About The Peace Center

 

The Peace Center is a DBA of The Center for the New Humanity, a tax exempt organization of charitable purposes as defined under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Service Code. A Board of Trustees oversees the financial activity of the The Peace Center as well as support for its programming. More on the Board, its members and their bios can be found here.

 

The Peace Center offers products and services to help people live more peaceful lives and make the world a better place. We create a space to develop communities of peace through connection, education, and action. We  hold the space for people to discover ways to realize inner and outer peace.  How we do that right now is through our gift shop, inquiry groups, and sponsored events. The gift shop offers an array of products to help remind us of peace: t-shirts, jewelry, books, candles, incense, journals, etc. The inquiry groups are self-organized around topics of inner and outer peace, where teachers from the community come forward and ask if they can meet here. We sponsor events as well as you can see on this website.

 

During 2010, we will be focusing our energy locally in the following major projects that impact the community of Berwyn, IL.

 

The Pace People Dance Company- While channeling their energy into artistic expression, young people are taught valuable lessons in self esteem, poise, confidence, as well as giving back of their talent to the community.

 

The Embrace Berwyn Campaign - Because peace is a local concern first, our primary ambition is to uplift the community that we are in. Our attention is toward showcasing works of Berwyn artisans, hearing the ideas of Berwyn based teachers and speakers, and raising awareness for decreasing violence in Berwyn, one person at a time.  

 

The Prison Peace Project - this is a project to bring peace education into prisons, to organize peace groups, spiritual support groups, and study groups with incarcerated populations. Numerous studies support the finding that when 1% of the population anywhere intentionally and deliberately prays/meditates for peace, violence decreases 20%. What better place to prove the principle than in our prisons? 

 

IMPACT:  In the coming year, we expect to serve thousands from Berwyn and the surrounding area 

 

 

 We expect to serve 15 young people in The Pace People Dance Company who in turn will touch the hearts of 2,000 others who see them perform.  

We expect to engage 500 new Berwynites in the Embrace Berwyn campaign, to attract them in programs that encourage visible practices of tolerance and compassion in the community, who in turn will touch at least one other person to “catch the fire”.  That’s 1,000 people tuned in to making Berwyn a wonderful place to live. 

One in 31 adult Americans are impacted directly by the penal system. On a local level, that translates to 1,300 Berwynites who are directly involved in the penal system, who are under arrest,  awaiting trial, on parole, under supervision, etc. One in 100 adult Americans are currently behind bars. That translates to 400 Berwynites who are incarcerated serving time. We expect to reach 1,300 prisoners with our Prison Peace Project in the first year. That is one individual per state and federal prison in the United States.