Alive Community Outreach - Fort Wayne

10/09/2026

✨ Peace is growing across FWCS! ✨

Three schools, three powerful examples of peacemaking in action:

🕊️ Wayne Peacemakers visited Portage Middle School’s leadership class this week to share Kingian Nonviolence Principle #3: Attack forces of evil, not persons doing evil.

🕊️ Shawnee Middle School rolled out a Days of Peace Count school-wide!

🕊️ Levan Scott Academy launched a Peace Cadet group for fourth and fifth graders, led by current Teaching Assistant and former South Side Peacemaker graduate Naima Esters!

How exciting to witness the full-circle nature of peacemaking in our community, as students become leaders and leaders inspire the next generation. The Beloved Community is growing! 💛

10/09/2026

What started as an opportunity to try something new became a way of life.

Peacemaker Academy graduate Raydin Garrett reflects on how the principles of nonviolence have stayed with him after high school.

In the newest episode of Be the Peace, Raydin joins Josh King to talk about courage, community, personal growth, and what it means to put peace into action.

🎙️ Watch the full conversation:
alivefw.org/bethepeace

10/03/2026

Violence can become muscle memory. Nonviolence takes practice.

Heather Essex-Guy reflects on the creativity and courage it takes to choose a different response—and why practicing nonviolence means learning to “rework your muscles.”

🎙️ Watch Heather’s full conversation on Be the Peace:
alivefw.org/bethepeace

09/30/2026

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09/30/2026

Sometimes peace isn’t about being able to change everything a young person is facing. Sometimes it’s about helping them find a pocket of peace in the middle of it.

In the newest episode of Be the Peace, Peace Advocate Heather Essex-Guy shares what that looks like for the students she works with every day.

Heather’s episode is available now.

🎙️ Watch the full episode:
alivefw.org/bethepeace

09/26/2026

Violence rarely begins with a single moment. There is often grief, fear, and loss underneath it.

Naima Esters reflects on the cycle of retaliation, the grief underneath violence, and what she tells other young people about living by an “eye for an eye.”

🎙️ Watch Naima’s full conversation on Be the Peace:
alivefw.org/bethepeace

09/26/2026

**Be the Peace Week 2026!** 🕊️

This year, “Be the Peace Week” spread across all the FWCS high schools and into our middle school spaces at Portage and Nebraska!

Students had the opportunity to make a personal commitment to peace by taking the “Be the Peace Pledge” and receiving free T-shirts and bracelets in their school colors.

💙 **Nebraska** created a beautiful Peace display honoring loved ones lost to violence and filling the space with messages of peace. Nebraska also celebrated its first-ever Peace Week with our newest Peace Advocate, Mr. Beal!

❤️ **North Side** students voted for their **Most Peaceful Staff and Students**- congrats Mr. Abram and Mrs.Baumgartner! They also celebrated those who help create a beloved community.

💚 **South Side** Peacemakers presented to all Freshmen classes and displayed an interactive “See Who Keeps the Peace” activity, highlighting those who help keep peace in their school.

💛 **Snider’s Peace Family** created a “Strengths Manifesto”, celebrating the gifts and strengths each person brings to their community.

🧡 At **Portage**, South Side Peacemakers led a lesson in Conflict Mediation with the Leadership class, extending Peace Week into our middle school community.

Thank you to our Peace Advocates, Peacemakers, Peace Families, staff, and students for helping make this week so special!

**Together, we can Be the Peace.** ✌️

09/25/2026

A few more moments from last weekend’s Annual Day of Remembrance Vigil. 🕊️

Today, on the National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims, we continue to remember, honor, and hold close those whose lives have been impacted by violence.

09/25/2026

Today, on the National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims, we remember the lives taken by violence—and the families, friends, classmates, and communities who continue to carry their loss.

This summer, during Peacemaker Academy, our students participated in a Youth Violence Summit co-hosted by Alive Community Outreach, Fort Wayne Community Schools, and Big Hearts Community Projects. Dr. Khalid Griffin of FWCS led them through this powerful activity.

The ripple effects of homicide reach far into our communities—into our neighborhoods, our schools, and the lives of our young people. For many of these young people, the impact of violence is deeply personal.

And still, they are choosing to stand up, lead, and change the narrative.

We honor those we’ve lost by continuing to work alongside young people to build a community free from violence.

09/24/2026

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The “Be the Peace” campaign teaches students how to resolve conflict peacefully.

REPORT: https://www.21alivenews.com/2026/09/23/be-peace-campaign-underway-fort-wayne-schools/