PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release  May 12, 2019

Shaulita@ldbpeaceinstitute.org

617-825-1917

617-942-0186

Amidst heaviness, Families Rise Up for Justice at the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute’s 23rd Annual Mother’s Day Walk for Peace

BOSTON, MA: Thousands of people walked from Town Field in Dorchester to Boston City Hall on Mother’s Day as they rise up and tip the scale toward justice. Survivors of homicide victims wore tee shirts and carried banners memorializing their family members with messages of love and justice. While recent murders in the city have caused residents pain and anguish, the Walk for Peace was an opportunity to focus on the assets in communities and take steps toward healing.

“It’s such a powerful experience to see everyone gathering and uniting. The range of emotions you experience is overwhelming in a positive way.  It’s truly amazing the amount of people who come out to support us” comments Shannon Tangherlini, a member of the Peace Institute’s Survivors Network who lost her son Matthew Tangherlini to violence.

New survivors and survivors whose loved ones were killed years or decades ago walked side by side with neighbors, allies, clergy, business owners, providers, and elected officials in an powerful expression of unity. Over 230 Walk teams registered and raised money to expand the Peace Institute’s critical services, training, and advocacy work. The Peace Institute is the only organization in the Commonwealth that supports and guides families of murder victims from death notification through the funeral and burial process and offers ongoing healing programming. The organization also trains law enforcement officials and public health professionals to respond equitably and effectively when a homicide happens.

“The public health crisis and epidemic that is gun violence is everyone’s problem and everyone needs to play a role in this solution”, said Ayanna Pressley, MA Congresswoman, Walk Co-chair. “The newspaper headlines have moved on but we are still focused on helping these families and wrapping our arms around them [because] healing is power.”

This year the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute celebrates 25 years of transforming Boston’s response to homicide. Through its renowned Mother’s Day Walk for Peace, survivor outreach services, and other long-term healing programs, the Peace Institute has affected how Boston’s municipal and social leadership, law enforcement, the medical community,and allies understand and treat survivors of homicide victims.

To commemorate their 25 years of service, the Peace Institute will be launching a national campaign. “We are taking our focus beyond ending violence and gun control to building a national movement of waging peace” said Chaplain Clementina Chery, CEO and President of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute.

AG Maura Healey, Mayor Martin J. Walsh, Doctor Kevin Tabb, Reverend Dr. Ray Hammond and local community and faith leaders will join homicide trauma survivors at the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute’s 25th anniversary press conference where Peace Institute leadership will announce a new national campaign to support individuals affected by homicide.
 
DORCHESTER, MA – When a life is cut short by homicide there is a ripple effect that touches, and often shatters, countless lives. Following the tragic death of youth activist Louis D. Brown by a stray bullet in 1992, his friends and family started the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute and embarked on a 25-year crusade to provide comfort, assistance, and mental health services to people affected by homicide trauma in the City of Boston. In its 25 years of service, the Peace Institute has received international praise for its approach to homicide trauma and for its efforts to help end the cycle of violence that too often ensues when a homicide occurs.
 
On Thursday, May 2, 2019, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh, Doctor Kevin Tabb, community and faith leaders and homicide trauma survivors will join the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute to celebrate the Peace Institute’s 25th anniversary as they announce a new national campaign to bring attention to the issue of homicide trauma and help other communities develop programs to address this important and often ignored issue.
 
Details on the event are as follows:
 
WHAT:     Louis D. Brown Peace Institute National Campaign Announcement 
and 25th Anniversary Press Conference
 
WHEN:     Thursday, May 2nd, 2019, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
 
WHERE:   Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, 15 Christopher Street, Dorchester, MA 02122
 
WHO:       Attorney General Maura Healey, Mayor Martin J. Walsh, Doctor Kevin Tabb, Chaplain   Clementina M. Chery, President and CEO of The Peace Institute, Reverend Dr. Ray Hammond, homicide trauma survivors, and community and faith leaders.
 
RSVP:       The event is OPEN PRESS. If you would like to arrange one on one interviews with Louis D. Brown Peace Institute leadership, please contact Patrick Shearns 617-890-9164| Patrick@617mediagroup.com

 
About The Louis D. Brown Peace Institute
The Louis D. Brown Peace Institute is a center of healing, teaching, and learning for families and communities impacted by murder, trauma, grief and loss. The vision of the Peace Institute is to create and sustain communities where all people are valued and all families can live in peace. In its 25 years, the Peace Institute has shifted the way in which the Boston community responds to homicide and the families impacted by it. Through its renowned Mother’s Day Walk for Peace, providers-survivors network meetings, and other long-term healing programs, the Peace Institute has affected how Boston’s municipal and social leadership, law enforcement, the medical community, community members, and allies understand and treat the survivors of homicide victims. The Peace Institute’s hopeful message and unique methods of caring for trauma-impacted individuals called Survivors have spread throughout New England, the United States and even the Caribbean with its “Best Practices” curriculum – an empathy-based training used to equip individuals with the emotional, social and financial tools to support the survivors of homicide victims.
 
For more information about the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute and its work to support those affected by homicide trauma, please visit http://www.ldbpeaceinstitute.org/.

“I walk for my brothers, because it is always somebody’s loved one on the other side of that gun. 
I walk for my brothers, because our healing is important, too. 
I walk for my brothers, because Randy lived with enormous spirit, and I survive his legacy every day. “

– Lawrence Stevenson

*** In honor of our 23rd Annual Mother’s Day Walk for Peace, we are doing a digital series called “Why I Walk”. Leading up to the walk we will be sharing stories of walk participants and their reasons for walking in the Mother’s Day Walk For Peace. We invite you to share with us why you walk.

#RiseUp #TowardJustice

*participants were asked to pose with pieces that represents their reason for walking*

For more info: https://www.mothersdaywalk4peace.org/