grant – Peace Learning Center

Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust Grant

Brandi Metzger2021-05-20T17:42:02-04:00November 19th, 2015|Tags: grant, one indy|

PEACE LEARNING CENTER ANNOUNCES GRANT FROM THE NINA MASON PULLIAM CHARITABLE TRUST Indianapolis, IN – November 19, 2015 - Peace Learning Center has received a grant totaling $125,000 over two years from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust to support its One Indy initiative at Indianapolis elementary schools serving students who live in high crime neighborhoods. One Indy is designed in partnership with Indianapolis Public Schools and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department to serve students, parents, and teachers at schools in six focus neighborhoods. These neighborhoods were identified by the Public Safety Dept. as areas in Indianapolis with the highest incidents of crime, code violations and city interventions. Children who live in Indy’s six focus neighborhoods are six times more likely to be victims of crime than children who live in any other neighborhood in our city. Studies show the resulting psychological stresses caused by this increased exposure to violence can lead to academic difficulties, disruptive behaviors, and lifelong challenges which perpetuate cycles of poverty and violence. The three-year initiative will be implemented at four IPS schools this year: Schools 51 (Near Northside), 58 (Eastside), 39 (South Eastside), and 15 (Near Eastside). Peace Learning Center plans to expand the initiative to additional schools in the focus areas in following years based on the success of this year’s programs. The biggest focus of the program will be on the youngest students, those in kindergarten and first grade, due to research which indicates prevention is better than intervention and,

Indy Bar Foundation

Brandi Metzger2021-05-20T17:42:04-04:00October 22nd, 2015|Tags: grant, indianapolis bar foundation, peers making peace, restorative justice circles, restorative practices|

INDY BAR FOUNDATION SUPPORTS RESTORATIVE PRACTICES We are very excited about the impact we'll be able to have in schools this year, thanks to the Indianapolis Bar Foundation! PLC was recently awarded a $35,000 Impact Fund grant to implement two restorative practices as effective alternatives to suspensions and expulsions at IPS elementary schools in the city’s high crime areas. With their support, we will train peer mediators utilizing Peers Making Peace, a nationally recognized evidence-based program, and implement restorative justice circles at our One Indy elementary school partners. All PLC programs teach conflict resolution, communication, and healthy relationship skills (i.e. Social-Emotional Learning skills) to students, but this approach is different because it will combine our preventative programming with two other restorative practices that will impact overall school culture. 1. Peers Making Peace peer mediators help resolve conflicts between students before they become rule violations (e.g. a student is upset that another student didn’t invite him/her to play a game at recess). 2. Restorative justice circles involve a student who violated a rule, other parties who were impacted by this rule violation (e.g. a classroom teacher, school administrative, and parents), people who can help provide resources to ensure the student has support to not violate rules in the future (e.g. social workers, etc.), a trained circle keeper (a PLC facilitator), and, when appropriate, the student’s peers. The goal of the restorative justice circle process is to provide a safe space for the