Violence Prevention

Peace Games Helps Los Angeles Students Become Community Peacemakers

esearch shows that youth who attend schools where fighting and other forms of violent behavior are prevalent have difficulty focusing on academic activities and learning in the classroom. Similarly, exposure to violence in one’s neighborhood and in the home puts the physical and emotional health of youth at risk. Sadly, rates of violence within U.S. schools have remained fairly constant for the last two decades. Peace Games is committed to improving this scenario.

“If we can play well together, we can do a lot of other things together too,” said Deb Glazer, Peace Games executive director. “Our goal is to get children talking, laughing and engaged in activities or discussions that focus on communication, cooperation and problem-solving. We empower students to create their own safe classrooms and schools.” 

Peace Games was developed in Boston in 1992. In response to calls for replication of the program from literally around the globe, Los Angeles was selected as the program’s first expansion site in 2000. Peace Games received a grant of $75,000 from TCWF in March 2001 to support the program’s implementation at three elementary schools in Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Compton.

“Building on proven strategies for reducing violence, Peace Games works within the classroom, the broader school community, and beyond the fence of the schoolyard,” said Nicole Jones, TCWF program director for the Violence Prevention priority area. “The program instills in children skills and beliefs that will help them promote peace and nonviolence in their communities.”

The volunteer-led program brings a series of mostly noncompetitive games and projects to foster peacemaking skills. Many activities also incorporate age-appropriate art, math or literacy learning objectives. Each activity is followed by a discussion that helps children see how listening, consensus-building, teamwork or other communication strategies can be carried outside the classroom and used in daily life.

Peace Games’ 20-week curriculum is divided into two parts: 10 weeks of games and activities followed by a 10-week community service project. These projects give children the chance to implement their peacemaking skills in a tangible way. For instance, first-graders at Norwood Street School in South Los Angeles decided to plant a community garden on their school’s grounds. After reaching consensus on the project, receiving permission from the principal and agreeing on what they would like to plant, they worked together to distribute tasks; they divided into small groups to prepare the soil, plant seeds and then to care for the garden. All the while, the children shared tools, mediated disputes and communicated about their garden project with other classes. Neighborhood businesses donated plants, garden tools and other necessary supplies. 

After a year of service, the program’s benefits are already apparent to observers. “Teachers report seeing more empathetic behavior among students,” Peace Games’ Glazer said. “Children have internalized the language of peacemaking and can talk about what it means for their own lives.”

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