About

Who We are.

Change starts here.

We are a regional affiliate of the PeaceJam Foundation. We are located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and service the states of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio. We offer programming for students grades K-12, college students, and incarcerated youth. Great Lakes PeaceJam is a program of Seeding Change, a 501(c)3 nonprofit with the mission of developing lifelong, civically active, and globally aware leaders of peace and justice.

Educate

We teach the essential skills needed to create a more inclusive and compassionate world at this critical time in our history.

Youth ages 5-25 study the lives and work of one or several Nobel Peace Laureates while going through a curriculum exploring violence, oppression, isms, cross-cultural understanding, peace and nonviolence, and the Nobel Peace Prize.

Inspire

Every year, we host a Fall Slam to kick-off the year and conclude with a Spring Youth Conference.

The Conference culminates the activities of the youth by inviting a Nobel Peace Laureate, and supports and inspires PeaceJammers and community members to become transformational leaders for peace, environmental stewardship, and social justice.

Action

We stand with youth to seek solutions to pressing humanitarian issues. Students work together and create a Global Call to Action service learning project to make their community and the world more peaceful, equitable, and compassionate.

These projects fall within 10 “Focus Areas” or “Calls to Action”, identified by the 14 Nobel Laureates involved with PeaceJam.

Our Team

Robyn
Hill

Executive Director

Natalie
Proudfoot

Program Director

Steve
Bertman

Board President

Cory
Matkovich

Board Vice President

Maria
Mata

Board Treasurer

Kendra
Eberts

Board Secretary

MaryLou
Boughton

Board Member

Jeff
Brazda

Board Member

Our Nobel Peace Laureates

Desmond Tutu

1984 Nobel Peace Prize-winner for his courageous leadership in efforts to find non-violent solutions to the policy of apartheid in South Africa.

Jody Williams

1997 Nobel Peace Prize-winner for creating an international treaty to ban landmines and clearing landmine fields worldwide.

Shirin Ebadi

2003 Nobel Peace Prize-winner for her efforts towards democracy, peace and women’s rights in the Middle East.

The Dalai Lama

1989 Nobel Peace Prize-winner for his efforts to resolve the Tibetan conflict peacefully and for being a global man of peace and advocate for the environment.

Oscar Arias Sanchez

1987 Nobel Peace Prize-winner and former President of Costa Rica, Arias was recognised for his work brokering peace during civil war in Central America.

Adolfo Pérez Esquivel

1980 Nobel Peace Prize-winner for his work promoting true democracy in Latin America.

Kailash Satyarthi

2014 Nobel Peace Prize-winner for leading a global movement to end child slavery and exploitative child labour practices.

Rigoberta Menchú Tum

1992 Nobel Peace Prize-winner for her work on social justice and ethno-cultural reconciliation in respect of the rights of indigenous peoples.

Betty Williams

1977 Nobel Peace Prize-winner for co-founding the Northern Ireland Peace Movement, working to end decades of violence in Northern Ireland.

Sir Joseph Rotblat

1995 Nobel Peace Prize-winner for his efforts to eliminate the use of nuclear weapons worldwide.

Tawakkol Karman

2011 Nobel Peace Prize-winner for her unwavering defence of democracy and justice in Yemen, and for giving women a role in the peace-building process.

José Ramos-Horta

1996 Nobel Peace Prize-winner for his sustained efforts to end the oppression of the people of East Timor.

Máiread Corrigan

1976 Nobel Peace Prize-winner for her efforts to create a grassroots movement to end decades of violence in Northern Ireland.

Leymah Gbowee

2011 Nobel Peace Prize-winner for leading a non-violent women’s movement to end the civil war in Liberia.