91´«Ã½

The Carbondale Public Library and its community partners created 11 Days for Compassion in response to a local Occupy movement and a strike at the university that resulted in discussions and peaceful protests, as well as abusive rants in the newspaper. The program brought together more than 35 organizations, businesses and individuals to host, lead and promote compassion-themed discussions and events for the community over an 11 day period. Major partners were the Carbondale Human Relations Commission and the Nonviolent Carbondale Group, which includes dozens of organizations and individuals. The intent was to give the community a safe symbolic way to face itself in retrospect and to learn more about compassion for future interactions. The program was partly funded through a grant from the 91´«Ã½ and the Fetzer Institute: “Building Common Ground: Discussions of Community, Civility and Compassion.”