Embracing Nonviolence

Embracing Nonviolence (ENV) launched in May 2024 by a dedicated team with extensive experience in education, community organizing, public policy, business leadership, and nonprofit management. It is a project of the Colorado Nonprofit Development Center CNDC, whose mission is to build inclusive, caring communities committed to nonviolence practices to address threats of violence to our communities, society, and democracy. Individuals and organizations will be equipped and empowered to adopt nonviolence as a love-centered way of life for use at home, at work, and for the good of the community.

Gandhi wrote, “Truth and nonviolence are as old as the hills….Those who believe in the simple truths I have laid down can propagate them only by living them….I have not the shadow of a doubt that any man or woman can achieve what I have, if only he or she would make the same effort and cultivate the same hope and faith.”  

Martin Luther King, Jr. provided a warning over 65 years ago that may be even more applicable now, "Today the choice is no longer between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence."

Embracing Nonviolence conveys hope and action towards a reality where we celebrate, honor and welcome, without exception, all who contribute to our community’s rich diversity. This will be achieved by engaging with each other and learning together in small groups and workshops. We strive to be known as an organization that provides space for people to express their hopes and concerns, explores nonviolence concepts and skill, and does not shy away from using learnings and insights to address community and societal difficulities and injustices. Participants in the organization’s work will be people to want to make a positive mark, enhance their own lives, and have the courage to stand for healthy communities, society, and democracy.

Financial support will enable Embracing Nonviolence to hire staff, offer programs, and develop the organization. ENV is responsible to the CNDC Board of Directors and its own six-person Project Board.

ENV work is being conducted under the leadership of Project Director, Daniel Mondragon. Throughout his career of over 30 years in the nonprofit sector, Daniel has been passionate about work that lifts people out of poverty and exclusion into living a dignified life. From his time with the Justice and Peace Office, Archdiocese of Denver and as Director of the Campaign for Human Development Daniel has been a worker and leader for justice, and a development professional with several organizations. In 2020, after the murder of George Floyd, he assisted in creating Arvadans for Social Justice, and in 2023 supported the effort by Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes to rename Mount Blue Sky. He is now ready and committed to helping bring nonviolence training and action to Colorado. Daniel is a Denver native. He holds a BA in Religious Studies and a Master of Nonprofit Management (MNM) degree from Regis University. https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-mondragon-09520519/