This year, the Shalom Cities Initiative took a concrete step forward: training local leaders who will, in turn, equip other leaders and bring together efforts for the Shalom of their cities across the church, business, arts, education, and civil society sectors.

In this process, Camino Alliance identifies leaders who are already deeply rooted in their communities, strengthens their initiatives through funding, and builds increasingly deeper relationships of trust with them. From there, these leaders are invited to take part in both the Shalom Cities Initiative and the Specialization in Urban Leadership and Transformational Mission, building bonds among leaders in each city, with Camino Alliance serving as a bridge.

Pastor Sandra Cazares, one of the facilitating leaders of the Specialization in Guanajuato, has experienced this stage firsthand. For her, identifying leaders has been far more than a logistical step: “Identifying leaders for Shalom Cities showed me the human capacity that transforms communities. It is a joy to bring people’s wills together to build spaces of peace.”

This work is currently underway in four cities: Guanajuato and Mexico City, Mexico; San Salvador, El Salvador; and Guanare, Venezuela.