Each year, the nonprofit Peace & Justice Resource Center serves hundreds of individuals, programs, and groups. The largest center of its kind in the Pacific NW, the PJRC's services include:

• A REFERENCE LIBRARY with 12,300 books as well as files, videos, and data bases: PJRC volunteers assist teachers, scholars, activists, and librarians with resources in such areas as nonviolent responses to conflict; international issues; race, gender, and economic justice; social ethics; organizing and leadership skills; and the arts and social change.
  
  
• WORKSHOPS AND EXHIBITS for conferences, community groups, teacher in-service days, universities, and schools: Topics include Youth and Peacemaking, How to be a Bridge in a World of Walls, Peace and Justice in the Real World, and The Vision and Challenge of Martin Luther King, Jr. Our "Wall of Hope" exhibit and activities have been used by over 600 groups and events attended by more than 150,000 people.
  
  
• A BOOK SERVICE offering recommended books to teachers, scholars, activists, libraries, and university programs: The PJRC reaches out with book tables at several dozen conferences and events each year. We also donate 2000-3000 books most years to Books to Prisoners, a network of shelters, tribal schools, etc.
  
  
• RESOURCE GUIDES bibliographies, and fact sheets, as well as commentaries published in Fellowship magazine, NY Newsday, the Peace Chronicle, Seattle Times, Houston Chronicle, academic journals, and interviews on many media news and talk shows.

Since 1977, the nonprofit Peace & Justice Resource Center has helped scores of libraries select and make available peace and justice materials. We have provided resources and training for several hundred social change leaders, projects, and groups. The PJRC is volunteer-run and supported by contributions, book sales, workshop honoraria, and occasional grants. PJRC leaders serve on the planning committee for Peace Day Seattle and other regional and national efforts. The PJRC’s director was selected as US delegate to the international meetings held in India to plan the United Nations Decade for Peace.

For years, a key focus of the Peace & Justice Resource Center has been exploring nonviolent responses to conflict in a variety of challenging arenas, from domestic abuse and interpersonal conflict, to media violence and international conflict.

We've identified or developed many outstanding resources to help folks get past the various myths of nonviolence (e.g. that it means passivity or lack of patriotism) and find its true effectiveness as we confront the many challenges in our lives and world.

It is urgent that this powerful perspective on conflict be part of our community and national dialog. We invite you to join this dialog, and to consider these prophetic words of Martin Luther King, Jr.:

I conclude that this award which I receive on behalf of the civil rights movement is a profound recognition that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our time -- how to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression... Nonviolence is not sterile passivity, but a powerful moral force which makes for social transformation.... We must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love... Martin Luther King, Jr., Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, 1964

Copyright 2000-2008 Peace & Justice Resource Center.
All rights reserved.