Kingian Nonviolence Coordinating Committee
The Kingian Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (KNCC) is an independent working group within World in Watertown. It organizes and conducts community initiatives based on Restorative Justice Circles and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's principles of nonviolence.
Kingian Training and Restorative Justice Circles Receive Unity Award at 2020 Watertown Unity Breakfast
A group of Watertown High School students who advocated for Restorative Circles techniques in the Advisory curriculum received the Unity Award at the 2020 Unity Breakfast. See local press coverage at right.
The Kingian Principles of Nonviolent Conflict Reconciliation were first introduced to Watertown Middle School students by Ruth Henry, a Spanish teacher at WMS, and an accomplished Kingian trainer. She has also introduced Restorative Justice Circles, a process now used to resolve grievances in a way satisfactory to all parties involved.
From these beginnings, Watertown Middle School and High School students have developed workshops and curriculum materials based on Kingian training and Restorative Justice Circles to help students and teachers address the challenges they face at the high school.
Holly Cachimuel, another Middle School teacher and Kingian trainer, sums up the value of this program by saying “Kingian training is a powerful tool to deinstitutionalize racism in schools.”
The Watertown High six students who received the Unity Award for their work spreading Kingian Non-violence teachings to WHS. Pictured from left, Fred Laboissiere, Tino Themelis, Eva Henry, Claire abian, Catherine Fabian and Shivani Sharma.
Community Course on Kingian Nonviolent Conflict Resolution
March 2019
Watertown Police Department, Community Room
This 16-hour course was taught by our very own certified trainers, including youth trainers and faculty trainers from WMS & WHS and trained officers from WPD.
The course was attended by 20-25 community members, learning from a fun and interactive curriculum created applying Dr. Martin Luther King’s philosophy and methodology to our present-day conflicts, both on personal and societal levels.
Community mural honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr
KNCC led a coalition of community partners in the spring of 2018 to create a mixed media mural on a wall of the Watertown Boys and Girls Club. Partners included the Watertown schools, Watertown Boys & Girls Club, Mosesian Center for the Arts, Hatch Makerspace, and Mass College of Art.
The mural prominently displays a famous quote ("The time is always right to do what is right"), and combines painted wall and mounted mosaic panels. Mosaics feature hand-painted tiles created across generations by Watertown students, residents and community organizations.
