Read Paul’s Mission Statement

Hi, I’m Paul Kivel

My work is driven by a powerful question: how can we live and work to sustain community, nurture each other, and create a multi-cultural society based on love, justice, and interdependence with all living things? I feel strongly that the challenge posed in that question is the most important one we face today.

My Vision of Social Justice

I envision a society where each person is valued regardless of gender, race, cultural background, sexual identity, ability or disability, or access to wealth.

This society would provide adequate shelter, food, education, recreation, health care, security, and well-paying jobs for all. The land would be respected and sustained, and justice and equal opportunity would prevail.

Such a society would value cooperation over competition, community development over individual achievement, democratic participation over hierarchy and control, and interdependence over either dependence or independence.

Mission

My mission is to use my teaching, mentoring, writing, and activism to provide a wide variety of accessible educational and training opportunities and materials in different media, languages, and formats that help provide people with a vocabulary, a framework, and critical thinking skills to increase their capacity for being active in struggles for social justice. In particular my work will support grassroots community struggles for social justice by addressing, educating, challenging, and channeling resources from allies and mainstream communities and will support the leadership of women, men and women of color, people of low-income, and people from other marginalized groups, particularly young people.

My Values

To model what I teach by:

• remaining accountable to those on the frontlines of grassroots struggles through my activism and through various other forms of feedback and consultation.
• making sure that wherever I am, I am working for the inclusion of all missing voices.
• helping to build and sustain a strong, caring, and loving community of family, friends, colleagues, and community members.
• leading a balanced, healthy, reflective, joyful, and active life.

What I Offer

I am available to provide the following services:

• workshops and trainings
• talks and keynotes
• consulting and individual mentoring

My work covers a wide range of issues, including how to eradicate racism, prevent male violence, avert youth violence, promote progressive parenting, halt homophobia, uproot class and gender discrimination, and promote social justice by helping people get together to form productive alliances.

Many of my workshops are founded on books and curricula developed specifically for grassroots activists and others working for social justice. My titles include Boys Will Be Men, You Call This A Democracy?, Uprooting Racism, Men’s Work, Young Men’s Work, Young Women’s Lives, and Making the Peace. You can learn more about these materials and other titles by visiting my Bookstore.

Community Development & Root Causes

Many of us work to prevent acts of violence such as sexual assault, gang conflict, domestic abuse, and hate crimes. We may prune the branches of the tree of violence, but the tree always grows back. Why? We are providing important social service, but it does not lead to profound social change. We may be helping individuals, but it does not lead to community development.

The tree of violence is rooted in social injustice based on inequality in race, class, gender, and sexual orientation. Join me and others in doing the root work necessary to build safe and just communities.

We each have a role to play in creating the world we deserve. As Rabbi Tarfon wrote more than fifteen centuries ago: “It is not upon you to finish the work. Neither are you free to desist from it.”

I invite you to explore my web site, send me your thoughts, and offer your suggestions. If you want to learn more about my work, download my résumé. My articles and exercises are available, too, for non-commercial use. I look forward to working with all of you, bringing a shared vision of social justice into the world we live in today.

Yours in Peace and Justice,

Paul