Lenore Bajare-Dukes is a facilitator, storyteller, systems analyst, and designer of strategic peacebuilding programs, both in the United States and in the Middle East and North Africa. She graduated with a Master鈥檚 in conflict transformation from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at 草莓社区 in 2017.
Lenore is dedicated to creating and holding聽spaces for people to gather in community, across differences, to uncover truths about the social systems in which we live and to imagine a common future.聽Her facilitation practice has included helping people share聽stories through Playback Theatre (a form of improv in which stories come from the audience);聽facilitating dialogues, healing activities, and circle processes; working with fellow white Americans to explore racial identity and ending white supremacy; and accompanying organizational leaders in change processes. She loves creating systems maps and other visual materials to help users analyze conflicts and relationships in accessible, interactive ways.
Lenore is currently working with several initiatives related to uncovering truths, using arts, and transforming systems. She serves as a consultant with the Truth-Telling, Racial Healing & Reparations mapping initiative for Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth (RJOY), which is weaving a network between grassroots initiatives to address historical and current violence against African-Americans. Building on that work, she is honored to be co-teaching the 2018 Summer Peacebuilding Institute course on Truth-Telling, Racial Healing, and Restorative Justice. In addition, she is a collaborating producer and a member of the leadership team with the documentary radio project聽The Trump Diaries: A People鈥檚 History of the Forty-Fifth Presidency, which documents the lives of people across the United States, over time, as they intertwine with the politics of the current era. Her writing projects include building theory about truth-telling and the arts, and researching leadership in an age of polarization with Dr. David Brubaker.
Lenore came to CJP seeking inclusive, justice-centered, and spiritual approaches to designing peacebuilding strategies, after several years of working with international NGOs to design and support peacebuilding programs in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Notably, she supported Search for Common Ground in establishing and expanding its Tunisian office during the SFCG鈥檚 first year in post-revolutionary Tunisia, including accompanying a national youth capacity-building program, and writing proposals that led to the establishment of a national dialogue program across ideological divides for women鈥檚 advocates.
Lenore speaks fluent French and English and basic Spanish and Arabic. Originally from Charlottesville, Virginia, and now based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, she is looking forward to expanding her facilitation practice in central PA and beyond.