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Book Tour Underway for Jim Haas’ Landmark New Book

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media contact: David Perry & Associates, Inc. (415) 676-7007 / news@davidperry.com

Book Tour Underway for Jim Haas’ Landmark New Book
from the University of Nevada Press
The San Francisco Civic Center:
A History of the Design, Controversies, and Realization of a City Beautiful Masterpiece

June 10 – Commonwealth Club of California
June 19 – San Francisco Main Public Library
June 26 – San Francisco Chamber of Commerce
August 8 – San Francisco Mechanic’s Institute
September 10 – Institute of Classical Architecture and Art  (San Francisco)
September 12 – California State Library (Sacramento)

10 June 2019 – San Francisco, CA: Beginning tonight at the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, and continuing through the summer, author, historian and attorney Jim Haas is on a mission: promoting the unique place in architectural history held by San Francisco’s landmark governmental heart as chronicled in his new book from the University of Nevada Press, The San Francisco Civic Center: A History of the Design, Controversies, and Realization of a City Beautiful Masterpiece.

“I’ve often felt like a voice crying alone in the desert,” laughs Haas, who after tonight’s appearance at the Commonwealth Club will continue with appearances at the San Francisco Main Public Library (June 19), the SF Chamber of Commerce (June 26), the San Francisco Mechanic’s Institute (August 8), the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art in San Francisco (September 10) and the California State Library in Sacramento (September 12). “It’s taken seven mayors and four decades, but finally, the public – and public officials – are taking note of the unique national treasure that is San Francisco City Hall and the surrounding Civic Center.”

Haas is an author, attorney, and expert on San Francisco’s Civic Center history and politics. He has lived in San Francisco most of his life and spent more than forty years engaged in civic projects, including the restoration and completion of San Francisco’s Civic Center.

San Francisco is known and loved around the world for its iconic man-made structures, such as the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, and Transamerica Pyramid. Yet its Civic Center, with the grandest collection of monumental municipal buildings in the United States, is often overlooked, drawing less global and local interest, despite its being an urban planning marvel featuring thirteen government offices and cultural buildings. In The San Francisco Civic Center: A History of the Design, Controversies, and Realization of a City Beautiful Masterpiece, Haas tells the complete story of the Civic Center and how it became one of the most complete developments envisioned by any American city. Originally planned and designed by John Galen Howard in 1912, San Francisco’s Civic Center is considered in both design and materials one of the finest achievements of the American reformist City Beautiful movement, an urban design movement that began more than a century ago.

“Ever since I first met Jim Haas during my earliest days on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, he has demonstrated a consistent and admirable commitment to the well being of our city,” said Senator Dianne Feinstein in a forward to to the book. “Though his advocacy and leadership over the years has proven essential to a number of projects and issues, Jim will long be remembered for his thirty-year commitment to the completion and improvement of the city’s Civic Center.  This book will help people understand and appreciate what a magnificent treasure we in San Francisco have with our Civic Center and why we must continue to work to preserve and enhance it. I urge everyone to read it.”

The San Francisco Civic Center is a grouping of monumental publically-owned buildings that are clustered between Market, McAllister, Hayes and Franklin Streets about two miles up Market Street from the Ferry Building. The area today contains thirteen government office and cultural buildings, among them City Hall, the main branch of the San Francisco Public Library, the Asian Art Museum, the War Memorial Opera House and Veterans Building, Davies Symphony Hall, Department of Public Health, the Supreme Court and State offices, the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, the federal office building at United Nations Plaza, and the headquarters for the city’s Public Utilities Commission. It is located in the nerve center of San Francisco’s major streets grid with the domed City Hall anchoring the area. The area is classified as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. It has been the central site of San Francisco’s government for more than a century, and the civic and architectural philosophies undergirding its design have been a driving force in San Francisco’s urban design since the time the 1906 earthquake forever altered San Francisco’s city planning. Because of its long and central history in San Francisco, and its extraordinary architectural heritage, the Civic Center has been discussed as a possible candidate for consideration as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

For more information or to purchase a copy of The San Francisco Civic Center: A History of the Design, Controversies, and Realization of a City Beautiful Masterpiece go to https://www.amazon.com/San-Francisco-Civic-Center-Controversies/dp/1948908158
*  *  *
Critical Praise for Jim Haas’ The San Francisco Civic Center: A History of the Design, Controversies, and Realization of a City Beautiful Landmark:

