Philosophy

Peace Over Violence is a non-profit, feminist; multicultural, volunteer organization dedicated to a building healthy relationships, families and communities free from sexual, domestic and interpersonal violence.

This violence takes many forms and exists on many levels of society, and we have adopted several approaches in our effort to effect social change: through education, prevention and intervention. We seek to empower women and youth. We believe that self-defense is the most effective mode of self-protection, that peer counseling is the most effective mode of intervention and that education is vital to prevention of abusive relationships. We provide services that inform the community about the problem of violence, teaches women, youth and children to defend themselves against it, offer intervention and support for its survivor and promote social change through activism and policy work.

We are a feminist organization. We work to improve the quality of life for all people in a patriarchal society that ranks the concern of women and children as a low priority. We believe that everyone should be free from the oppression of sexual and domestic violence. By improving the lives of women and girls we hope to improve the lives of men and boys.

In our practices, we are sensitive to the historical and sociological status of women in our culture. We believe in the importance of empowering women, youth and children with the greatest range of options and with making their own choices abut social, reproductive, or other issues. We value and respect the voice and experience of every member of the Peace Over Violence community and are attentive to the feelings of our constituents.

We believe that violence is preventable. We recognize that ending violence against women, youth and children will require energy, support, and commitment from multiple groups in our society. We are part of a large network of people active against violence and thus our work cannot be separate from the awareness and repudiation of sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia, discrimination against people with disabilities and other forms of oppression.

The work we do is difficult and challenging. It requires a strong commitment to the community, much perseverance and faith that one day we will celebrate the fact that our services are no longer necessary. Until that day, we will work together to maintain our vigor, flexibility and responsiveness to the need of the women, youth and children in our society.