How We Operate

Peace Educators Allied for Children Everywhere, Inc. (P.E.A.C.E., Inc.) is an organization of educators and activists. We encourage you to join us as a member, at no financial cost. We decided that our dues should not get in the way of your participation, but we need and welcome the deductible financial gifts from those of us who can afford them.

P.E.A.C.E. is dedicated to educating young children, their parents, teachers, and communities to live in peace.

P.E.A.C.E. changed its name, formerly Concerned Educators Allied for a Safe Environment, CEASE, its purposes, and its activities by a consensus of its members at its annual meeting in Dallas, Texas, on November 7, 2014, following a transparent listening and consensus process that began at the mid-year retreat in Grass Valley, California, in June 2014.

For many years CEASE, then P.E.A.C.E., was a Project of the Survival Education Fund (SEF), an organization that is exempt from income taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.  In 2019 the administrator of SEF asked P.E.A.C.E. to establish its own tax exemption, as our finances were independent of, and larger than, those of SEF. Following our mid-year retreat in Newton Highlands, MA, in May 2019, P.E.A.C.E. members voted on August 15, 2019 to become a Massachusetts Non-Profit Corporation, under the name of Peace Educators Allied for Children Everywhere, Inc. (P.E.A.C.E., Inc.). We received notice of IRS approval of our tax-exempt status on October 31, 2019, a real Halloween treat. Donations to P.E.A.C.E., Inc. continue to be fully deductible from your Federal and State Income Taxes if you itemize deductions. You may be assured that your gift will be used to serve our charitable purposes.

Several young boys lean over a table looking at a book
P.E.A.C.E. is dedicated to educating young children, their parents, teachers, and communities to live in peace.

Most of P.E.A.C.E.'s public activities take place at the Annual Conferences of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, NAEYC, because they are the largest annual gatherings of the early childhood profession. P.E.A.C.E. is a major part of NAEYC’s Peace Educators Interest Forum, having helped to organize its predecessor, the CEASE/Violence in the Lives of Children Interest Forum.  The Peace Educators Interest Forum, whose members join through their NAEYC membership, meets annually with P.E.A.C.E., Inc., at NAEYC Conferences.

In some years P.E.A.C.E. has conducted public demonstrations at the Conference on issues of major concern, such as the war in Iraq and toys with violent or military themes.  In other years we have circulated petitions to the NAEYC Governing Board and management, as we did in 2008 concerning the establishment of a media track for future NAEYC Conferences.  Since 1979, P.E.A.C.E. has attended occasional NAEYC Governing Board meetings, in an effort to raise consciousness and bring the leadership of the early childhood profession into a more activist stance toward the common public issues that face young children as they grow. Some of these issues have included the need for NAEYC to stand up for self-initiated play as the best form of early education, and the need for young children and their caregivers to interact without the distractions of TV or computer screens.  We have communicated our specific concerns to NAEYC management and Governing Board through testimonies at their “speak-outs”.

We work closely with several other partner organizations, including Educators for Peaceful Classrooms and Communities (EPCC), Truce Teachers (TRUCE), Child Care Information Exchange, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC), and Defending the Early Years (DEY). P.E.A.C.E. has sent representatives to some events of the World Forum on Early Care & Education (worldforumfoundation.org)opens in a new tab as well as at the conferences of California AEYC.

In addition to its members’ meetings at the NAEYC Annual Conference, P.E.A.C.E. is managed by a consensus of its active members, also known as our Council, who also meet every summer for an annual retreat. Other P.E.A.C.E. activities occur between national gatherings as well, both in the Boston area and in northern and southern parts of California.

Young children lined up under a tree holding up a peace sign
P.E.A.C.E. is dedicated to advocating for a nonviolent, just, inclusive and respectful world for children. (Photo: Orange County Peace Camp)

P.E.A.C.E.'s Executive Committee consists of our Chair, Joyce Daniels; our Treasurer, Donna Satterlee; our Clerk, Marilyn Shelton; our Membership Clerk, Karin Pavelek; and our Directors, Susan Hopkins and Lucy Stroock

We encourage tax-deductible donations of any amount through the Donate button on this website, or by checks made out to ‘P.E.A.C.E., Inc., mailed to P.E.A.C.E. 30414 Oak St., Princess Anne, MD. 21853. P.E.A.C.E. is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization.

The resources on this web site are not copyrighted and are available for free distribution.