Our Purpose

Ultimate Peace builds bridges of friendship and understanding for youth from different social and cultural backgrounds around the world. We focus on fun and education, not politics, using the exhilarating and character building sport of Ultimate Frisbee as our tool (read more).

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Ultimate Peace in the Middle East in 2010 & 2011!

• Regular Community Sessions in 8 villages

• Ultimate Peace Overnight Summer Camp

• Regional Twinned Team Youth League

Now, having solidified the partnership with the Peres Center for Peace, and following our ground-breaking first event in Tel Aviv in April 2009, the organizers of Ultimate Peace are excited to announce the next exciting phase of Ultimate Peace in the Middle East.

Our goals in 2010/2011 include building a sustainable program in the region. There will be 4 major initiatives:

1. Facilitate monthly sessions in 8 Palestinian and Israeli villages
2. Convene a full “immersion” Ultimate Peace overnight summer camp for 150 Palestinian & Israeli youth
3. Organize and convene the first Ultimate Peace Twinned Youth League
4. Train community coaches & instructors to teach the values and sport of Ultimate (read more).

Other Ultimate Peace Initiatives

While solidifying our commitment in the Middle East is our current priority, we will also be developing the following program components concurrently:

1. Initiate the “UP Catalyst Program” - We will be supporting Ultimate change agents around the world to start small programs and plant the seeds of Ultimate Peace, no matter where they are.
2. Implementing a Domestic Pilot - We will partner with an inner-city youth program to support the development of a small cross-cultural UP program.
3. Choosing the next International Region - We will explore opportunities to bring UP into one of the conflict zones that have expressed interest thus far,  develop a local partnership, and make the decision to move forward together.

Ultimate Peace as an organization will also be busy building a sustainable infrastructure, which means that securing multiple funding streams, structuring effective governance, and building multifaceted organizational capacity will be paramount.

As always, we are counting on your support. This is an ambitious plan and we need all the help we can get! Be a part of Ultimate Peace. Donate, volunteer, spread the word, send your ideas!

North Bay Community Peace Builder Award

Dr. David Barkan, one of our directors, was presented with the “North Bay Community Peace Builder Award“, honoring him for initiating and leading the innovative work of Ultimate Peace.

The award was given as part of “Creating a World Beyond Violence”, an event held in Marin County on June 6th 2009, organized by The Peace Alliance, to benefit the Campaign for a U.S. Department of Peace.

Ultimate Peace in the Middle East - Slideshow

01-May-2009
We are proud to present our first  slideshow, created by Marc Altman.

Marc is a professional photographer and an Ultimate player. When he heard about Ultimate Peace, he jumped at the chance to travel to the Middle East to be the one to capture the magic.

This slideshow contains ~200 pics from all 5 days of activities, accompanied by captions that tell our story.

So, sit back, relax and experience the first journey of Ultimate peace.

We would like to thank Marc for the extraordinary efforts he put into this project - 100% volunteer.

Ultimate Peace in the Middle East - Event Summary

27-Apr-2009

If you have not heard or seen already, Ultimate Peace in the Middle East was a huge success! Thousands of people around the world believed in the vision of uniting youth in areas of conflict through the character-building sport of Ultimate. As a result, hundreds of Palestinian and Israeli youth were happily throwing and catching discs two weeks ago in Tel Aviv and the West Bank (read more).

Ultimate Peace in the Middle East

April 1-5, 2009 - Tel Aviv

Our First Event

In partnership with the Peres Center for Peace, Ultimate Peace brought together disadvantaged youth from Palestinian and Jewish communities from the West Bank and within Israel to learn, play and unite around the sport of Ultimate. Watch the video below! To see more great videos, photos, and articles from the amazing events, just click on our blog on the right sidebar.

“Sport has an unparalleled ability to overcome barriers of language, politics and religion. Especially a sport like Ultimate Frisbee, which emphasizes fair-play, team cooperation and mutual respect, and offers a unique chance for Israeli and Palestinian youngsters to set aside their differences and work together to achieve a common goal. We are thrilled to be part of this important initiative“. Gal Peleg, Director of Sports - Peres Center for Peace

The event incorporated a diverse array of instructional workshops and fun tournaments for youth and adults, led by some of the best Ultimate coaches in the world. We served over 300 youth and 50 adult educators at the event, and are now busy building local capacity for sustaining and developing Ultimate Peace programs.

As we plan to build more Ultimate Peace programs, you can help achieve the dream of Ultimate Peace.