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People Engaged in Active Community Efforts (PEACE)

People Engaged in Active Community Efforts (PEACE)

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Website: http://yourpbc.org/peace

P.E.A.C.E. is a congregation-based community organization charged with the mission of effectively fighting injustices in the communities of Palm Beach County. Through the power of large numbers of organized people, our members identify problems of mutual concern, research solutions to those problems, and hold public officials accountable to implementing these solutions. We are an affiliate of DART (Direct Action & Research Training Center), a network of twenty-two organizations just...

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... like ours located throughout the country.

P.E.A.C.E. exists for the following reasons:

To link congregations together so that they might be a powerful force in bringing about justice to the communities of Palm Beach County.
To train leaders in the work of building Justice Ministries.
To assist clergy and community leaders in strengthening the internal lives of their own congregations and organizations.

CURRENT WORK:

Our Nehemiah Action 2010 was attended by 1,313 persons - our greatest turnout yet!

YOUTH CRIME: At this year's Action, PEACE secured a commitment from the Mayor of West Palm Beach, the Chief of Police, and the State Attorney, to establish a Neighborhood Accountability Board (NAB) within the city. Such a NAB would address the growing problem of youth crime, and would ultimately be expanded to other areas throughout the County.

WAGE THEFT: Wage theft is the non-payment or under-payment of workers, after an agreement upon pay has been established. At this year's Nehemiah Action, Commissioners Koons, Santamaria, Vana, and Taylor committed to support passage of a Wage Theft Ordinance. We are currently meeting with County staff to put together a draft.

JOBS & UNEMPLOYMENT: The PEACE Community Problems Assembly was attended by 428 community residents on November 10, 2010. These leaders voted to begin work around Jobs & Unemployment. This issue now enters the "research" phase.

SOME ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION: At our Assembly in March of 2007, Superintendent Art Johnson committed to make serious improvements to the School District's system of Alternative Education. Since that time, the size of the system has been cut in half - resulting in the students which truly need alternative education receiving better quality education.

HEALTH CARE: Health Care District CEO Dwight Chenette agreed at our Action Assembly in April of 2008 to make a significant (much greater than ever achieved previously) increase in enrollment in the HCD's programs. He subsequently increased enrollment by 25% over the course of the next year.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING: In 2008, PEACE identified the need for a locally funded affordable housing trust fund to address the County's affordable housing crisis. At the 2009 Action, three Commissioners attended and committed to support a resolution that would dedicate the interest earned on impact fees to the fund. In November of 2009, with nearly 200 PEACE members packed into Commission Chambers, the full Commission approved that resolution - which allocated $1,037,000 of interest earnings to the fund in October of 2010, and 50% of all interest earned on impact fees beginning in October of 2014.

MEMBER CONGREGATIONS: