About

Mission

The People’s World Peace Project (PWWP) seeks to contribute to our sense of common humanity, promote global citizenship, and inspire concerted effort to achieve peace by raising awareness and connections among the many people who are dedicated to creating peace and justice. PWPP, working with its media partners, national and local NGOs and individual peace makers, will post articles and other content on www.PWPP.org that acknowledges people who are working toward the betterment of the world around them and who are discovering and implementing solutions to the greatest challenges facing humankind.

Statement of Beliefs

We believe world peace has been in the hands of those more concerned with power than the well being of people, and that we are missing opportunities to end a needless loss of life, and the misallocation and depletion of resources.

We believe that we cannot rely solely on our political leaders to design and implement policies that foster peaceful coexistence and that the most direct path to world peace is from the bottom up, beginning with each one of us.

We believe sustainable peace requires a moral foundation and hope that a more informed world citizenry will realize that caring must dominate fear and greed.

We believe that the communication made possible by the Internet will provide a pathway for world peace, as people from all parts of the world and walks of life have the opportunity to work in concert to influence how world peace is accomplished and maintained.

Objectives

PWPP seeks to achieve its mission by pursuing the following objectives:

• To provide a framework for the exchange of information among those working to establish peace with justice both locally and globally.


• To foster communication and dialogue among those who have different perspectives on ways to achieve peace and justice.


• To provide readers with updates on the activities of hundreds of world peace organizations combined with solutions-oriented, world peace news coverage.


• To contribute a research base for teh development and promotion of ideas, methods, and actions that will advance the long-term prospects for peace.


• To provide the network of resources needed to develop effective peace work, and furnish a base for the collaborations and unified action needed for the attainment of peace with justice.

The Team

Joseph de Rivera – director, editorial board member
de Rivera served three years in the Navy Medical Service Corps before teaching at Dartmouth College, New York University, and Clark University where he helped found its Peace Studies Program. He is currently a research professor in Clark’s departments of Psychology and International Development, Community and Environment. The author of numerous articles and books on emotional experience and societal peace, he is the editor of the Handbook on Building Cultures of Peace.

Barbara Bigelow – editorial board member
Barbara Bigelow is a professor of management at Clark University. She received her PhD from MIT. Professor Bigelow's research has focused on the management of health care organizations, and most recently, of worker cooperatives. The latter provide insights into how organizations that diverge from more traditional business structures and processes can thrive in economic and institutional environments that create pressure to conform.

Randy Labbe – co-founder, editorial board member
Labbe’s professional background is in the music industry. He is the founder of several music festivals, produced nearly 100 international releases (including ten Grammy nominated records) as a consultant to Telarc, Rykodisc, and other record labels, and is a co-founding partner and former vp of industry relations at Emergent Discovery, LLC. He graduated from Clark University in 1982 and his interests include social movements and most of the visual and performing arts.

Bob Kelleher – co-founder
Kelleher is adjunct professor in the MBA programs of Ann Maria and Nichols Colleges. He received his undergraduate degree from Syracuse University following an interruption for military service at the end of WWII. He earned his PhD at the University of Santa Clara and built distinguished careers in both academia and in the business world. His most recent work, prior to PWPP, was the writing of a book about the challenges of building community in the contemporary world.

Pete Haase – webmaster
Haase received a BS in Business Management from the University of Maine as well as an AS in Computer Information Systems. He holds several IT industry standard certifications and is a Microsoft Certified Professional. His previous work experience includes IT support for national organizations and internet firms, including Emergent Music, LLC, where he worked with Labbe and managed a robust digital music library. As a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, music is his major leisure-time pursuit.

Board of Advisors

John Massaua – advisor
Massaua is a principal of JRM & Company, a business development consulting firm. He was with the Maine Small Business Development Centers, an SBA partnership program based at the University of Southern Maine, for ten years, seven of them as the Maine SBDC state director. A graduate of Fordham University with an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson, he has held high-level executive positions within a myriad of small and medium size companies; among which, he was a founding officer at Staples, Inc.

Intern Alumni

Aaron Fenster – media team leader – 2009-2011 Fenster is from Rochester, New York. Prior to PWPP, he received his BA in Sociology with a concentration in Holocaust and Genocide Studies was working towards a master’s degree in public administration. He worked for the American Jewish Society for Service in Tucson, Arizona, Habitat for Humanity, and has been a part of Youth Outreach Worcester, visiting local schools and leading awareness and anti-bullying sessions.

