Staff

Kit Miller, Director
Kit Miller serves as the director of the MK Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence. Her prior position was as director/celebrator of Bay Area Nonviolent Communication in Oakland, California. In part after coming to understand through meditation about violence within the human heart and mind, Kit began learning about and organizing for nonviolence for the last 18 years in many capacities. Kit is a certified permaculturist, which she experiences as an applied nonviolence practice. Kit co-leads retreats each year in California and at the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland, working with activists from around the world.  She has 3 children and is amazed and grateful to have been happily married for 20 years.

George Payne, Program Coordinator
George Payne serves as a program coordinator and peace educator with the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence.  Before settling in Rochester, George spent three years working as a community organizer in Charlotte, NC and Atlanta, GA. He was born and raised in the Adirondack region of upstate NY. George has philosophy degrees from St. John Fisher College, Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School and Emory University. George is a certified Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP-CLI) instructor and teaches seminars and workshops on a regular basis.  In his spare time, George enjoys listening to live music, writing articles on politics and religion, and teaching ethics at Finger Lakes Community College.

Shannon Richmond, Program Assistant
After many merry years of growing up outside of Portland, Oregon, Shannon attended Alfred University to receive a B.A. in Sociology, Criminal Justice Studies, and Violence Studies in 2008.  Studying the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission sparked her interest in Restorative Justice.  Besides facilitating Alternatives to Violence Project workshops in prison and the community, she is involved as a facilitator and participant in a Restorative Circles Network in Rochester.  In the in between moments, she enjoys contemplating paradoxes, creating art and music, and dancing in the kitchen.