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Volunteer for AVP
Anyone can learn to facilitate prison and community
workshops. Experience the joy of your own personal growth as well as making
a difference in many others' lives.
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See AVP
Workshops for dates and locations of community workshops
* See here to be notified of upcoming workshops
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See What
is AVP? for more information on the program
*
See here for VolunteerMatch
* Other volunteer opportunities to keep this work growing
Supporting AVP (What might your donation buy?)
Not everyone wants to be a facilitator, but anyone
can support the work of AVP. By making a donation to AVP/California you are giving directly to the work of an all-volunteer organization, where hundreds of volunteers donate thousands of hours—every year—changing lives and families, by facilitating workshops in nonviolent conflict resolution in California prisons and communities.
(AVP/California's IRS Tax Exempt number is 20-3299334)
1. Make a donation by check
Checks may be made payable to AVP California and sent to:
PO Box 3294
Santa Barbara, CA 93130
Call 800/905-6765 to discuss your contributions, or contact a Local Group directly
2. Donate online with PayPal
3. Make a gift of stock or other securities. Contact the Treasurer at 800/905-6765
4. Make a gift by: Naming AVP/California in your will; creating a Charitable Trust; donating a life insurance policy; giving property or real estate
5. Help the local council. Specific needs arise that do not require money. For example:
SPONSOR A WORKSHOP
IN YOUR COMMUNITY
- FOR WHOM: AVP maintains
an active program conducting workshops for community groups including
churches, Quaker meetings, drug and alcohol counseling programs, parolee
programs, schools, Scouts, youth programs, agency staff, correctional
institution staff, and whatever your group might be
- TIME REQUIRED: AVP Community
Workshops normally require about 20 hours over a contiguous two or three-day
period: usually a Friday evening, all day Saturday and Sunday until
mid-afternoon. There are many ways to arrive at the requisite hours,
which are adjusted to meet the needs of the sponsoring community.
- COSTS: All fees from participants
at community workshops are used for materials and supplies to provide
free AVP workshops in schools and prisons. AVP regularly provides scholarships
to those who would find it a financial hardship to pay a full workshop
fee($35-$100)
Trained AVP volunteer-facilitators provide all the training!
- RESPONSIBILITIES:
The three tasks that workshop sponsors agree to undertake as part of
their own outreach to the community are:
- Provide a working space
For a large workshop, a room which comfortably holds up to 20 participants
and four facilitators seated in a large circle on armless chairs,
with room outside the circle for 4 tables. A smaller workshop can
be held with 12 participants and three facilitators.
(We put up quite a few newsprint charts, so lots of wall space is
certainly a plus.)
- Promotion to your constituencies
and the community
AVP provides you with master copies of informative brochures, posters,
press releases, and other printed materials. Your commitment is
to let your group know about the workshop, as well as how to enroll.
Consider also promoting the workshop to the surrounding community.
Past experience shows that diversity among participants makes for
a most satisfying workshop experience. Enrollment ideally needs
to be no less than 12 and no more than 20 participants.
- Coffee Breaks - Light Meals
- Hospitality
During any late afternoon /evening session, it is customary to break
45 minutes for a light evening meal. For daytime sessions, normally
the break is an hour for lunch as well as 15 minutes in mid-morning
and mid-afternoon for a coffee / soda. Some co-sponsors keep a coffee
pot going all day. Providing meals and break refreshments is appreciated.
Many sponsoring groups arrange for overnight hospitality for participants
or facilitators traveling from a distance too great for reasonable
daily commuting.
MINI-WORKSHOP
Designed to introduce AVP to a group in a 1-1/2 to 2-hour session, these
tastes of AVP can also be provided to a service or business organization
in longer or shorter times. These lively and informative sessions make
good meeting programs.
SUPPORTING AN AVP
PRISON PROGRAM
A prison program is most effective when workshops are offered by local
people at least monthly in a nearby prison, Prison program support is
likely to involve:
- Sponsoring community workshops several times a
year or some aspect such as registration, promotion, or food.
- Providing overnight hospitality for out-of-town
trainers
- Acceptance of donations and disbursement of funds
for the program; checking account and non-profit status
- Establishing a community presence for AVP

What might your donation buy?
- $10 Printing flyers to promote a workshop
- $25 Snacks for an AVP workshop
- $35 Sponsor a scholarship to a Basic Workshop
- $50 Buy Tinker Toys or workshop materials
- $90 Mailing to potential participants in a community
- $75 Provide overnight lodging where donated hospitality
is not available to traveling facilitators
- $100 Assist in transportation costs for facilitators
traveling 4-8 hours
- $200 All the materials for a workshop kit and the box
to store or carry it

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