2002 Event: Chicago, USA
Launching the Network
The 1st Annual Goldin Institute for International Partnership and Peace was held in October 2002 at the Dominican Conference Center in River Forest, Illinois. This inaugural global meeting with hosted in partnership with the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions to provide grassroots community organizers from cities around the world with tools and support to build meaningful partnerships within and between their cities. Representatives from 25 cities around the world attended the conference. Countries included Bosnia, Brazil, Canada, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Israel, Philippines, Spain, South Africa, Taiwan, the UK and the United States.
The Goldin Institute event convened for six days enabling participants to learn from each other and explore possibilities for shared service and collaborative action. In addition to setting the trajectory for the work of the Goldin Institute in the future, this event focused on the role of religious and spiritual communities working across boundaries to solve issues of common concern.
Diane Goldin, founder of the Institute, welcomed the lively crowd of international travelers and set the tone for the conference. Jeffrey Carlson, Dean of Rosary College at Dominican University invited the group to "see what we are not looking for" and through sensitivity to one another and the world, to find the possibilities for helping one another.
