Blueprints for Peace

Episode 4: Finding Your Peacebuilding Superpower

Jennifer Ploskina — Mon, 12 Oct 2026 06:00:00 -0400

Peacebuilding isn’t one job description — it’s dozens. In this episode of Blueprints for Peace, host Jennifer Ploskina zooms from the global to the hyperlocal, starting with Everyday Peacebuilding’s Peacebuilder Typology: a framework built from over a decade of research, a database of more than 5,000 peace organizations worldwide, and insights from 800+ community surveys across 100+ countries, mapping 24 distinct types of peacebuilders across 9 categories. The message underneath the numbers: there’s a door into this work for almost anyone, not just activists and diplomats.

Then the episode comes home to Pittsburgh, where the City’s Office of Community Health and Safety runs real violence prevention work most residents have never heard of — Group Violence Intervention, SaferTogether’s zone-by-zone outreach, and community grants that fund local organizations directly. Jennifer also shares a personal update: she’s attending a donation-based bystander intervention training through the DC Peace Team this week, proof that the “practice courage in small moments” idea from Episode 3 isn’t just a talking point.

???? This episode’s Build: Pick one way to get involved — train, find your peacebuilder type, give locally, vote with peacebuilding in mind, or volunteer — and commit to just one.

???? Part of the Peacebuilding Starts at Home movement, created in collaboration with the Alliance for Peacebuilding, the Center for Partnership Studies, and peacebuilders around the world.

Resources:

www.everydaypeacebuilding.com
www.pittsburghpa.gov/Safety/Public-Safety/Violence-Prevention

Episode 3: Living the Code We Claim

Jennifer Ploskina — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 06:00:00 -0400

Nearly everyone claims some kind of moral code — honesty, courage, protecting the vulnerable. That's not controversial. But in this episode of Blueprints for Peace, host Jennifer Ploskina asks a harder question: do we actually live it?

Drawing on moral traditions from Catholic social teaching to everyday human experience, Jennifer explores why the real gap isn't a missing moral code — it's an unpracticed one. Most of us have never been asked to practice the courage our values require, so when the moment comes, we're untested. This episode makes the case that peacebuilding isn't a belief problem. It's a practice problem — and the private sector, not just specialists and institutions, is where that practice can actually happen.

Training resource: www.dcpeaceteam.org

Contact Jennifer to connect and collaborate: jenniferploskina@gmail.com

Episode 2: Chip Hauss from the Alliance for Peacebuilding

Jennifer Ploskina — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 06:00:00 -0400

Welcome to Episode 2 of the Blueprints for Peace podcast, featuring an interview with Senior Fellow at the Alliance for Peacebuilding and author of Peacebuilding Starts at Home, Chip Hauss.

See Peacebuilding Starts at Home | How You Can Help | FInd Ways to Turn Your Country Around to learn more.

Episode 1: Blueprints for Peace Introduction

Jennifer Ploskina — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 09:49:08 -0400

Introductory episode sharing the background of podcaster Jennifer Ploskina, expected content and journey, and the larger umbrella under which this podcast exists. The goal of Blueprints for Peace and the larger Peacebuilding Starts at Home movement contends that nature provides all of the solutions we need. Topics like partnerism (the term coined and promoted by Rianne Eisler), quantum and DNA computing, biomimicry, spirituality and religion, will all move the audience towards action that can promote peace in our lives, communities, and the world.

This effort is a collaboration of many people and groups, including The Alliance for Peacebuilding (AfP), including Chip Hauss, Fellow and Author of Peacebuilding Starts at Home, The Center for Partnerships (Rianne Eisler and team), religious and spiritual traditions, and peacebuilding or violence prevention individuals and organizations.