The Peace Learning Center: Celebrating 25 Years
Published September 27, 2022
Located in Indianapolis’ Eagle Creek Park, Peace Learning Center facilitates community learning that acts as a catalyst for peace, equity, and justice.
The Center has recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of its founding. We wanted to ask GIPC Executive Committee Member and Peace Learning Center Executive Director, Tim Nation, questions regarding the Center’s growth and how the organization looks toward the future.
Since its founding, the Peace Learning Center has reached more than 250,000 people locally and internationally. What first inspired you and other founding members to start the Center?
We face too much violence and isolation in our culture that often ends in tragedy. To address these problems, we began training AmeriCorps members to help children learn peacemaking skills. After seeing the success of this work in schools and youth programs, we found an abandoned mansion next to the water in Eagle Creek Park to start the Peace Learning Center. Working with the City of Indianapolis to renovate it, we created a “corporate-style” retreat center for youth in our country’s 4th largest city park.
Since then we expanded to serve youth and adults in three main pillars – Social and Emotional Learning, Restorative Justice, and Equity. Our programs reach more than 10,000 people in Central Indiana each year thru programs at the park, in schools, businesses, and community organizations.
Looking back on the past 25 years, what are some of the most memorable successes for the Peace Learning Center?
I’ve been here since the start and one of the best things we do is get young people from the city out to one of the most beautiful places around to learn skills to solve problems while enjoying to woods and water.
Since we started, evaluations demonstrate schools that fully implement our Peace Schools model achieve at least a 70% reduction in discipline problems and reports. We invested more than $32 million in programs and our programs have been replicated in 8 US cities and 5 countries worldwide
As businesses continue to transition to in-office work settings, what programs do you currently offer for organizations to improve their office culture?
Our staff does a great job meeting with business leaders to design a plan of action that can include workshops, consultations, and team building. Our educational offerings include conflict styles and resolution, creating spaces for critical conversations, implicit bias, and equity dialogue circles among other offerings.
Check out options for businesses, schools, and organizations at https://peacelearningcenter.org/program-offerings-by-audience/ and you can attend an individual workshop here: https://peacelearningcenter.org/events/.
Looking toward the next 25 years, what will be future focuses for your team?
Our community must reduce violence and encourage kindness. This takes a trauma informed approach that meets young people where they are while changing systems that cause harm.
We are working to expand Restorative Justice throughout our schools and juvenile justice systems. Too many of our young people get caught in a cycle of suspensions, expulsions, and then prison called the “school to prison pipeline.” Research shows that punishment does not work without high expectations and an action plan to address root causes.
If a student gets in trouble, under Restorative Justice they must face the people they harmed to address the harm and work to restore the relationship. Teachers also use these methods to work out conflicts in their classrooms to prevent escalations while students become peer mediators to work out lower levels of conflict. These programs are being expanded throughout Indianapolis Public Schools, Warren, Washington, Pike, Wayne, Lawrence and other schools throughout our city and state.
How can GIPC Members get involved at the Peace Learning Center?
We invite GIPC Members to consider volunteering individually or bringing a group to our facility or schools. Individuals serve as Eagle Creek Park field trip facilitators helping us host groups of 20 to 60 young people – all ages. We also are looking for Board Members and other program volunteers.
Volunteer groups can serve as part of our “Peace Mentor Day” program or “Peace Ambassadors” program. For Peace Mentor Day volunteers spend the first half of the day training with one of our program facilitators and the second half of the day working directly with students at our facility in Eagle Creek Park. It’s a great introduction to how peace education can make a difference in any community. Peace Ambassadors allows volunteers to learn facilitation skills while investing in the youth of our city. This 6-week after-school program matches business/corporations with a local elementary school and trains volunteers to facilitate programming that focuses on conflict resolution, communication, and team building.