Rita Marie Johnson, the author of legislation adopted under Nobel Peace Laureate, President Oscar Arias of Costa Rica, is coming to Vermont.

Co-founder of the University for Peace and founder of the Rasur Foundation that sponsors Costa Rica's Academy of Peace, Johnson will be in Vermont from April 4-7 to speak and present workshops on her extraordinary practice of BePeace.

Johnson will be at the Charlotte Congregational Church on April 5 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. For more information, call 985-2917. A donation of $10 is suggested.

The Rasur Foundation
The Rasur Foundation was founded in 1997 by Johnson, an American who came to Costa Rica in 1993 to help strengthen its national model of peace. Its mission is to inspire, educate, and facilitate the growth of a worldwide culture of peace, beginning with the creation of a countrywide model in Costa Rica. The foundation works in three areas: advocacy for governmental infrastructure for peace, building citizens' social and emotional intelligence for peace, and peace promotion that reinforces the national identity with peace.

Academy for Peace
The mission of the Academy for Peace is to empower every Costa Rican child to pass on the practice of BePeace to the next generation. The BePeace practice builds social and emotional intelligence through a combination of the HeartMath method for "feeling peace" and nonviolent communication for "speaking peace." Johnson discovered the powerful synergy between these two methods.

In 2006, Johnson wrote a Ministry for Peace initiative that has recently become law under President Arias. She was authorized by the vice president to represent Costa Rica at the Summit of the Global Alliance for Ministries and Departments for Peace that took place in Japan in September 2007. At her request, the Costa Rican government hosted the 2009 Summit of the Global Alliance.

As an international peacemaker, Johnson has presented BePeace workshops in eight states in the U.S. as well as Canada, Europe, and Central America and for the U.N. University for Peace. In November 2006, she completed a speaking tour in Japan on Costa Rica as a model of peace. In July 2007, she served on the plenary panel "Women of Power" at the International Women's Peace Conference in Dallas. In September 2007, she was the keynote speaker for the World Day of Prayer at Unity Village, Missouri. In April 2008 and March 2009, she participated as a key thought partner in creating the National Peace Academy of the U.S.A. at Case Western Reserve University.