Intersections International Awards

Using arts immersion, social marketing, intentional dialogue, and other innovative methods, Intersections’ work includes projects that promote pluralism in emerging democracies, eradicate ignorance regarding Islam, nurture global peacemakers, dismantle systemic discrimination against the LGBT community, and initiate conversation among disparate groups to develop new ways of problem solving for some of society’s most intractable issues. Intersections’ work lies in three programmatic areas: amplifying marginalized voices, interfaith dialogue and cooperation, and addressing the consequences of conflict.

		Believe Out Loud Believe Out Loud combines traditional community organizing strategies with new technologies and advanced social marketing principles as a means of accelerating the existing Christian movement toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) inclusion. This effort seeks to open dialogue in order to transform attitudes and beliefs among mainline Protestant clergy and lay leaders regarding full LGBT inclusion. The ultimate goal is to promote justice for LGBT individuals in the broader society. Our organizing premise: believing that LGBT persons should be welcomed is not enough; we need to Believe Out Loud.
		ChangeTheStory.net ChangeTheStory.net is a premier online resource aimed at transforming harmful stereotypes that persist in society about Muslims. Created as a companion resource to a major bipartisan report, “Changing Course: A New Direction for U.S. Relations with the Muslim World,” we hope to transform the narrative we carry of each other, Muslim and non-Muslim alike. ChangeTheStory.net features tools for educators, religious leaders and concerned individuals. We invite you to Meet Your Neighbor and hear Muslim Americans talking about their lives. You can Change The Story by learning more about Islam in all its diversity and you can Change The World with easy-to-use, built-in advocacy tools.
		International Peacemarkers Program (IPP) In September 2008, Intersections joined with Hartford Seminary to become a partner in their International Peacemakers Program (IPP). Established in 2005, the IPP provides student leaders with one year of study at Hartford Seminary to enrich their leadership capacity for promoting interreligious conflict resolution in their respective countries. As its part in the IPP, Intersections serves to host a presentation skills workshop, organizes an interfaith dinner and dialogue in New York City, facilitates high level meetings with local NGOs; organizes a private tour of the United Nations; and facilitates speaking engagements for IPP students in New York. Furthermore, Intersections assists students in writing their own interfaith biographies and publishing their articles in new media platforms including the Intersections blog. To date, IPP students have come from a number of countries including Indonesia, Iran, Lebanon, Nigeria and Pakistan.
		Prepare New York Prepare New York is a coalition of New York based interfaith organizations, including Auburn Seminary and its Center for Multifaith Education, Interfaith Center of New York, Intersections International, Odyssey Networks, Quest, and Tanenbaum and its Religion and Diversity Education Program, who have joined together to help create a city-wide climate that promotes healing and reconciliation in anticipation of the tenth anniversary of 9/11, and beyond. Prepare New York has served strengthen the social fabric of the city and serve as a model for other settings across the country by carrying out a comprehensive, multi-pronged effort to inspire New Yorkers to engage in dialogue about religious diversity, and continues to give voice to the millions of New Yorkers who are seeking venues to address hate and move toward healing across social issues.
		Power and Values Intersections’ Power and Values seeks to lead a national conversation about decision makers’ ethical responsibilities and the values driving popular, political, and business culture. Through its work, the Power and Values project serves to highlight practices and policies that foster justice and community well being over greed and individual gain. With its Values and Leadership Roundtable, a lead initiative of the project, Power and Values project has developed a network of leaders from business, faith, education, government, and philanthropic sectors who explore the goals of values-based leadership, and work toward actualizing these goals within their individual sectors.
		Veteran-Civilian Dialogue War throughout the ages has impacted soldiers and civilians alike. Yet war’s mythic role in national life often hides the wounds it exacts on our society. One wound is that veterans and civilians have had a long history of being isolated from each other. And both have paid a price. The Veteran – Civilian Dialogue is a comprehensive and replicable program that works to empower veterans to fully re-integrate into civilian society and educate civilians to the unique needs and strengths of returning military personnel. Our program utilizes traditional and emerging media and extensive, cutting edge psychological and social healing processes. We seek to honor the impact of war on both groups and assist in restoring wholeness.
		The TE’A Project TE’A (Theatre Engagement & Action)produces high quality performance pieces by engaging talented young artists in a community-oriented creative process that infuses interactive, documentary style theatre with the insight approach to conflict analysis. The theatrical performance pieces help build and strengthen communities on the key issues that threaten to divide or polarize them. TE’A employs the magic of theatre to foster the kind of curiosity, insight, and self-reflection that enables audiences to transcend the barriers of experience, identity, and culture that disconnect them from each other, or that lock them into conflict.