In mid-June, Dr. Janelle Junkin (director of community programming & research) and Ami Yares (executive director) traveled to Northern Ireland at the invitation of the NGO, Beyond Skin of Belfast. For nearly 15 years, Beyond Skin has been “enabling the Arts as the dialogue to assist the development of a more peaceful, equal and intercultural society free from racism & sectarianism.” Beyond Skin also leads an international collaborative of organizations dedicated to peace bui

On a lovely sun-drenched Saturday in September, BuildaBridge International coordinated a field trip to Ellis Island for clients of the Philadelphia Partnership for Resilience (PPR), Nationalities Services Center (NSC) and HIAS. The PPR is a partnership between the NSC, HIAS and BuildaBridge that serves individuals arriving to the United States who have endured torture in their country of origin or of most recent residence. Alongside these survivors were also refugees that the

I can think of hundreds of noble reasons to help someone, to offer a hand to someone in need. I spent a good portion of my life believing that you should help people that are less fortunate than you. I believed that helping was a responsibility because I had more than I needed and others didn’t have enough. The more than I see the world, the more that I see in my own community, the more I realize how flawed that way of thinking is. It’s harmful. Toxic, actually. The work of j