Alternatives to Violence Project has been training people in and out of prisons for years. In this workshop, we wanted to offer new tools, new approaches to training, to influence AVP's solid history by expanding its range.

In the workshop, we emphasized the use of elicitive tools, especially using questions to help access people's power. We also delved into the art of debriefing, how to help people make the most of a learning activity.

Advanced Facilitation Workshop Leaders

Daniel Hunter was trained as a HIPP facilitator in high school. He is a now a trainer, organizer, and strategist, doing much of his work through Training for Change. He has worked with thousands of activists in over a dozen countries, giving social movements around the world technical assistance in the skill sets of strategic nonviolence and social change. His work includes anti-death penalty, environmental justice, housing justice and anti-sweatshop movements. In addition to writing training manuals, Daniel is the author of articles including “How Presence Stopped a Riot” and “When Non-Violent Intervention Meets Terrorism: Which Side Wins?”

Co-facilitator MargaretLechner is a former faculty member at Earlham College, board member of the Association for Experiential Education, and mediation center director. She is currently a member of the AVP-NY state board and an AVP facilitator/trainer, volunteering with the men in Sing Sing and the women in Bedford Hills Correctional Facilities.

Margaret and Daniel write, “We are different in many ways; Baptist and Quaker, mixed-race and white, activist and academic/administrator, youth and elder. Together we have over 50 years of experience in facilitator training. We look forward to sharing our insights with AVP facilitators from around the country, celebrating the wisdom that each participant brings to the workshop and challenge everyone to take their next step as trainers. We will draw practical lessons from experiential education theory and from our activities together.”

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