The Peace Exchange

Dear Friends,

The Peace Exchange was established in late 2012 as a response to the city of Chicago's long-standing inability to end violent crime in low income neighborhoods. Maybe the city needed fresh perspectives from elsewhere - not just from another city but from another part of the world!

Coss-cultural travel is an eye-opening experience, but one that is inaccessible to many Chicago youth. Our Peace Builders spend 8 months studying peace and meeting leaders around the city; then participate in an adventurous overseas trip to meet and learn from peace leaders and community activists in other parts of the world.

A film crew records the journey, and a short documentary is then produced about the group's experience. The film is then be screened to over 1,000 Chicago youth and, as a final step into their role as public leaders of peace, the Peace Builders facilitate discussions to inspire those youth to choose a path of peace.

Based on feedback from Chicago schools, in 2017 we piloted, then launched a four-part, in-school program called Speaking Peace.  Speaking Peace teaches tolerance, responsible decision-making, and nonviolent communication through discussions, storytelling, role-playing, games, and documentary films. Our goals: peaceful classrooms, peaceful playgrounds, and peaceful homes.  Between 2,500 and 3,000 Chicago elementary school students will participate in the program in the 2018/19 school year.

Sincerely,

The Peace Exchange, a program of Holy Family Ministries