You can create real change

K4PB’s new pilot program, Circles of Action, gives you the chance to get to make a real difference in your community despite the challenges of our COVID-19 world. You and other middle and high schoolers (7th-12th grade) will join Circles that will meet (virtually) throughout the school year to learn about a social justice issue of your choice and to implement an advocacy or service project to help address it.

Completion of the program will result in an award of up to 80 hours of community service.

Tell Me More!

Community & Friendships

You’ll be matched with a group of about 5 diverse, interfaith participants and 1-2 mentors to research a social justice issue of your choice and then design and implement a project to help make an impact on that issue.

Skill-Building

You’ll learn important skills like research, project management, advocacy/lobbying, public speaking, dialogue, and cooperative problem solving.

Action for Good

You’ll use your new skills to design and implement a project together with your Circle that will make a real impact on your communities.

Mentorship

You’ll partner with interfaith mentors from MIT’s Addir interfaith fellowship program and Boston College’s PULSE program and other community partners as you learn, dialogue, and take action.

Even More details

Learning and Doing Together

Explore how your faith calls you to action and learn the research skills you need to understand the world around you- not boring research skills, but the kinds that will help you explore and really understand what’s going on!

Identify a community issue that you and your teammates are passionate about.

Create research instruments and conduct research with leaders and other people impacted by the issue you’re researching.

Determine root causes of the issue and its impacts on the community- and how you can make a difference

Design a community service project or an advocacy/lobbying campaign – there are so many ways you can make a difference, from offering direct support to community members, to lobbying elected officials, creating awareness campaigns, and more!

Implement the skills you need to make your project a success. Do you need to learn how to tell a compelling story to your elected officials? Need to know how to coordinate volunteers to tackle a project? Understand how to make a complex project manageable? Whatever you need to make your project work, we’ll learn it together!

Take action for your community by making your project happen

What issues will we tackle?

During Circles, you’ll be working with a group of participants to learn about and take action on an issue that you are all passionate about. This year, we’ll have two options for your overarching theme: racial justice or climate justice. When you sign up for Circles, we’ll ask you to tell us which issue you’d prefer to work on, so that we can put you in a group with others who want to work on that topic, too! These are huge topics, so you’ll then work with your group to narrow it down to the particular issue you’re passionate about. Here’s some information about each topic to help you make your choice:

Climate Justice

Whether it’s our changing climate or destruction of our natural environments, we know that the health of our plant impacts all life on Earth. If you choose this as your topic, you and your group will explore the ways in which climate change and environmental degradation are happening and the ways that it impacts different members of our society, and you will design a project to help us work towards a sustainable future.

Racial Justice

People of different racial backgrounds have not been treated equally in our country’s history, and that this is still true today. We know that many groups still face deep discrimination and inequality in our society based on the color of their skin. If you choose this as your topic, you and your group will explore the ways racism still shows up in our society and how it impacts our community members, and you will design a project to help us work towards racial justice and equity.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the time commitment?

Change doesn’t happen unless we work for it! In order to make a difference through your Circle, you should be prepared to commit to:

Attend one meeting per month. Meetings will be on Sundays from 2-4pm
.You’ll have at least one check-in call per month with your group and mentor.
Communicate and engage with your team between meetings through our virtual platform to achieve your goals.

What are the dates for Circles monthly meetings?

Participants should plan to attend meetings on:

Who else will be in Circles with me?

The K4PB community is made of middle and high schoolers representing different faith traditions from all over Massachusetts.

While high school and middle school participants may share some sessions together, such as general skill building sessions, middle school and high school students will be in separate project groups, allowing the projects to be tailored to the needs of each age group.

I'm a parent or religious leader; can I join too?

We welcome congregational representatives with us in this interfaith journey. If you’d like to be a mentor or learn more about your congregation’s involvement in Circles please email us at info@kids4peaceboston.org

Will this be safe?

The safety of our community is of paramount importance. All our program delivery will be virtual for the foreseeable future. We believe Circles will deliver a unique opportunity for young people to take action for change in meaningful and safe ways.

What is Kids4Peace Boston?

We’re so glad you asked! Kids4Peace Boston offers a year-round Peace Leader Program focused on the peace building aspirations of middle and high school youth from many different communities and faith traditions throughout the Boston-area.

Check us out here!