Brent Decker

Brent Decker (CeaseFire Project Coordinator) provides international training and technical assistance in the CeaseFire model. In 2008, in conjunction with the American Islamic Congress, Mr. Decker was instrumental in adapting the CeaseFire model to the cultural-context of war ravaged Iraq. Since, he has provided three on-site trainings for conflict field workers representing the dominate tribes in the area and has provided monitoring and documentation to ensure the program is kept on track. Mr. Decker has been on the CeaseFire staff since 2002, where he has worked with Illinois-based community partners, as well as providing national training and support for CeaseFire’s Baltimore-based replication.

 Mr. Decker holds an MPH in international public health development and an MSW from Tulane University. Prior to joining the CeaseFire staff, Mr. Decker worked on a diverse range of international projects throughout Central and South America including Honduras, Ecuador, Cuba, Mexico, Bolivia, Peru and Guatemala. His professional career includes sanitation and disease prevention, community water, and treatment programs for substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorders. His commitment to violence reduction began at the age of 10, when he accompanied his family on a fact-finding mission during the Guatemalan civil war in 1980s for the Solidarity Network. This experience not only established lifelong family connections, but an ingrained sense of social justice having been exposed firsthand to communities devastated by war.