“Nobody in San Francisco knows Civic Center and its maddening saga—a strange mix of triumphs and pratfalls at urban scale—better than James Haas. This new book makes that history available to all of us, a spirited resource that provides context for whatever might come next.”
—John King, Urban Design Critic, San Francisco Chronicle

“That notoriously Victorian city, San Francisco, does occasionally surprise with moments of unbounded classicism: Its City Hall represents one of the best and most beautiful expressions of the style. Happily, James Haas has done the buildings justice in his thorough and exhilarating book, which I consider a must-read for any devotee of Classical Architecture, or any architecture for that matter!”
—Peter Lyden, President, Institute of Classical Architecture and Art

“San Francisco’s remarkable Civic Center comes alive in this book. Not only is it a comprehensive history of the Civic Center, it is an extremely thoughtful reminder of how public spaces and public buildings can be monuments of democracy and design.”
—William Deverell, Director, Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West
“We’re often strangely drawn to love affairs. I deeply admire Jim Haas’ passion and persistence in pursuit of his love for San Francisco’s Civic Center. This exquisite book invites us to eavesdrop on and understand why our thoughtful author has stayed so loyal to this urban architecture love affair.”
—Chip Conley, hospitality entrepreneur and bestselling author

*  *  *

Full Schedule of Readings / Signings by Jim Haas for
The San Francisco Civic Center: A History of the Design, Controversies, and Realization of a City Beautiful Landmark:

Monday, June 10: 6pm
The Commonwealth Club of California
110 The Embarcadero
Toni Rembe Rock Auditorium / San Francisco

*  *  *

Wednesday, June 19: 6pm – 7:30pm
San Francisco Main Public Library
100 Larkin Street

*  *  *

Wednesday, June 26: 6pm -7:30pm
San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Boardroom
235 Montgomery Street, Suite 760 / San Francisco

*  *  *

Thursday, August 8: 6:30pm
A Conversation between Jim Haas and John King / SF Chronicle
The Mechanic’s Institute
57 Post St., Suite 504 / San Francisco

*  *  *

Tuesday, September 10: 6pm – 8pm
Institute of Classical Architecture and Art
The James L. Flood Mansion
2222 Broadway / San Francisco

*  *  *

Thursday, September 12: 6pm – 8pm
“A Night at the State Library”       
Stanley Mosk Library & Courts Building
914 Capitol Mall / Sacramento

Russell Kassman Retires After 40 Years

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Media contact: David Perry / (415) 676-7007 / news@davidperry.com 

Russell Kassman Retires After 40 Years

Venerable Purveyor of Fine Pianos Under New Ownership as of August 1

7 June 2019 – San Francisco, CA: The venerable piano shop R.KASSMAN Purveyor of Fine Pianos, which has been a Bay Area stalwart amongst the area’s Artists and Enthusiasts for more than 40 years, will change hands at the end of March. Russell Kassman, the owner of the eponymous store is retiring.

“For forty-one years, I have been privileged to live in San Francisco and participate in its vibrant, world-renowned cultural scene,” said Kassman. “On a visit in 1977, San Francisco won my heart, and 42 years later she has my soul as well.” 

For decades, R.KASSMAN has been the choice of Bay Area musicians and visiting Artists. The company specializes in hand-crafted European pianos, as well as the finest instruments from Asia and restored vintage American instruments. A veritable who’s who of musicians and enthusiasts have chosen R.KASSMAN to supply their pianos; from Rod Stewart to Valentina Lisitsa, Billy Childs to Gordon Getty, Grammy nominated Artists Barbara Higbie and Sharon McNight, Steve Jobs to Jerry Rice, Michael Feinstein to Thom Felicia, San Francisco Symphony, Opera and Ballet, Fairmont Hotels, San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus to San Francisco Girls Chorus, the list of R.KASSMAN patrons is lined with today’s Artists and yesterday’s icons.

Kassman, who holds a degree in piano from Chicago Musical College, came to the Bay Area as a piano technician in 1978, and was quickly sought-after as a piano technician. At the encouragement of customers Louis Magor (SF Symphony Chorus director emeritus) and Calvin Simmons (Oakland Symphony Conductor, deceased), Kassman opened his eponymous shop in Oakland across from the Paramount theater. In 1981, the San Francisco Opera’s Kurt Herbert Adler appointed Kassman as the purveyor to the San Francisco Opera, and the shop opened an additional location in San Francisco’s Symphony district. 

