Peace Education and Action Center

TEACH PEACE CONFERENCE PRESENTERS

Dr. Gordon Bazemore will deliver the Keynote Address on "Restorative 
Justice:  Principles and Applications".  He will also conduct a workshop 
on "Implementing Restorative Justice Principles in Schools".

Gordon Bazemore is Professor and Chair of the Department of Criminology 
and Criminal Justice, and Director of the Community Justice Institute at Florida 
Atlantic University. 

Gordon has advised and provided training and technical assistance to more than 30 states and several federal agencies on restorative juvenile justice, restorative reentry, performance measurement, and victim services reform. He has served as a keynote speaker at more than 40 state juvenile and criminal justice conferences in the past decade. Internationally, Gordon has spoken on restorative justice at conferences in Northern Ireland, Germany, Colombia, Australia, Canada, Belgium, and Brazil. For 20 years, Gordon's research has focused primarily on juvenile justice and youth policy, restorative justice, crime victims, community corrections, and community policing. He has authored almost 200 publications including 65 peer-reviewed journal articles, 34 book chapters, 25 monographs and technical reports, and has authored three books.  He is currently working on a book tentatively titled "Pillars for a New Juvenile Justice: Restorative Justice, Youth Development, And Community Building".

Meli Fisher

Meli Fisher is a student farmworker and activist in Sarasota. She focuses on collaborative studies in social networks, sustainability, and food security as a thesis student in Cultural Anthropology at New College of Florida. She strives to integrate theory into action through both her work as a farm worker at Jessica's Stand and in her thesis project at the Orange Blossom Community Garden. She is involved in food not bombs, a completely decentralized international volunteer food aid organization, and is one of the core organizers for the All Power to the Imagination Conference, an annual forum applying radical grassroots and academic theories and struggle based practice to social justice issues. She has also been involved in Sarasota Indymedia, the New College Infoshop, and the Sarasota Radical Alliance. She would like to emphasize the importance of sharing as a method for building community that includes safety and security for the homeless, poor, and disenfranchised, as well as the struggling middle class and rich folks in Sarasota.

Sharon Fitzpatrick

A resident of Sarasota area since 2001, Sharon Fitzpatrick has developed interest in environmental and agricultural issues by managing an organic nursery, working with UF/IFAS on several projects and recently initiating an edible/native landscape business.  As clerk of Peace and Social Concerns Committee within the local Quaker community, she has provided speakers, concerts, and other events, while establishing connections with peacemakers in the area. Accepting the position of vice-chair for the Southwest Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice and maintaining membership in other peace groups, Sharon Fitzpatrick has transformed her lifestyle to focus entirely on environmental and peace issues.  Her intention with PEAC is to provide opportunities for environmental work within the schools at all levels while offering an Earth-friendly agenda for some of the activities at the center itself.   Establishing a small press In July 2009, Sharon publishes and performs her own work, in which peace and environment are major themes. Her interest in recycled arts often uses materials from nature, including shells and landscape by-products such vines used for sculpting.

Mercedes Frace

Mercedes Frace, MLS, is an NVC Practitioner and CNVC Trainer Candidate who has over 5 years of certified NVC training with Nonviolent Communication developer Dr. Marshall Rosenberg.  She is particularly interested in sharing NVC with at-risk-youth as well as educators, nonprofits and public service organizations.  In 2009 Mercedes was selected by the global Center for Nonviolent Communication as their Communication Coordinator.  In 2002 she co-founded a homeschooling nonprofit in Sarasota County and is an Alternatives to Violence (AVP) apprentice facilitator.  Mercedes is currently writing her first book about nonviolence. 

Bonnie Beth Greenball, J.D. 

Bonnie Beth Greenball, J.D., is the Associate Director of the Institute for Public Policy and Leadership, and she is an instructor in the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee. She is responsible for developing and implementing programs related to the Institute’s mission, particularly in the areas of arts and culture, social justice, and civic engagement.  She teaches courses in the Department of Government and International Affairs, which include Constitutional Law 1 and 2, Women and the Law, and Selected Topics courses. In addition to these duties, she is the Advisor to the Social Justice Initiative, a campus organization which engages students in community service learning projects and which sponsors art exhibitions that raise social consciousness.  This club builds leadership skills in support of the Institute’s mission. In collaboration with Art Center Sarasota, she moderates quarterly discussions called “Art for Social Change,” and she regularly interviews artists and policymakers regarding the impact of the arts on our economy, tourism, and community well-being for local television.

