About ICJPE
Illinois Coalition for Justice, Peace and the Environment (ICJPE) Models a Just and Peaceful Society
Unequal and exploitative relationships between peoples, nations and economic entities have significantly contributed to violence and injustice throughout the world, from global warming to war in Iraq.
Therefore, we resolve to use our work in the Illinois Coalition for Justice, Peace and the Environment (ICJPE) as a model of equal and supportive relationships in a peaceful and just society, a model that will allow us to manifest:
- Respect for diversity in our associations, outreach and in the composition of our coordinating committee and other governing or functioning bodies of the Coalition and
- A recognition of the need for economic and social justice by promoting fair trade and fair labor practices, as we work in common for:
- Alternatives to militarism
- Global community
- Lives of active nonviolence
- Human rights for all
- Preservation of the environment
- Commitment to a sustainable future
Coordinating Committee
Description:
Responsibilities of the Coordinating Committee shall be to:
1. Facilitate resource sharing and communications among member organizations.
2. Oversee the operations of the ICJPE including its standing committees.
3. Facilitate and assign time and resources to actions that received the most support at annual conferences and those actions exceeding 55% (with 5 organizations participating or co-sponsoring) on the actions grid and shall also offer assistance and suggestions to member organizations on how to increase participation in their actions appearing on the actions grid when they reach 40% or more support (with 4 organizations participating or co-sponsoring).
4. Authorize Action Working groups to participate in the Action Options Tool.
5. Prepare and present a budget to the annual conference for approval.
6. Oversee the finances of ICJPE, approving all non-budgeted expenditures over $50, coordinating fund raising as necessary.
7. Plan the annual conference with input from member groups. The CC will put together a draft agenda for the conference, subject to amendments/approval of the conference at the opening of its business section.
8. The committee will encourage sharing of resources between ICJPE and out-of-state organizations. The committee will also gather information about projects undertaken by out-of-state organizations that ICJPE members can consider implementing within Illinois.
Composition:
There will be fifteen members of the Coordinating Committee (CC) selected / elected at the annual conference. An overall goal for the CC is diversity with regards to gender, age, geography, ethnicity, etc.
Standing Committees
Communications & Technology
Description:
Tasks:
a. To develop and maintain tools that facilitate communications between member organizations and outreach to individuals through developing and maintaining the website, the Action Options Tool (AOT) and other interactive web based tools.
b. Assist member groups in the use of ICJPE and other online tools and resources, sending notice of changes that would affect their use.
c. To manage and facilitate e-mail communications between administrators, committee members and individuals who have signed up through the ICJPE website to receive the ICJPE newsletter, information and alerts from ICJPE.
d. To assist ICJPE and member groups and committees in implementing free conference call tools (e.g. freeconference.com) in order to save time and increase the efficiency of their meetings
Education & Resources
Description:
Tasks:
a. Will provide and organize online and in person resources for the benefit of the membership of ICJPE including but not limited to:
1) Organizational skills such as media, fund raising, meeting facilitation and conflict resolution.
2) Political, economic and social resources regarding issues of justice, peace and the environment.
b. By these methods:
1) Collect names of and links to books, videos, articles, guides, tips and other online resources for the ICJPE website, with assistance from member groups.
2) Encourage members to submit books on peace, justice and environment topics.
3) Assemble a list of mentors and specialists who can advise committees and groups who request help. These people could be from ICJPE member groups or from outside ICJPE
4) Arrange for workshops facilitated by skilled trainers and those who have had success in leading peace and justice organizations - at the ICJPE annual conference, or at other times. Any fees involved would be negotiated fairly between the trainer and the participants.
5) Arrange for mediation or support when a group or committee has a serious conflict or to avoid burnout by leaders and members.
c. The Resource Committee reserves the right to remove posts that contain pornography, hate speech of any kind, spam or serve purely commercial purposes.
