One Common Unity

One Common Unity breaks cycles of violence and builds compassionate, healthy communities through the and other locations.

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Peace Education

Since 2000, One Common Unity has trained over 9,000 teachers from around the country in peace education. These teachers work with the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools and other educational organizations and institutions and educate over 9,000 youth a year. Throughout the year, OCU also hosts ongoing peace education workshops for children at S

asha Bruce, The Beacon House, the Harry Thomas Recreation Center, Wilson Senior High School, Girls Inc. Voices of a Movement & The Common Folk Awards

One Common Unity produces the monthly “Voices of a Movement,” open mic at Busboys and Poets located on 5th & K. Voices of a Movement promotes healthy dialogue around critical social issues while instigating reflection on how to build a nonviolent culture. In 2010, we produced a CD featuring artists from the Voices of a Movement shows of that year in celebration of our 10th anniversary. This CD was released at our “10 Year Anniversary Celebration and Showcase,” in conjunction with our third annual “Common Folk” awards, which celebrate the work of community organizers, artists using their music to uplift and nonprofits positively impacting at-risk communities. Media Projects

FLY BY LIGHT

In the summer of 2011, 15 high school students from diverse neighborhoods across Washington, DC were uprooted from the hustle of inner-city life to beautiful mountain vistas and springs. For many of the teenagers, this was their first time leaving the concrete confines of the city. It was also their first time experiencing a hike through the mountains, a swim in the creek, the feel of a sincere cry, the sound of their song through a microphone, the touch of a painful bee sting, the rush of fire spinning, and the smell of sage burning during a Native-American sweat lodge ceremony. It was a transformational week of boundary-stretching and social-emotional learning, reflecting the love, struggle, compassion, pain, laughter, and friendship of their daily lives. Directed by filmmaker Ellie Walton, the new documentary film follows the experience of a select group of youth who participated in this program facilitated by One Common Unity. flybylightthemovie.com

MLK STREETS PROJECT

Our youth film making program “A Nu View” finalized its second documentary film, which deals with the depressed states of Martin Luther King Boulevards across the nation. The trailer for the film was selected for and screened at the VONY Film Festival in New York City in 2010. A WEIGH WITH WORDS

A Weigh With Words is a blunt, no-holds barred investigation of the power of language, focusing on how words have been utilized to create both conflict and compassion. Interviewing pundits from academia, politics, the arts and the streets, the film unearths rare, candid glimpses of our struggles with appropriateness ignorance, connotation and contradiction. A Weigh With Words is the debut production of A Nu View, a special youth program produced by One Common Unity and Straight, No Chaser Productions. This film was created by six District of Columbia high school students who participated in every aspect of production.

06/28/2024

The Summer Strong Social Justice Institute is a continuation of One Common Unity’s year-round out-of-school time and enrichment programming which centers on arts empowerment, environmental stewardship, social-emotional learning, health and wellness, and social justice programming.

This summer program aims to cultivate creativity, build confidence, and foster a love for the arts among participants.

Whether your passion lies in theater, acting, painting, singing, writing, dancing, or behind-the-scenes production, this program promises something extraordinary for everyone.

Each week, we will engage in a variety of arts-based workshops centered on the themes of self-exploration, self-care and empowerment, social justice, and community-building. These workshops will culminate in a student-led performance in the final week of summer camp.

IMPORTANT DETAILS:
📆 Dates: July 1st, 2024, to August 2nd, 2024.
📍 Location: Perry Street Preparatory Public Charter School (1800 Perry St. NE, Washington, D.C. 20018).
👋 Ages: 5th grade through 8th grade.
📋 Registration: Please contact [email protected] or [email protected] to register.
🆓 Cost: FREE.

We are ecstatic to be back in the community, providing necessary services to youth this summer. Don’t miss this incredible opportunity to ignite your passion for theater and make lasting memories. ✨

Join us at the Summer Strong Social Justice Institute and let your creativity shine!

06/20/2024

We're proud to announce our new Director of OST and Enrichment, Johneé Wilson!!

Johneé started working with OCU in 2019 as a Program Facilitator on the Fly By Light team. Since that time she has had multiple roles with OCU including organizing the Fly By Light National Training, working as a Senior Facilitator with the Peace Together team, and most recently supporting as our Director of Training.

Johneé is now helping the OST and Enrichment team close out for the school year and prepare for an action-packed Summer Strong program at Perry Street!!

06/13/2024

Last week for National Gun Violence Prevention Day, our Peace Together program provided a 4 Spaces Intervention at Anacostia High School in collaboration with the ONSE Leadership Academy program.

The 4 Spaces is an engaging intervention that allows youth to learn and practice different types of coping strategies.

One form of coping is through building community, which is a big part of One Common Unity.

Students engaged in responding to a prompt related to how gun violence impacts their community and then learned how to make origami hearts to add to an installation piece to be held in their community.

06/05/2024

Did you know it's World Environment Day? 🌍

At One Common Unity, we believe in the power of Environmental Leadership to create a sustainable future. Join us in celebrating and protecting our planet today and every day. Together, we can make a difference! 🌱✨

06/03/2024

Did you know we celebrate Pride Month in June because of the Stonewall Uprising that happened on June 28th, 1969?

The Stonewall Uprising, also known as the Stonewall Riots, was a series of spontaneous demonstrations by members of the LGBTQ+ community in response to a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.

The riots are widely considered to constitute one of the most important events leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBTQ+ rights in the United States.

The community's response to the raid, which was characterized by violent resistance rather than the more usual passive deference, marked a significant change in the LGBTQ+ rights movement.

This event brought the community together in a fight for equality, leading to the creation of activism groups and the first gay pride parades.

Happy Pride Month from the OCU team. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

06/01/2024

Happy Pride Month! 🏳‍🌈

OCU actively celebrates our LGBTQ+ students, staff, and community members, not just in June but every day of the year!

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

05/31/2024

It's the last day of Mental Health Awareness Month!

Let's give a huge shoutout to our School-Based Mental Health Team for all their amazing work this month in raising mental health awareness with the students in their schools. 👏👏👏

Some examples of the work that was done included:

⭐ Every day at Mary McLeod Bethune Day Academy this month, a student, class, or staff could take a picture and write an affirming word that represents them.

⭐We hosted mental health awareness workshops for students on topics like anxiety and depression with ways to reduce the physical symptoms in their bodies by using Emotional Freedom (also known as tapping). The students with the best mastery of the material earned a small prize.

⭐ We created a puppet show for pre-k students. The goal of the puppet show was to enhance students' understanding of emotional recognition and ways to reduce uncomfortable feelings such as sadness, madness, anxiety, etc.

⭐ On May 28th, we hosted a student tabling event for Mental Health Awareness Month at Takoma Elementary School.

05/30/2024

Earlier this week, our Peace Together team partnered with NAARC's Cure the Streets team for a training on "The Cost of Caring and Vicarious Trauma."

The Cure the Streets team works tirelessly to mitigate gun violence risks in vulnerable communities and NAARC aims to create a safe environment while offering wellness opportunities for their team.

Our goal as an organization is to provide viable, feasible, and desirable training modules that empower these trusted adults, who work with our DC community members, to understand how they may be interfacing with secondary trauma, offer self-care strategies to restore their confidence in caring for themselves, and to help navigate the challenges of the work they do so they may continue showing up as their healthiest and most authentic selves.

We're so full of gratitude that the NAARC staff interacted fully with our curriculum and key facilitators.