Upon hearing of Mr. Kassman’ s retirement, San Francisco Symphony pianist emeritus Robin Sutherland remarked: “My professional relationship with Russell Kassman was solidified on March 21, 1985 — the actual 300th birthday of J. S. Bach — when I performed the Goldberg Variations in San Francisco to commemorate that auspicious occasion. R. Kassman provided a magnificent Bechstein grand for me to use, and I was captivated. Captivated to the point that when the performance concluded, I went to Russell on bended knee and begged him to put that piano aside for me, against the day I might be able to afford it for my own personal use.”

Sutherland continued: “In a gesture that I have since come to find typical of him, Russell did make that possible, and the Bechstein has graced my home in San Francisco from that day to this. Built upon this foundation, a personal and business association has developed over forty years, and it is one that I cherish more than I can say. I beat Russell to retirement by maybe six months or so, but the thought of him moving on is one I entertain as very bittersweet. My life without R. Kassman Pianos is not an easy one to contemplate, but my heart is full as I watch him take a remarkable four decades of supplying great music to us in the Bay Area and move forward. I cannot adequately express the vastness of my gratitude to him.”

Mr. Kassman was also actively involved in civic pursuits throughout his career. He was appointed by then SF Mayor Art Agnos to the Small Business Advisory Commission and served under Agnos and Mayor Frank Jordan. He was later appointed to the Mayor’s Office of Business and Economic Development by former SF Mayor Willie Brown. R.KASSMAN has received hundreds awards and accolades, including two Cable Car Awards and the SF Chamber of Commerce Business Arts Advocate award. 

As the company heads towards new ownership, R.KASSMAN is selling the remaining pianos selected by Mr. Kassman during his semi-annual European and Asian buying trips as well as a collection of R.KASSMAN restored vintage Steinway pianos. 

“As some of you may know from a previous release, I was about to retire and close my shop effective June 1,” said Kassman in a statement. “I recently had an offer of purchase the company from a long-time associate in the piano business, and I am excited to introduce you to the new owners of R.KASSMAN: Mr. Ric Overton and Mr. Tim Speakman.”

Kassman continued:
 
“Many of you know Ric from his long presence in the piano business. Ric was the Northern California Regional Sales Manager for the original Baldwin piano company for many years. For the past six years, Ric and Tim have been managing the Hollywood Piano stores of my close friend, Glenn Treibitz. Together, they have more than doubled the sales volume of Hollywood pianos in this short time and challenging market. Additionally, Ric is also the Regional Sales Manager for Piano Marketing Group, which distributes Brodmann, Wilhelm Steinberg and Geyer pianos as well as a line of digital pianos.
 
Personally, I can’t think of a better team to take over the shop than these two industry stalwarts. They have the same passion for quality and pianos that I have, and their dedication to music education is unparalleled. They have decades of experience servicing the needs of concert artists, conservatories and institutions, and they have impeccable, award winning, customer service credentials. In short, you are going to love working with them.”
 
The transition to new ownership will take place over the summer, with the new team in place by August 1.

www.rkassman.com

Russell Kassman


Live 16-hour continuous live reading of full Mueller Report / Live-Streamed

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Media contact: David Perry & Associates, Inc. (415) 676-7007 / news@davidperry.com 

MEDIA ADVISORY / REQUEST FOR ONSITE COVERAGE: June 6: 7am – 11pm

WHO: Manny’s & Cary McClelland (author of Silicon City) present

WHAT/WHEN: Live 16-hour continuous live reading of full Mueller Report / Live-Streamed

Elected Officials, Activists, Authors & Community Leaders to Read #

# Detailed Schedule of Readers at the end of this release

WHERE Manny’s  / 3092 16th Street @ Valencia, San Francisco

WHEN Thursday, June 6: 7am – 11pm

WEB: www.welcometomannys.com   

WHY: “The Mueller Report is one of the most important political documents of our time yet so few Americans have actually read it,” said Manny Yekutiel, founder and owner of Manny’s “Over 30% of members of the congress have declined to say if they’ve read it. It isn’t right. I’m proud to be working with Cary McClelland to organize this reading of the report to call attention to the important findings within.”