Media/PR
Description:
Tasks:
a. Will assist with the writing and editing of website content, PR materials, special projects and educational content for outreach committee.
b. In Conjunction with Communications Committee, is encouraged to post content on the home page of the website as well as issuing a semi-annual brochure and producing action alerts as required by structure.
c. Will advise members on how to set up press releases and other media advisories.
d. In cooperation with the Communication/Technology Committee will establish a statewide media list and will oversee the logistics of media contacts; including the transmission of advisories & releases, managing phone follow up teams and otherwise assisting member organizations with their media relations. The Communications and Media/PR committees will be a ready support for those actions that meet “threshold” as defined in the ICJPE Structure Document.
Outreach
Description:
Tasks:
a. Maintain a complete list of Illinois Peace and Justice Coalition member groups, keeping the membership list as current as possible. The information on this list shall be maintained and/or copied onto the online web tools and database.
b. Seek to develop a complete list of Illinois peace, justice and environmental groups and develop a list of potential new member groups. The information on this list shall be maintained and/or copied onto the online database.
c. Follow up on potential new member groups and referrals from the ICJPE website or other sources and orient new member groups.
d. In conjunction with the Coordinating Committee, perform a semiannual feedback survey of member groups, making a report back and recording changes on to the online database.
e. Encourage participation in committees, networking, and using the online interactive tools to post actions, home page articles and resources.
f. Assist the Communications, PR and Education Committees in developing a handbook for new members.
g. In conjunction with the Coordinating Committee, develop materials necessary (letters, survey forms, etc.) for the performance of committee tasks.
Ad-hoc Committees
At Large
Description:
Seven ad hoc/at large committee members are elected from the conference floor to represent the following but not limited to the following under-represented groups: GLBT, labor, veterans, minorities, youth and two downstate (non-Chicago metro).
The At Large Committee members will work to increase coordination and cooperation between current ICJPE member groups and other branches of the peace and justice community and will encourage participation by their representative groups in ICJPE member actions.
» Send a message to all of the committee representatives.
This network website hub was organized by the Peace Justice and Environment Project (PJEP), a network of networks that encourages the communication and cooperation of member groups to facilitate each other's projects. PJEP now serves nearly 1600 justice, peace and environmental organizations in 38 networks and 2 coalitions covering 50 states throughout the U.S.
Use of this site encourages the exchange of ideas, expertise and resources between participating organizations through the use of an online and technical infrastructure, whereby local groups can work closely with each other by recruiting others to endorse, co-sponsor and/or participate in their projects. By networking we facilitate resource sharing and increased communication, which in turn encourages seamless action execution among cooperating groups.
Actions Options Tool (AOT) software provides the backbone of this website. AOT was designed by activists and then developed and refined in the field by those using the software to facilitate human-to-human exchanges by encouraging direct communication through web and email applications. Use of the AOT has resulted in more real time meetings, phone and conference calls between the individuals and organizations most needed to accomplish specific organizational goals. The first version of the AOT was made open source by its developers in 2007.
The AOT web framework seeks to lower the level of authority to the local grassroots organization, empowering those organizations across the country with unique and powerful communication tools and online resources. With the recent addition of social networking features, we've integrated social networking with political action lowering the level of authority even further to provide individual activists with knowledge and online features never before available at any level.
A PJEP facilitated network is neither a coalition nor organization unto itself and will not endorse actions. However, member organizations can band together and endorse actions. This structure emphasizes the cooperative function of the organizations using this tool, focusing on providing resources, enhancing communication and creating opportunities for peace, justice and environmental organizations across the state to work in close cooperation to execute common actions. Therefore, this network will not be an instrument to form a common policy under a single organizational name.
Use of this network embodies grassroots empowerment at its best. Here we encourage emerging, powerful, democratizing forces by enhancing horizontal communication, nurturing transparency and facilitating diversity. By empowering the individual and local grassroots organizations, we seek to foster creativity where creativity can thrive, with the individual that seeks deep and lasting social change.
For a complete list of Peace Justice and Environment Project facilitated state networks and coalitions, click on “Networks” on the navigation bar at the top of the page to see the full list of 41 network websites.
