaviors, and institutions into ones that foster harmonious relationships with each other and the natural world. This is accomplished by engaging leading local and global people, resources, and information to inspire, activate, and model a Culture of Peace in Ashland, Oregon.

David’s peacebuilding leadership has grown to include the following: Executive Director, Ashland Culture of Peace Commission, CSR Facilitator, International Cities of Peace, Past President, Rotary E-Club of World Peace, and President, Pathways To Peace.

Presenter’s Websites: www.AshlandCPC.org • www.InternationalCitiesOfPeace.org

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