Thank you to the thoughtful and enthusiastic participants in our fall conference, Creating and Sustaining Peace, held at Mohonk Mountain House November 1–3, 2019. Subtitled “Continuing a Legacy—Mohonk Mountain House’s 150th Anniversary and a Weekend of Peace,” this was a truly unique and meaningful gathering for Mohonk Consultations and the Mountain House.
You can view full video coverage of the conference our YouTube channel.
AGENDA
November 1-3, 2019
Mohonk Mountain House, New Paltz, NY
Mohonk Consultations collaborated with Mohonk Mountain House to present a special weekend conference on building and sustaining peace, from November 1st through 3rd. The conference was part of the 150th anniversary celebrations of the founding of Mohonk Mountain House by the Smiley family in 1869. Learn more about the 150th anniversary celebration weekends.
Regional, national, and international leaders gathered with members of the interested public to present and explore efforts to create and sustain an environment of peace.
Keynote speakers Philip Hellmich and Dr. Sakena Yacoobi addressed the emerging art and science of peace, and the importance of educating girls and women. Panels and breakout sessions addressed the progress of nations in meeting the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, programs offering peace building skills, youth-led initiatives, and a practical look at building more peaceful and productive communities in this challenging time.
This gathering also presented some history of the more-than-100-year legacy of Mohonk’s hosting conferences, beginning with the International Arbitration Conferences held at the Mountain House between 1895 and 1916. Since those early years, meetings and conferences on building sustainable peace have continued, including the 1971 seminars and discussions for United Nations diplomats featuring then UN Secretary General U Thant, and the 2016 Mohonk Consultations’ conference, Realizing a Culture of Peace.
Over the years, the Smileys have remained committed to sustaining the natural environment and engaging with thought leaders from across the region and around the globe on pressing social justice, environmental, and peacebuilding issues.
Articles about the conference and our work:
Nina Smiley on WAMC radio discussing the conference and the legacy of peace gatherings at Mohonk Mountain House
Livelihood/Hudson Valley Current
New Paltz Times
Special thanks to the co-sponsors of this event and our donors
Mohonk Mountain House
Lifebridge Foundation
Brian Smiley
Nina Smiley
Leslie English
Fred & Frieda Feldman
Larry & Ruth Hauptman
Paul & Jane Kellar
Linda Ruth Lerner
Joel Mandelbaum
Kevin & Mary Reilly Mathews
Terri Moore
Marianne and Gary Neifeld
Edward Noyes
PKF O’Connor Davies
Ted Reiss & Robi Josephson
Pril Smiley and Keith Labudde, Clove Hitch Fund
Pasquale Strocchia
Charlie Wells and Anna Forster
About the speakers
Philip Hellmich (keynote speaker): Vision for peace, challenges and successes
Philip Hellmich is an international consultant and speaker who shared a vision of peace from inner to international levels; the challenges in realizing this vision; and, ways we all can be part of creating a more peaceful world, starting with our selves, families and communities. He presented a new narrative of peace quietly and powerfully emerging around the world – one rooted in ancient wisdom and accelerated by modern science and technology.
Sakena Yacoobi (keynote speaker), Building peaceful societies: Educating girls and women
For over 25 years Dr. Sakena Yacoobi has worked internationally to build peaceful, sustainable communities through education and health. She founded the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) in refugee camps in Pakistan to provide education, training and health services to vulnerable Afghans with the aim to foster self-reliance, critical thinking skills, and community participation throughout Afghanistan and Pakistan. She is also the co-founder of Creating Hope International (CHI), working to empower grassroots community development through support for quality organizations in Afghanistan and India that provide education, health, social, and economic programming.
She came to the United States in the 1970s, earning a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences and a master’s degree in public health.
She has earned international recognition for her work and received numerous awards as well as 6 honorary degrees, including from Princeton University.
In 2007, Yacoobi received an award from the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard’s JFK School of Government.
Dr. Yacoobi has educated more than 3,000 girls in over 80 underground “secret” schools and continues to advocate for systemic educational reform in her home country of Afghanistan.
Dot Maver (facilitator)
Dorothy J. Maver, Ph.D. is an educator and peacebuilder. Dot was founding President and is a board member and trustee of the National Peace Academy USA, a co-founding board member of the Global Alliance for Ministries and Infrastructures of Peace, and was the founding executive director of the River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding. From 2005–2007 Dot served as Executive Director of The Peace Alliance and Campaign for a US Department of Peace; she was the National Campaign Manager for Kucinich for President, 2004. She is author of The Maver Method: Secrets of Hitting Success and co-author of Conscious Education: The Bridge to Freedom. Dot serves as a board member and advisor to many organizations related to peacebuilding.
Solange T. Muller (panelist)
Solange Muller has 40 years of experience in the public health field, internationally and locally. Her concern for justice and human rights for the marginalized has been a guiding light throughout her life. She is a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and is very active with social justice and pastoral care needs.
Masooma Rahmaty (panelist)
Masooma Rahmaty is an Associate Board Director and United Nations NGO Youth representative at RiverTides. She works at the International Peace Institute where she focuses on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and Women, Peace and Security. Previously, Masooma has worked at the Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the UN, and various other UN organizations.
Jeffrey Weisberg (panelist)
Jeffrey Weisberg is co-founder and executive director of the River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding, an innovative not-for-profit that has created a comprehensive community model by using best and next practices of peace making in the United States and internationally. His global work with Community Solutions, funded by the U.S. State Department is supporting practitioners from over 85 countries in expanding peacebuilding through training, collaboration and mentorship.