The entire 442-Page Mueller Report will be read in 30 minute segments by a broad cross section of Northern California politicians, community members and activists.

Manny’s is a people powered and community focused meeting and learning place in the heart of San Francisco that combines a restaurant, political bookshop, and civic events space. The goal of Manny’s is to create a central and affordable place to become a better informed and more involved citizen. We do this by offering our events space to nonprofits, activists, and civic organizations to spread their message and do their work as well as hosting our own civic and arts related programming. Our kitchen is run by the non-profit, Farming Hope, which hires formerly homeless and formerly incarcerated individuals and trains them in the food skills needed to work in the restaurant industry.

Manny’s opened on Election Night, 2018 where over 500 people came together to watch the results of that moment in our civic life together and since then the venue has hosted hundreds of gatherings. Manny’s is a community space and is proudly located in the Mission District – a historic hub of activism and progressive action. 

Morning

7:00-7:15         Manny Yekutiel – Owner of Manny’s

7:15-7:30        Cary McClelland – Author of Silicon City

7:30-7:45        Edward Wright – Aide to Supervisor Gordon Mar/Harvey Milk Democratic Club

7:45-8:15        David Campos – Chair of Democratic Party of San Francisco and Former Supervisor

8:15-8:30        Myrna Melgar – President of the Planning Commission

8:30-9:00        Susan Solomon – President of the United Educators of San Francisco 

9:00-9:30        Allison Arieff – Editorial Director of SPUR, New York Times Columnist

9:30-10:00      Hillary Ronen – San Francisco Supervisor

10:00-10:30    Dr. Hadar Aviram – Professor of Criminal Law at UC Hastings College of the Law

10:30-10:45    Jupiter Peraza – DACA recipient and Latinx activist

10:30-10:45    Jose Antonio Vargas – Pulitzer Prize Journalist and Undocumented Immigrant

10:30-11:00    Jose Antonio Vargas – Pulitzer Prize Journalist and Undocumented Immigrant

11:00-11:30    Karla Monterrosso – CEO of Code 2040

11:30-11:45    Gara Lamarche – President of the Democracy Alliance, Former CEO of Atlantic Philanthropies

11:45-12:00    Del Seymour – Activist, “Mayor” of the Tenderloin and CEO of Code Tenderloin

Afternoon

12:00-12:30    Christine Pelosi – Hamilton Elector, Daughter of Nancy Pelosi, Activist

12:30-1:00      Susan Pfeiffer – Swing Left

1:00-1:30        Norma Garcia – Director of Policy & Advocacy, Mission Economic Development Agency

1:30-1:45        Annalee Newitz – Writer, Editor-at-Large at Ars Technica

1:45-2:00        Jupiter Peraza – DACA recipient and Latinx activist/student

2:00-2:15        Broke-Ass Stuart – Journalist

2:15-2:30        Amy Farah Weiss – Activist 

2:30-2:45        Amanda Machado – Writer/Educator

2:45-3:00         Kate Conger – New York Times Columnist

3:00-3:15        Ann Stoner – Actor 

3:15-3:30        Rudy Gonzalez – Executive Director, SF Labor Council AFL-CIO

3:30-3:45        Dennis Herrera – San Francisco City Attorney

3:45-4:00        Kim-Mai Cutler – Journalist

4:00-4:30        Mark Leno – Former State Senator

4:30-5:00        Buffy Wicks – State Assembly Member

Evening

5:00-5:15        Scott Wiener – State Senator

5:15-5:30        Cleve Jones – Activist

5:30-6:00        Caleb Smith – Office of Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf

6:00-6:30        Dr. Carol Queen – Good Vibrations

6:30-7:00        Caille Millner – San Francisco Chronicle Columnist

7:00-7:15        Shamann Walton – San Francisco Supervisor 

7:15-7:30        Sarah Souza – President Latino Democratic Club

7:30-8:00        Peter Gallotta – San Francisco Democratic Central Committee

8:00-8:15        Stephen Bruce – Visual Artist, Former American Steel Studios

8:15-8:45        Evan Gelfand – Activist/Community Member

8:45-9:15        Rafael Mandelman – San Francisco Supervisor

9:15-9:30        Leif Dautch – Deputy Attorney General, State of California

9:30-9:45         Dave Eggers, Author, 826 Valencia, McSweeney’s

9:45-10:00      Lucia Obregon Matzer – Mission Community Activist, MEDA

10:00-10:30    Rachel Marshall – Deputy Public Defender, Alameda County

10:30-10:45    Manny Yekutiel – Owner of Manny’s

10:45-11:00    Cary McClelland – Author of Silicon City

San Francisco’s International Ocean Film Festival & Canadian Consulate Present U.S. Premiere of Canada C3: Coast to Coast to Coast

