KINGSTON, R.I. — October 12, 2000 — Executive director of one of the nation’s leading nonviolence initiatives, Alicia Reneè Farris, will speak on “Developing Hope and Community Among Inner-City Youth” as part of the University of Rhode Island’s fall honors colloquium series, “Nonviolence: Legacies of the Past, Bridges to the Future.” Three of her young coworkers from Detroit will accompany her to share their experiences. Farris will speak in the Barry Marks Auditorium, Room 271 of the Chafee Social Science Center on URI’s Kingston Campus, Oct. 24 from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Community activist, former radio talk show host, trainer, lecturer, and adjunct professor, Farris is a leader in the Detroit program KOPS (Kids, Organizations, Parents, and Schools) for inner-city youth. Farris developed or assisted in the development of more than 200 community youth based organizations. She formerly directed the Youth and Young Adults Division of the New Detroit Coalition. She developed and managed the Coalition’s Youth Nonviolence Training Program, which is dedicated to the tenets of nonviolence as espoused by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The program received the President’s 1994 Volunteer Action Award, the highest volunteer service award. A popular lecturer, Farris has addressed such forums as the National Dropout Prevention Conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the International Gandhi-King Conference in New Delhi, India. She was appointed to the executive planning committee of International Nonviolence Conferences in 1997, and for the last three years has served as national co-director for the Season for Nonviolence Campaigns. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Detroit Mercy and is currently pursuing a doctorate degree in experimental psychology at URI. URI’s colloquium series runs Tuesday nights from 7:30 to 9 p.m. and is free and open to the public. For Information: Lynne Derbyshire, 401-874-4732, Arthur Stein, 401-874-4059, Jan Sawyer, 401-874-2116, Jennifer Smith, 401-874-2116