History

The WNY Peace Center, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit membership organization dedicated to the promotion of peace through justice at home and abroad. The organization works to achieve its purpose through taskforces created to address particular issues and areas. For nearly four decades, the Peace Center has proudly established itself as a force for progressive social change in Western New York and beyond. The organization came into existence in 1967, formed in opposition to the Viet Nam War as a chapter of Dr. Martin Luther King’s Clergy and Laity Concerned.

Over the years, the center’s small staff and more than 1,000 dedicated members have maintained the most established organization of its kind in Western New York. While our overarching activism and education efforts focus on organizing a local response to global violence and human rights concerns (especially in response to the impacts of U.S. policy on international “hot zones” in the Middle East, Latin America and Africa), the Peace Center is similarly dedicated to enriching the quality of life of our local community through awareness-raising and direct service through the Peaceful Conflict Education Program.