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media contact: David Perry & Associates, Inc. (415) 676-7007 / news@davidperry.com 

San Francisco’s International Ocean Film Festival & Canadian Consulate Present U.S. Premiere of Canada C3: Coast to Coast to Coast 

Acclaimed documentary follows epic journey around Canada’s three coasts
at Cowell Theatre Thursday, June 6
6pm – Reception
7:15pm – Screening
8:15pm – Panel Discussion

www.intloceanfilmfest.org 

4 June 2019 – San Francisco, CA:  In 2017 “A single ship captivated millions of Canadians and captured Canada’s promise,” remarked Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, “amplifying the voices of youth and Indigenous peoples, and connecting Canadians and communities all across the country.”  For one night only, that epic journey will come to San Francisco via a close partnership with the Consulate of Canada and San Francisco’s International Ocean Film Festival: The United States Premiere of the acclaimed Canadian documentary Canada C3: Coast to Coast to Coast. Produced by the Students on Ice Foundation,this inspiring and thought-provoking documentary follows the epic Canada C3 Expedition, retracing the 150-day icebreaker journey from Toronto to Victoria through the Northwest Passage in 2017. The film will screen at San Francisco’s Cowell Theatre (Fort Mason Center) on June 6 beginning with a reception at 6pm, following by the screening at 7:15pm. A panel discussion will follow. Tickets may be purchased online at www.intloceanfilmfest.org/events.

“Over the years, our friends and colleagues at the Consulate of Canada have been among our most steadfast supporters,” said Ana Blanco, Executive Director of the San Francisco based International Ocean Film Festival. “We are honored to once again partner with them to bring an important film about our shared maritime heritage to our audience.”

“Canada C3 became a voyage of reconciliation, a unique pan-Canadian scientific voyage, and a platform for art, music, story-telling, connecting, inspiring, healing, and awakening,” said Geoff Green, Founder & President of the Students on Ice Foundation and Canada C3 Expedition Leader. “Canada is a young country still learning about its past, navigating its present, and exploring its future.”

“Canada C3: Coast to Coast to Coast transports audiences on a sailing adventure exploring Canada’s coastline —the longest coastline in the world. From Lake Ontario, down the mighty St. Lawrence River to the Atlantic Ocean, through the Northwest Passage, and to the Pacific Coast. The expedition and its teams of Canadians, sailed over 25,000 kilometres, visiting communities, national parks, marine protected areas, and many other remote and extraordinary corners of Canada’s vast, beautiful and diverse country.”

Canada C3 – Coast to Coast to Coast delivers emotional, powerful and inspiring messages about the expeditions four key themes: science and the environment; truth and reconciliation, youth engagement; and diversity and inclusion, all key components in building a better Canada and a better world. Through these lenses, this historic journey served to better connect and deepen understanding amongst diverse Canadians as they shared their stories of community, place, and culture.

Since its launch in 2004, the San Francisco-based International Ocean Film Festival has attracted thousands of spectators of all ages from around the world, including film enthusiasts, sea athletes, educators, and environmental supporters. Since then, the Festival has presented over 50 films from 15 different countries and featured post-film Q&A sessions with visiting filmmakers, special panel discussions with content experts, and the Annual Free Student Education Program. It was the first event of its kind in North America, inspired by the well-established ocean festival in Toulon, France, which has continued to draw large audiences for more than 40 years.

The 16th Annual International Ocean Film Festival will take place March 7-10, 2019 at venues around San Francisco. The International Ocean Film Festival is a registered 501(c) 3 non-profit.

