Our Mission:
Kids4Peace Boston educates, trains and inspires Christian, Jewish, and Muslim youth from diverse backgrounds to become interfaith peace leaders.
We concentrate on the value-formation ages of 12 to 18, creating opportunities for youth and their families to build relationships across faith and other boundaries and become ambassadors for coexistence and justice. Through a six-year sequence of summer programs and monthly school year activities, we equip participants with the knowledge, skills, and relationships to promote interfaith understanding, advocate for social change, and take action for peace in Boston and beyond.
Our Work:
Kids4Peace Boston (K4PB) offers an integrated, year-round, six-year Peace Leader Program focused on the peacebuilding aspirations of middle and high school youth from many different communities throughout the Boston-area.
Among interfaith and peacebuilding organizations, Kids4Peace Boston is distinctive in several important ways:
- Our programs begin at age 12 (as youth enter 7th grade), capitalizing on this developmental stage when youth begin to define their personal identity, values, and sense of justice.
- Over the course of six years (7th – 12th grades), K4PB participants foster relationships across boundaries, gain and use peace leadership skills, develop global and local insights on peace and justice, build an appreciation for the faiths of others, and have fun together!
- We build bridges among a diverse group of youth, families, and communities. Boston-area participants represent a wide spectrum of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish religious practices, urban and suburban neighborhoods, ethnicities, races, and income levels.
- During monthly school-year experiential learning activities and 1-2 week immersive summer programs, participants actively learn, apply, and improve their leadership skills.
- Through many of our summer opportunities, K4PB teens develop a broader perspective on peace through interactions with Israeli and Palestinian peers. Together, they learn how faith can nurture peace and how they can take action to promote understanding.
K4PB middle school and high school youth can be found throughout Greater Boston promoting interfaith understanding and working towards justice and peace as they:
- Leading the annual K4PB Interfaith High School Conference
- Conducting workshops for youth at local temples, mosques, churches, and schools
- Standing up for tolerance and diversity in their schools and towns
- Engaging in community service projects.
Kids4Peace Boston is a registered 501(c)(3) charitable organization and collaborates with many partners including Kids4Peace International (Kids4Peace Jerusalem and other American Chapters), Jerusalem Peacebuilders, the American Youth Foundation, and many local churches, mosques, and temples.
Kids4Peace Boston Board of Directors:
- Allyson Bachta- Assistant Principal, Bates Elementary School, Salem, MA
- Brother Mark Brown- Society of St. John the Evangelist
- Pamela Chester- Editor, Taylor & Francis
- Harriet Goldin- President, Goldin Foundation for Excellence in Education
- Matthew Loper- Director of Operations, American Youth Foundation, Camp Miniwanca
- Robert Lurie- Retired Health Care Executive; President, K4PB Board of Directors
- Heather McPherson- Project Manager, Harvard Global Institute; Clerk/Secretary, K4PB Board of Directors
- Seeme Moreira- Realtor, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage; Treasurer, K4PB Board of Directors
- Barbara Sahli- Educator and Project Developer, Muslim Youth Voices
- Peggy Stevens- Founder, Kids4Peace Boston; Vice President for Programs, K4PB Board of Directors
For more information contact Sindy Wayne, Kids4Peace Boston Executive Director, sindy@kids4peaceboston.org
