We’ve learned enough about war, it’s time to teach Peace!
Join Us
Empowering individuals & organizations to create ecologically-minded, just, and peaceful communities
What is Peace Education?
-
The field has evolved into exploring violence in all its forms, from the personal to the structural, helping us understand how harm shows up in everyday life and across systems.
-
Its goal is to challenge the war system and nurture the conditions for lasting peace, within ourselves, our communities, and our institutions.
-
This work is progressive, promoting egalitarian learning environments, open inquiry, and significant learner participation
Check Out our Curriculum Portal
Explore our interactive Padlet — a shared space designed for educators, learners, and community members to engage with peace education resources. Use it to teach, learn, and exchange ideas that foster justice, empathy, and sustainable peace.
Upcoming events
-
![]()
Young Peacebuilders
10:00 AM 11:00 AM, 8th November
Kingston LibraryIn a world where conflict often dominates the headlines, it’s important to teach our children the values of peace, kindness, justice, and understanding. Our program offers fun, creative, hands-on activities that introduce the basics of peacebuilding
-
![]()
From Ground Zero Part I (2025)
2:00 PM 5:00 PM, Oct 26
272 Wall Street Kingston, NY, 12401Executive Producer Michael Moore and Palestine’s Official Submission for the 2025 Academy Awards, From Ground Zero, is a collection of revealing stories from 22 Palestinian filmmakers who capture their lives in Gaza amidst war.
-
![]()
From Ground Zero Part 2 (2025)
2:00 PM 5:00 PM, Nov 2
272 Wall StreetKingston, NY, 12401Executive Producer Michael Moore and Palestine’s Official Submission for the 2025 Academy Awards, From Ground Zero, is a collection of revealing stories from 22 Palestinian filmmakers who capture their lives in Gaza amidst war.
Sign Up for Our Newsletter
*
Sign Up for Our Newsletter *
We’re Building a Peace Museum - and we need your help!
After more than two years of offering peace education programs through community partners, we’re ready to create a home of our own: a Peace Museum right here in the Hudson Valley. This won’t be just another museum, but a Third Space, a welcoming hub where visitors can explore stories of peace, find inspiration around every corner, and gather to imagine and build a more just and compassionate world together.
As only the second dedicated Peace Museum in the United States, this space will feature permanent exhibits on topics such as “What is Peace?”, “Understanding Violence,” and “Care for the Planet as Peace Activism,” alongside rotating exhibits on themes like dignity, justice, dialogue, and the arts. The museum will also host monthly talks, film screenings, and youth programs that bring peace to life through education and action.
Help us make this vision a reality by supporting the creation of the Peace Museum of the Hudson Valley.
Our Programs
Programs for Youth, Educators & Schools
Community Events & Workshops
About our Founder
The Peace Education Center of the Hudson Valley (PECHV) was opened in September 2023 by Rev Dr Leonisa Ardizzone, one of a small global group of people with a Ph.D. in Peace Education. Dr Ardizzone studied under Dr Betty Reardon, the founder of peace education, at Columbia University in the 1990s. After years of teaching in preK-12, higher ed, museum, and informal ed, as well as a five-year run as the ED of an educational not-for-profit in New York City, and the founder of Storefront Science in NYC, Dr Ardizzone felt called to create an accessible, public peace education center in New York State. Dr. Ardizzone is a Visiting Professor at Vassar College, a Unitarian Universalist Community Minister, Co-Chair of the Broader Social Impacts Committee at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Hall of Human Origins, and author, musician, and mom. For Rev Leonisa, Peace is not a lofty ideal. It is a verb, it is a practice, it is a habit of mind.
Educate for Peace. Empower for Justice.
Founded by The Rev Dr Leonisa Ardizzone in 2023, the Peace Education Center of the Hudson Valley offers programs and dialogical space for youth, families, educators, religious professionals, and community members.
Sign up to be the first to know about our updates, events and news!