At this time in 2006 we were preparing for a unique presentation by high school youth to inspire awareness of and appreciation for the continuing relevance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).  I was in my 5^th year as Executive Director of the Rex Foundation, and had just published our newsletter Perspectives on Being Human to explain the human rights framework and how the Rex Foundation’s broad spectrum of grants helped further human rights.  Wanting to bring the message of the newsletter to life in a forum that brought people together, as well as to showcase the work of Rex grantees involved in the creative arts, while also involving young people as part of the process, we raised money to commission 3 arts-based non-profits, with guidance from a creative director, to develop an original production about the UDHR.  We also engaged Studio BAYCAT to videorecord the performance and provide DVD’s that could be utilized in other educational forums.

This production, titled The World As It Could Be – A Declaration of Human Rights, was performed on Thursday, December 7, 2006 at the Presidio in San Francisco for non-profit and other community leaders, and then on Friday, December 8^th at Balboa High School.  What I originally planned as this one initiative grew into what has been an amazing 18 years of connection with a broad community of educators, non-profit and community leaders, and the greater community-at-large, not only to convey the continuing relevance of the UDHR, but also the power of the creative arts and a rite-of-passage process to inspire youth and adults to actively engage in their immediate and extended communities to help further equality, equity, justice and dignity for all.

While I look forward to always being part of TWAICB endeavors, I am truly thrilled to announce a new home for TWAICB that will provide a thriving future for its work.  As of November 1, 2024 TWAICB will be directed by Yvonne Vissing under her non-profit The Initiative for Civility in Everyday Life.  I’ll be involved, along with Jazzmin Gota, who oversees our website and social media initiatives, for quite a while so that our transition is smooth and positive.

Yvonne and I have known each other a number of years as Steering Committee members of HRE USA, a network I’m proud to have been part of since its founding in 2011.  With a recommendation from a mutual colleague, Yvonne and I communicated about her taking over TWAICB about a year ago.  Yvonne’s enthusiastic response about providing a future home for TWAICB was immediately encouraging.  Yvonne’s passion for this work, along with her extensive and impressive credentials and experience with human rights education contribute to her being an outstanding person to whom to entrust this lifework.

Please take some time to review Yvonne’s information provided below – her bio and her perspective on taking on the leadership of TWAICB.  We are both excited about all the good that will come from this exciting transition.

The World As It Could Be: In Transition
A Conversation with Sandy Sohcot and Yvonne Vissing

About Yvonne Vissing

Yvonne Vissing, PhD, is a sociologist and children’s human rights expert. She is the founding director of the Center for Childhood & Youth Studies at Salem State University, where she is a Professor of Healthcare Studies. She is on the Human Rights Council for the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington and is on the Steering Committee of Human Rights Educators HRE USA. Vissing is the US Policy Chair for the UN Convention on the Rights Policy Center in Cyprus and is a member of the Universities Network for Children in Armed Conflict, a scholarly research and advocacy organization out of Italy. She is also a collaborator with the Observatory for the Human Rights of Children at the Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law at Swansea University in Wales. Author of 23 books, including Children’s Human Rights in the USA: Challenges and Opportunities, Changing the Paradigm of Homelessness, Globalization, Human rights and Education, Human Rights Around the Globe, Child Welfare in America, Globalization, Human Rights, Sports, and Culture, Child and Youth Refugee Resettlement and Community Formation Issues, The Rights of Unaccompanied Minors, and research on the meaning of Santa Claus in multicultural contemporary societies.

Yvonne’s Comments about the Transfer of TWAICB to The Initiative for Civility in Everyday Life

About 18 years ago I founded the Center for Childhood & Youth Studies (CCYS) at Salem State University.  I was told by the administration that I could have the center, but was given no money, no space, no staff, and no resources – but I could see what I could do.  And what I did was substantial!  With local, state, national, and international partners I’ve been providing webinars, conferences of up to 1000 people, have a set of international fellows, and dozens of publications.  During COVID events and grants at the university became more difficult to create,  so I developed a nonprofit organization that would enable me to do programs that were beyond the scope or interest of the university.

The nonprofit is called The Initiative for Civility in Everyday Life (ICEL).  We are all interconnected in one way or another, and we believe we have an obligation to help ourselves and each other to be our best selves.  ICEL offers a variety of different programs and opportunities for us all to excel in this mission.  Three frameworks guide what we do:  that we all are entitled to the provision and protection of human rights, the essentiality of compassion, and the importance of belonging and mattering – to ourselves, those we live with, and for the communities we create.  Transferring TWAICB to the ICEL is exciting and it is our hope that we can nurture and grow this new relationship.  We look forward to being your partner as we work together to protect human rights, build caring relationships, and inspire the support for civic infrastructures.  We hope to grow these organizations as thoughtfully as we would bridges or gardens.  Thank you for the opportunity to work together.  I look forward to communicating with TWAICB community to discuss how we can grow the peaceful, beautiful world as we all dream that it could be.

Sent warmly on a cool New Hampshire day –

Yvonne

With excitement for this transition and gratitude for your continuing support, best wishes to you for a very happy holiday and welcoming of the new year.

Sandy Sohcot