May 10, 2023

Dear Salutation,

Happy 49^th Anniversary IPM!

How amazing it is to write you as the entire IPM Family looks forward to our upcoming 50^th Anniversary on May 10, 2024. How hard it is, at times, to express what an amazing difference IPM continues to make in the world and, especially, the communities we call home. 

This season of spring in North America has seen our IPM travel schedule return to almost pre-pandemic norms with recent visits across the USA by Adela Hernandez Zayas, IPM’s El Salvador-based international Director of Programs & Partnerships, and #Brazilian #Franciscan Rodrigo de Castro Amede Peret—a long-time IPM Project Partner & our International Executive Board Vice Chair for Latin America & the Caribbean. My time with Adela, Rodrigo, Ilze Fender, and so many of you reminded me daily of the deep personal connections that drive all IPM relationships and just how much we’ve all missed being together in person. Upcoming June-July #Immersion Experiences in the #DominicanRepublic & #ElSalvador bode well for the steady return of IPM’s signature transformational learning program. 

Our time together was also a poignant reminder of what an incredible journey the IPM Family has been on these five decades, and particularly since I was called as IPM’s fourth executive on June 1, 2001. Together we have witnessed the continued deepening of our Project Partnerships in more than twenty countries around the globe; the creation & evolution of our Regional Offices in El Salvador, #India, and #Kenya; the envisioning & delivery of now more than 255 Immersion Experience Programs with more than 2,300 participants; the founding commitment to #diversity, #equity, #inclusion, and #justice which is lived out daily & represented by a majority of our International Executive Board & Staff hailing from the countries & communities where we work; and, the creation of a the IPM Fellows Program which is already providing funding, training, and vocational support to young & emerging leaders working alongside our Project Partners on four continents.

With the incredible challenges of the past few years & the ongoing impact of the global pandemic on our Partners & Programs, it has sometimes been difficult to imagine IPM making it to our 50^th Anniversary. Finances have been extraordinarily tight as folks have recalibrated their giving and we have worried about the next variant or travel warning shutting down our signature Immersion Experience Program. Through careful stewardship and your extraordinary generosity, we are looking forward to an extraordinary anniversary year and related activities & programs throughout 2024. 

We are especially grateful to the Estate of our dear friend Grace Weber whose generosity helped us work through the unimaginable challenges of the pandemic and the donors & friends who are helping us push forward with our 50^thAnniversary Campaign as we affirm IPM’s historic commitments to diversity, inclusion, and justice for all. Throughout this mailing, you will learn more about how you can join us as we celebrate IPM’s 50 years over the next two years. 

Honoring our commitment to Partners that THEY tell us when it is safe for us to travel among them, we have taken the appropriate time and measures to ensure that our in-person Immersion Experience Program returns to its appropriate place at the core of our mission. With new Immersions scheduled for the coming year in Brasil, #Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, India, #Italy, Kenya, #Nepal and among the #Wabanaki People we are excited for what’s ahead. When folks ask me what’s the best way to become involved with IPM, I almost always suggest joining us on an Immersion. Now is the perfect time for you to consider participating. You will read more throughout this mailing and can reach out to my colleague Vicky Jimenez at vjiminez@ipmconnect.org directly to book your participation.  

Friends of IPM like you also always ask about our longstanding Project Partners. With this mailing we are pleased to formally announce the expansion of our pilot IPM Fellows Program—centered among our existing, community-based Partners. The goal of the Fellows Program is to nurture & support young & emerging leaders working within in local, community-based organizations to advocate & work for justice & peace. Bindiya and Sajit are just two examples from our existing pilot program in India and Nepal. Over the next few years we hope to add 50 new Fellows from El Salvador to Kenya, India and beyond, as we expand this remarkable model to continue identifying & supporting the next generation of IPM leaders that will ensure another fifty+ years. 

As we continue to reflect on the significance of 50 years we continue to stand on the proverbial shoulders of Jim & Sammy Mayer, Paul & Vercile Strege, Bernie Marquardt, Carol & Martin Findling, George Hrbek, and the countless others who envisioned IPM more than five decades ago. We are confident that we continue to live up to their high standards and lean into their vision for a world where love, peace, and belonging hold sway. 

With this mailing we are announcing a special 49^th Anniversary Appeal—each gift you make up to $50,000 before the end of June, will be matched by a small group of dear friends. Please be assured that at a special time like this, each-and-every gift you make is invaluable and no donation too small to make a life-changing impact alongside the women and girls at the heart of the IPM Family. Please also feel free to reach out to me directly if you would like to speak more about how you can join with so many others in ensuring IPM next 50 years. Thank you!

May the peace that passes all understanding be with you and all those whom you hold dear.

Sincerely yours, 

Joseph F. Cistone

IPM CEO

Dear Friends,

Today, November 23, many of us across the USA will celebrate the Thanksgiving Holiday. As I have written often, as part an organization with deep roots among the Indigenous Nations of North America and with countless friends with Native American backgrounds, this day is always one of mixed emotions. This year, especially so.

In mid-October, I had the great privilege of accompanying my son & a delegation from my Alma Mater, Gilmour Academy, on an Immersion Experience among the Wabanaki in Maine. Our time with long-time colleagues, friends, youthful activists, and sage elders had a life-changing impact upon the student participants.  Throughout our Immersion, I was reminded just how powerful such shared experiences can be. With humility and gratitude, the students gained a new perspective on the historic oppression & continued suffering of Native communities, gleaned new perspective into the indigenous traditions that provide renewed hope for our Mother Earth, and were challenged to examine their own role in combatting climate change & ensuring environmental justice alongside new-found friends.

Just a few weeks later, I travelled to Kenya with a dear friend—the founder of Inspiring Minds—who is planning a student scholarship delegation for July 2024. Just as during my sojourn among the Wabanaki, we were struck by the legacies of white-settler colonialism, the healing potential of often dismissed African teachings, and by the transformative role young people connecting across borders of culture, faith, and economic circumstance can play in effecting change. Throughout both journeys, I had the keen sense of being home in two distinct, yet similar, places that have helped form my tenure with IPM.

I, like you, will sit down at table with my extended family this Thursday grateful for many things. This year I’ll be heartened by the possibility of an extended peace for the peoples of Israel & Palestine; the joy I feel each time the IPM WhatsApp South Asia Group celebrates Diwali as we did on November 12; the endless laughter that permeated the recent visit of two remarkable Project Partners from Nicaragua & a colleague from El Salvador visiting Northeast Ohio once again; the promise of yet another Student Fellow finding their calling; and, the extraordinary generosity of a number of IPM donors who have stepped up for our 50^th Anniversary Year in 2024, just as IPM is leaning into the promise of a renewed, in-person Immersion Experience Program.

Most of all, I’m grateful to continually find my home as part of this extraordinary IPM Family when so many of our brothers, sisters, & others around the world can’t seem to move beyond division & hatefulness. Whether immersed among the Wabanaki & Kenyans, virtually connected with Indians & Nepalis, or here in Cleveland with Nicaraguans & Salvadorans, those of us in the IPM Family share a love for one another that is counter-cultural & life-giving. The relationships we share are unique—they heal us in times of shared sacrifice and embody hope for our world.

I pray that you will find such joy this extended holiday weekend and may the love we share continue to lighten your way.

Gratefully Yours, Joe