OUR MISSION

Building healthy relationships, families and communities free from sexual, domestic and interpersonal violence.

Peace Over Violence is a nonprofit 501c3, multicultural, community based and volunteer centered organization dedicated to building healthy relationships, families and communities free from sexual, domestic and interpersonal violence. To achieve this mission our agency manages five departments delivering the services of Emergency, Intervention, Prevention, Education and Advocacy.

We are a social service agency dedicated to the elimination of sexual and domestic violence and all forms of interpersonal violence. We provide crisis intervention services and violence prevention education. One on one, we listen, counsel, support, guide and work to heal survivors of violence. One by one, we teach teens about healthy relationships, train girls in self-defense, instruct boys in conflict resolution, and advise on public policy. We organize and we advocate. Not only do we believe—we know that violence is preventable.

Our Manifesto

Violence against women is the most pervasive yet least recognized human rights abuse in the world. For over three decades, women’s advocacy groups around the world have been working to draw attention to the physical, psychological, and sexual abuse of women and to stress the need for action. We have provided abused women with support and protection, lobbied for legal reforms, and challenged the pervasive culture of violence.

Peace Over Violence has a grassroots origin revolving around volunteer contributions. We are present in the streets, schools, hospitals and courts; acting up, advocating against and healing violence. Our call for action over the last 47 years for a world free of violence has garnered widespread respect, support and dedicated allies among police, prosecutors, politicians, healthcare providers, individual supporters, celebrities and a growing list of sponsors from corporations and foundations.

We understand violence in relationships, families and communities is a root cause for violence in society. To address the problem at its core is to change how this problem manifests and magnifies itself in society at large. Changing an individual point of view toward sexual, domestic and interpersonal violence will — one on one, one by one — cause social change, a transformation of society, a world without violence.

Our vision is a world without violence. Where no child is abused, no wife battered, no friend raped. A world without terror, without threats, without wounds from intentional actions. Where the strong provide for the vulnerable, where the vulnerable become empowered, where every kind of family is safe and secure, and girls and boys and women and men have a fair and equal chance at the pursuit of happiness in a tolerant and talented society.

The agency’s approach toward realizing this vision is to run crisis intervention, violence prevention and education programs tailored toward women, youth and children, and by natural extension, men. We listen, counsel, support, guide and work to heal survivors of violence. We teach teens about healthy relationships, train girls in self-defense, advise politicians on public policy. We organize, we advocate. Not only do we believe, we know that violence is preventable. We stand at the center of a social movement that is advancing individuals, groups and society to stand over violence.

Our Philosophy

Peace Over Violence is a non-profit, feminist; multicultural, volunteer organization dedicated to a building healthy relationships, families and communities free from sexual, domestic and interpersonal violence.

This violence takes many forms and exists on many levels of society, and we have adopted several approaches in our effort to effect social change: through education, prevention and intervention. We seek to empower women and youth. We believe that self-defense is the most effective mode of self-protection, that peer counseling is the most effective mode of intervention and that education is vital to prevention of abusive relationships. We provide services that inform the community about the problem of violence, teaches women, youth and children to defend themselves against it, offer intervention and support for its survivor and promote social change through activism and policy work.

We are a feminist organization. We work to improve the quality of life for all people in a patriarchal society that ranks the concern of women and children as a low priority. We believe that everyone should be free from the oppression of sexual and domestic violence. By improving the lives of women and girls we hope to improve the lives of men and boys.

In our practices, we are sensitive to the historical and sociological status of women in our culture. We believe in the importance of empowering women, youth and children with the greatest range of options and with making their own choices abut social, reproductive, or other issues. We value and respect the voice and experience of every member of the Peace Over Violence community and are attentive to the feelings of our constituents.

We believe that violence is preventable. We recognize that ending violence against women, youth and children will require energy, support, and commitment from multiple groups in our society. We are part of a large network of people active against violence and thus our work cannot be separate from the awareness and repudiation of sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia, discrimination against people with disabilities and other forms of oppression.

The work we do is difficult and challenging. It requires a strong commitment to the community, much perseverance and faith that one day we will celebrate the fact that our services are no longer necessary. Until that day, we will work together to maintain our vigor, flexibility and responsiveness to the need of the women, youth and children in our society.