True Roots co-founder Summer Lewis was interviewed by Barbara Gaughen-Muller in anticipation of the Rotary World Peace Conference in Ontario, California. The conference featured more than 100 breakout sessions covering themes related to peace and conflict resolution, in communities and globally. Presenters included notable nonprofit and business leaders, Rotarians, and Rotary Peace Fellows. Even actress Sharon Stone was there—as a keynote speaker—presenting her documentary, “FEMME”.
Summer was honored to be invited to present about her work with True Roots and developing projects for deep impact: about what makes a solid project and a strong organization—as well as what can stand in the way of success.
As a Rotary Peace Fellow alumna and international development consultant, Summer is often asked: “So how do you see peace? And how does it relate to your work?” In the interview with Barbara, Summer talks about how peace goes a lot deeper than just the absence of violence.
Conflict isn’t always visible or tangible. For example, conflict occurs when someone can’t earn a decent living, provide for their family, or put food on the table. This is not outright physical violence, but is structural violence—a subtle, often invisible form of violence perpetuated by systems and structures that hold back, oppress, and disadvantage individual people or populations.
The way Summer sees it, the majority of philanthropic projects, nonprofit organizations, and individual efforts to make change in the world are responding to and challenging structural violence. They seek to address, alleviate, and eradicate poverty, disease, illiteracy, inequality, etc.
True Roots’ mission is to accompany these individuals, businesses, and organizations in dreaming up and implementing effective social responsibility projects that challenge structural violence. True Roots assists in planning, managing, and monitoring and evaluating projects with true sustainability in mind—with the goal of generating resiliency and self-management capacities within stakeholders.
And this is where Summer makes the connection between her work and peace: in helping change makers make change in the world—and to make it more effective.
Click here to listen to the full interview