Robbie Matlock – media associate – 2009-2011 Matlock was born in Sewanee, Tennessee. Matlock was a Political Science major with a minor in History when he started his PWPP internship. He previously worked as a camp counselor and in construction. In fact, if not for PWPP, he would have spent the summer of 2010 working as a raft guide for the Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina.

Michelle Fabiaschi – media associate – 2010-2011 From Torrington, Connecticut, Fabiaschi was an undergraduate majoring in Communication and Culture with a minor in International Development and Social Change when she joined PWPP. Enrolled in a five-year program, she was already committed to studying Professional Communication as a grad student. Previous internships were completed at Adam Kenwright Associates of London and at Boston Casting. She is passionate about social media.

Hanlin Li – media associate – 2011 Hanlin was born in Sichuan, China. She was a junior majoring in Economics, with a minor in Management, when she began her PWPP internship. A former volunteer with Dream Corps International in rural China during the summer of 2010, she set up a school library and designed reading-promoting programs.

Katy Cleminson – communication team leader – 2009-2011 Cleminson joined PWPP during her sophomore year in International Development and Social Change with a minor in Entrepreneurship. As a high school student, she raised over $40,000 to lead a group of students to New Orleans to assist with Katrina Relief efforts. She has raised money to fund micro credit loans represented Clark University at the Regional Micro Credit Conference in Colombia. She was recipient of Clark’s Presidential Scholarship.

Christy Gillmore – communication associate – 2010 Gillmore is originally from Roanoke, Virginia and received a BA in Anthropology and Economics in 2006 from UVA. She joined the Peace Corps in Mali, West Africa, working to empower women in a rural community through natural resource, health, and small business projects. She joined PWPP while a grad student and fulfilling a fellowship in International Development, Community, and Environment. She served as a Peace Fellow for The Advocacy Project during the summer of 2010.

Sijie Yang – communication associate – 2010-2011 Yang graduated with a BS in GIS from Hebei Polytechnic in Tagnshan, China and was a grad student in GIS for Development and Environment. She has applied GIS to analyze land use change to help sustainable development in local areas and authored a paper on virtual reality technology and the 2008 Beijing Olympic games. Fluent in seven GIS platforms, she utilized open source programming language to create GIS websites.

Usman Tahir – business development and planning team adviser – 2009-2012 Tahir is from Karachi, Pakistan. He was a Fulbright Scholar working towards completion of the MSF. He graduated with a BS in Economics from Lahore University with distinction, and has also been an Erasmus Mundus Scholar for studies in Paris, at the Sorbonne. As part of his Fulbright commitment, Tahir returned to work in his native country for a minimum of three years following graduation and continues to serve as PWPP adviser.

Thanh Nguyen – business development and planning team leader – 2010-2011 Nguyen is a graduate of Can Tho University and was completing his second year of graduate work in finance when he became a PWPP intern. He was a former credit analyst at Lien Viet Commercial Bank, in Vietnam, and a former marketing and Internet intern at Be Green, LLC in Stamford, Connecticut. His academic record was rewarded with a full scholarship from Aptech Worldwide.

Hao Yang – business development associate – 2010-2011 Yang received a BS in Science and Economics from Central University of Beijing and served PWPP during her studies towards a masters in finance. Prior to PWPP, she worked in export operations at the head office of Bank of China. She has served as a volunteer for girls and youth organizations, in China, and worked on the Massachusetts Conference for Women during 2009. Yang has rich project experience and is interested in traveling, psychology, movies and music.

Mengfei Shen – business development and planning associate – 2011 Shen comes from the southern part of China. Having graduated Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, he was working towards an MSF degree during his time at PWPP. His previous work experience includes stints at Huahong International and Technology and Construction Bank, both of Chengdu. He also served as a volunteer at the Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. His personal interests include hiking and traveling.

Tricia Labbe – communication associate – 2008-2009 Labbe, daughter of Randy Labbe, was working towards an undergraduate history major with a minor in French when she served as PWPP’s first intern. She researched and solicited the project’s first media partners, built the contact database, and assisted with the preparation and writing of early PWPP white papers. She has worked with many youth organizations, including employment as a youth counselor at a Maine summer camp during the summers of 2010 and 2011.

Xiaohui Gu – business development and planning associate – 2010-2011 Gu calls Dalian, China her hometown. She is an MBA candidate concentrating in expanding accounting. Her previous work experience includes stints in her family’s industrial businesses in China and accounting and tax preparation services at SK Financial Services. She managed whirlwind tours of New York City and San Francisco following her PWPP internship and before returning to Clark for her final year of graduate studies.

Contact

tel: 207.877.4029

e-mail: info[at]pwpp[dot]org