What Is PeaceJam?
The PeaceJam Youth Conference is a two-day gathering of high school youth where students interact with the featured Nobel Peace Prize Laureate through question and answer sessions and presentations from the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
Leading up to the conference, students are guided through a curriculum that is centered on peace and non-violence as well as the life and work of the featured Nobel Laureate.
Once at the conference, students have a chance to present their plans for initiating positive change in their communities directly to the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. Students are engaged in a variety of leadership workshops, meetings in small groups with youth from different schools, team building games and more. The youth also participate in a service project set up in the community.
The PeaceJam Foundation was founded in 1996 in Denver , Colorado . PeaceJam is built around Nobel Peace Laureates who work personally with youth to pass on the spirit, skills and wisdom that they embody. The goal of PeaceJam is to inspire a new generation of peacemakers who will transform themselves, their communities and the world. PeaceJam is a year-long, on-going educational program for youth. The participating Noble Peace Laureates are directly involved in developing the curriculum and the program itself. PeaceJam is the only organization in the world which has twelve Nobel Peace Laureates working together long-term for a common cause -our children.
Since the PeaceJam program was launched in March of 1996, almost 40,000 teenagers worldwide have participated in the program. Each student has had an average of 45.5 contact hours with their teacher, mentor, community leader, or PeaceJam staff member. Through the PeaceJam program, over 100,000 new service projects have been developed and implemented, and thousands of new volunteer opportunities for youth have been created.
Jody Williams (left), awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997, has led seven PeaceJam Conferences around the world.
Jody Williams, the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate for her campaign for the banning and clearing anti-personnel landmines, has been an active member of the PeaceJam Foundation. Jody Williams is also a Distinguished Professor of Social Work and Social Justice in the GCSW. She is in her second year of co-instructing a course on Global Justice with Dr. Brené Brown. Bringing PeaceJam to the University of Houston is further building a bridge between the GCSW and the peace and social justice communities.
