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Peaceful Resources Center was founded in March of 2001 with a simple vision:

 Safe and peaceful homes, schools and communities where children and all people live healthy, productive, satisfying lives.top

Knowing that schools and communities face an ever increasing demand on teaching time and resources to meet state standards and improve scores on standardized tests, Peaceful Resources Center saw a need to help schools and communities put the pieces together in effective ways that meet government standards and yield the greatest results for the least investment.

In the 1980's and 1990's many programs entered the market for schools in five main areas: violence prevention, drug and alcohol use prevention, tobacco use prevention and cessation, health promotion, and safety.  The need for all of these programs is clear.  Yet, the approaches tend to be fragmented and not coordinated.  The research bore out that many programs were not effective and were in fact harmful in reaching the goal of prevention and health promotion. (Gottfredson 2001, Drug Strategies 1996,US Surgeon General 2000)  Therefore, the US Government spent millions of dollars having rigorous program evaluations and competitions done to have some labeled as promising, effective, exemplary and model.  Yet, the Center sees that these programs are not complete in themselves and need to be woven together to find a more holistic approach to deal with the overall problems facing schools and communities today.

We approach this problem through various methodologies:

• Research - through offering an on-line database of evaluation tools for students, faculty, staff and administration to evaluate their school and the program effectiveness in their school (which will help US schools meet their report card requirement under No Child Left Behind 2001), the Center collects aggregate data on various programs in many situations and can make this data available to researchers around the world to evaluate programs and synergies.
• Dissemination of Research - By publishing results of what's working, why and how it is working together, schools and communities throughout the world can make informed decisions on what programs to bring to their site.
• Dissemination of Effective Synergistic Models through Grants and Scholarships - the Center through support of donors, foundations and governmental grants will make grants and scholarships available to schools and communities to purchase synergistic models, which are proven effective, at greatly reduced rates.
• Annual Conference on Synergistic Solutions - Beginning in 2003, the Center will bring together researchers, practitioners and consumers in annual conferences to share and learn about synergies that are occurring and to develop new synergies and possibilities.
• World Health Organization International Safe Schools - through active participation in the World Health Organization International Safe Schools Committee, the Center is working to ensure that all schools and communities throughout the world have the opportunity to become places where it is safe and productive to learn, work, play and live.
• International Kids Club - Support can not end at the end of the school day, or when the community center closes, children need reinforcement throughout their lives.  To further that aim, the Center is developing an International Kids Club which will have its own interactive website with activities to support and reinforce resiliency in children of all ages, wherever they are in the world.  Also, all children who become members in this free club will receive a quarterly personalized mailing with items designed to support them in their lives that are developmentally appropriate and some that are personalized.  This will be a public - private sponsorship venture, where corporations will be key in supporting all of our children.(top)

Gottfredson, Denise and Gary. Presentation Prevention in Context: What Works and What Doesn't - National Technical Assistance Meeting US Department of Education Office of Safe, Drug Free, and Disciplined Schools. Washington DC; August 2001.

Drug Strategies. Safe Schools Safe Students - A Guide to Guide to Violence Prevention Strategies. Washington; Drug Strategies. 1996.

Lawrence, Arthur, et al eds. Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General. Washington; US Department of Health and Human Services. 2000.