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Our Vision is to make America’s dream come true for all people. That we can live up to the stated ideals of our founding fathers, as expressed in the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”.
Our Mission is to build a world of Respect and Inclusion through programs that bring together children of all diversities, in educational and fun activities. To move communities away from and defeat “hate” based ideologies predicated upon race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, and other precepts. Our programs offer simple and passive methods to encourage cultural understanding and acceptance.
We’ve all seen it. Einstein’s famous quote “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” It’s used in business and social circles all the time.
The United States is the most diverse country in the world, but as Americans, we have not yet found a way to live together in peace and harmony. Equality and tolerance have been taught in our classrooms for decades. Faith organizations have preached the acceptance of people from different backgrounds who hold contrasting beliefs. Clearly, these well-intentioned efforts have not been enough. We see the painful results every day in the news, with what seems to be a hate-based ideology guiding people’s actions. If we are going to conquer intolerance and prejudice, we need a new approach – a New Beginning – that starts with our children.
We are called “New Beginnings” because we are different. We don’t lecture or minister, we believe that with experience-based and associative-learning methodologies, we can address the systemic causes of intolerance and prejudice. Words like Equity, Inclusion and Diversity are todays language. We learn from the past, but now we need a different approach if our future will be of cultural equality, understanding and respect. Time is not on our side; we need to change how we address these problems now!
The idea is simple, when students spend time together, engaged in fun and interesting activities they will naturally break down the walls of racism, anti-Semitism and other hate based ideologies. They can re-orient their preconceived negative stereotyping towards People-of-a-Difference. Additionally, as they learn about people who have contributed to society in significant and positive ways students of the same heritage can feel a sense of pride, and students of different heritages can gain respect for that student and their cultural history. We call this Pride and Respect by Association.
ADR-New Beginnings is a national charitable organization, that offers community-based programs, which are general in scope, so they can be easily curated to address each community’s unique culture. We offer guidance in examining and understanding the essence of the negative emotions that result in prejudice and intolerance. We help establish Local Branch Locations in interested communities, working closely with local individuals, political leaders, educators, law enforcement and faith-based organizations.
We offer three programs that are simple in concept and easy to implement: The Collective Experience, which is comprised of short in-class programs (called Pathways) and outside the classroom group activities (called Gatherings). The focus is school age children, grades K-12, and are designed not to interfere with the school curriculum. And Councils For Peace and Prosperity, which brings together community members to discuss social issues and find solutions.
Fundraising is a great activity because it creates a feeling of giving, and that is an emotion we can all share.
Our Organization Structure is a very simple, two levels; National, where we create and manage the programs and Branch Locations, where the programs are implemented by local community members. We provide all the information on our website, thereby eliminating the need for additional layers of management – no regional or state regulators. Each Local Branch decides which program is right for their community and how to put them to the best use.
Our programs, Gatherings and Pathways, are presented in the Introduction to the Collective Experience. From there you can select the link for either program.
Today in Conversations
Campaigns:
Causes We Feel Passionate About that are Beyond our Mission
How Do You and Your Children Benefit From a More Diverse and Equitable Society?
It’s not just the moral issue here in the United States, the World will benefit in areas of education, health and wealth. Businesses will do better, so will it’s stakeholders, and the community they serve. We the people, can live in peace and security. Sounds far-fetched? Think about it and read some of our thoughts and observations.
Music Reflects The Times We Live In
“Ball of Confusion ” was a 1970 hit single for The Temptations.
It shouts out loud the problems we faced back then – – – – – -and it’s just as relevant today!
We can learn so much from looking back in history and seeing what happens when good people look the other way.
Editor’s Note on Definitions: We use some terms in a different way than you will find in the dictionary, because it helps convey our message in a clear or more concise way. If you need to look up a definition, please look in our Definitions Page. Students-of-a-Difference and Students of Diversity: We created these terms to mean “all people”, that includes all races, ethnicities, religions, genders, sexual orientations, and cultures. In short Everyone! It’s easier than making a list each time. We also use Children-of-a-Difference and Children of Diversity; and People-of-a-Difference and People of Diversity; in the same way.