The Growing Peace Project was born out of my belief that the imperative of education is to help people find their voice and own their power, and to use that power to effect both personal and social change.

I have been an educator my entire adult life, first as a classroom teacher, then as an educational consultant specializing in mathematics. I've long maintained that a math program that puts problem solving at the heart of inquiry cultivates skills that go far beyond the classroom - giving learners the competence and confidence to tackle just about anything. I believe deeply in teaching for understanding, for empowerment, for challenging the status quo, for questioning everything.

In 2009 I began to envision how the problem solving skills I was cultivating in math students might be used by them to address the world's problems. I wanted to do that work, but more importantly I wanted to bear witness to youth finding the power of their own voices to address the social problems they cared about. And so, The Growing Peace Project was born, and our NATIONAL programs began to flourish.

Since then I have had the great good fortune to work with hundreds of kids all across the US. I watch them grow, listen as they tackle big ideas, and marvel as they come up with creative ways of addressing the world’s problems. I see kids whose paths likely never would have crossed embrace each other in friendship and peace. And I work alongside and am blessed with support from phenomenal teachers, community members, foundations, and organizations who give so generously to support our cause.

Right from the start our LOCAL programs were integral to my vision of building community. Our youth activists often express concern over food insecurity, a topic close to my own heart. So we began small, putting in a free food garden to serve our neighbors in need. I remember the first day a mother brought her young children to harvest much-needed food, and I found myself teaching the kids what many of the vegetables were as they ran excitedly through the garden. I knew then that we needed to do more than feed families. Much like the empowerment work that we do with our youth activists, I saw that ultimately we would best serve our neighbors by teaching them how to plant, grow, prepare, and preserve their own food. And so, with the help and support of many, I began creating additional community programs - how-to workshops, family cooking classes, kids' earth stewardship programs, and more.

To do this work, to be part of something larger than me, to serve my community, to bear witness to kids taking on the world ... wow, it's humbling and truly awe-inspiring.

I am blessed.

-Jacqueline Labate, Founding Director