Beverly Hill

Don Hall
Don Hall is the founder of Transition Sarasota, a new nonprofit organization dedicated to rebuilding local community 
resilience and self-reliance in the face of peak oil, climate change, and economic crisis. He is also a certified
Permaculture Designer and holds a Master's in Environmental Leadership from Naropa University.


David Lionel


David has had a long career covering major social movements' events as an independent video producer and editor. 
His non-profit, Transformational Videos, now helps community organizations to achieve their aims through 
interactive DVD screenings.



Jennifer Mainey

Jennifer has been a teacher and guidance counselor at the secondary level for over thirty years.  She currently coordinates 
prevention programs in the office of Safe and Drug Free Schools for Sarasota County.  As part of her role in prevention, 
Jennifer has promoted Community of Caring in the district for many years.  She is heading up the district-wide four year
project with the Gulfcoast Community Foundation of Venice to bring Community of Caring to 42 area schools.  Jennifer
has written numerous grants, provided district workshops in the area of violence and substance abuse prevention and 
character education, and is currently focusing on youth addiction as the tobacco prevention coordinator for Sarasota County.  
Her passions are peer programs, student leadership, and service learning.  She facilitates district high school workshops on 
diversity and healing racism, and provides support for the student transitions programs into high schools and middle schools. 
Jennifer is a new trainer for Community of Caring and will be involved in the "Because It Matters" civility project for the next three
years.  Jennifer's love is traveling internationally, she loves horseback riding and she is an avid scuba diver. 

Fran Palmeri

Florida nature writer/photographer. Getting to know this wondrous peninsula over a span of forty years has been a kind of green pilgrimage. About five years ago I started photographing intensively and sending essays and photos about our habitats and native species to the Florida press and elsewhere. As I’ve come to understand that our relationship with the planet is a peace issue, I see myself as primarily as educator and advocate. My hope is that if people see what I have seen they will be moved to act in the interest of the land.

Laurel Schiller

Nursery co-owner with degrees in wildlife biology and systematics and ecology. Taught biology at Roosevelt University in Chicago. Worked as a mammalogist at the New York Zoological Society (at the Bronx Zoo) and at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Former National Landscape Design Critic (Florida Garden Club) and Florida Master Gardener. Currently completing the Florida Master Naturalist program.  Since she moved to Venice, Florida, 16 years ago, her interests have been channeled into preserving the natural environment.  She is a past president of the Friends of Oscar Scherer Park, served as a board member of the Rails to Trails Legacy Park, and recently completed six years as a Sarasota County Planning Commissioner.  She designs native plantings for natural areas for homeowners and homeowner associations. She specializes in native plant restoration and mitigation work and enjoys creating wildlife habitat. She has worked on native plant designs for numerous school sites and for state, county, and city lands. With her partner, Dan Walton, she has written Natural Florida Landscaping published by Pineapple Press in April 2007.

Skip Wilhoit

Skip Wilhoit is the Program Coordinator for both the Bullying Prevention and Intervention Program and the Character Development program in the Manatee County Schools.  He also serves as the liaison for the Amer-i-can Gang Prevention Program.

David Williamson

David Williamson is a local naturalist and nature photographer who volunteers for many organizations including Manatee and Sarasota Audubon, the Dimage Camera Club, and the American Red Cross.   He works for a local environmental consulting firm managing their health and safety training and compliance.  He has been involved with Save Our Seabirds since November of 2008 and is responsible for their Outreach Education programs.

Nicole Wolfe

Nicole Wolfe was born and raised in a small town in Upstate New York. She graduated with her Bachelor of Arts from Concordia College in

2001 and Master of Science in Guidance and Counseling from the College of New Rochelle in 2004.  In 2005, Nicole took a position as a guidance

counselor at Venice High School in Venice, Florida.  She partnered with New College under a grant from the Gulf Coast Community Foundation to

start the Open Ears program. The program is in its second year.