About the Students on Ice Foundation

Canada C3 was a Canada 150 Signature Project led by the Students on Ice (SOI) Foundation, an award-winning organization that has led more than 30 expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic. Students on Ice is founded on the principle that we are driven by the personal connections that we make to the land and to one another and these connections foster a deeper understanding of and commitment to a healthy and sustainable future.  Experiential education in the Polar Regions is SOI’s core program. Visit studentsonice.com and CanadaC3.ca to learn more.

URI Convenes Unprecedented Accelerate Peace Int’l Conference June 26 & 27

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Media Contacts:

Gaea Denker (415) 561-2300 ext. 2022 / gdenker@uri.org 

David Perry (415) 676-7007 / news@davidpery.com (onsite at conference)

Erin Saberi (916) 952-5080 / erin@davidperry.com (onsite at conference)

Beyond Partisanship

URI Convenes Unprecedented Accelerate Peace Int’l Conference June 26 & 27

3 June 2019, Stanford, CA, USA – As worshippers in churches, mosques and synagogues are being slaughtered and hate crimes and violence fueled by tensions between people of different beliefs are on the rise, the United Religions Initiative (URI) will gather representatives of the world’s religious, spiritual, and Indigenous traditions on the Stanford University Campus June 26 and 27 for a two-day, international conference. The conference will be open to the public, exploring interfaith strategies for global and local peacebuilding.

Speaking of the work of the United Religions Initiative, His Excellency Mr. Adama Dieng, Special Adviser of the United Nations Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide said,

“The United Nations Office of Genocide Prevention is working closely with United Religions Initiative (URI) as we highly value the work of this organization in promoting enduring interfaith cooperation to end religiously motivated violence and foster a culture of peace, justice and healing for the Earth and all living beings.’’

URI is the world’s largest grassroots interfaith peacebuilding network, working in 109 countries and headquartered in San Francisco. Accelerate Peace: Interfaith Action in Global Peacebuilding will bring together grassroots interfaith peacebuilders, policy experts, religious leaders, young leaders, and representatives from civil society, the private sector, the United Nations, and international and interfaith organizations. Together, they will address issues of religiously-motivated violence and prejudice-based injustice, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. The conference will promote peacebuilding through interfaith cooperation to address key humanitarian issues, including human rights, poverty, women’s empowerment, environmental sustainability, and eliminating nuclear weapons.

The gathering will take place at the Hoover Institution on the Stanford University Campus. It is sponsored by former US Secretary of State, George P. Shultz, a fellow at the Hoover Institution and member of URI’s President’s Council. Testifying at a 2015 hearing of the US Senate Arms Services Committee on Global Threats and National Security Strategy, Secretary Shultz spoke about URI, saying,

“Interfaith efforts like the United Religions Initiative are the kind of positive, non-military approach to dealing with the rising violence of religious extremism that we must support.”

Joining Secretary Shultz will be grassroots peacebuilders of all beliefs from around the world, and a broad array of the conferences keynote speakers and panelists including: 

Kehkashan Basu, Founder/President of Green Hope Foundation 

H.E. Adama Dieng, UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide

Mohamed Elsanousi, Director of The Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers

Dr. Azza Karam, Senior Advisor on Culture at the United Nations Population Fund

Valarie Kaur, Human Rights Activist and founder of The Revolutionary Love Project

The Rev. Victor Kazanjian, Executive Director of URI

Rabbi Daniel Lehmann, President of the General Theological Union 

Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati, Secretary General of the Global Interfaith WASH Alliance

The Right Rev. William E. Swing, Founder and President of URI, former Episcopal Bishop of California

Participants in the conference will develop a deeper understanding of interfaith efforts towards global peacebuilding and consider targeted action steps to be undertaken locally and globally.

For ticket information, sponsorship opportunities, and more details, visit the Accelerating Peace conference webpage: https://uri.org/conference

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ABOUT THE UNITED RELIGIONS INITIATIVE

The United Religions Initiative is the largest grassroots interfaith peacebuilding network in the world. It cultivates peace and justice by engaging people to bridge religious and cultural differences and work together for the good of their communities. We implement our mission in 109 countries through local and global initiatives that build the capacity of over 1000 member groups and organizations, called Cooperation Circles, to engage in community action such as conflict resolution and reconciliation, environmental sustainability, education, women’s and youth programs, and advocacy for human rights. 

URI holds the prestigious distinction of being a non-governmental organization (NGO) with consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, and has long-standing partnerships with several other UN agencies.

Learn more at URI.org.