Gratitude
2025 ANNUAL REPORT
The Louis D. Brown Peace Institute
A year of healing, teaching and learning — told through the people who make this work possible.
Love · Unity · Faith · Hope · Courage · Justice · Forgiveness
FROM OUR LEADERSHIP
Dear Friend of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute,
We are so excited to share GRATITUDE, our 2025 Annual Report! It is for the people who make this work possible, for families who trust us in moments of tragedy, and the communities that choose healing in the face of immeasurable harm.
It is also a recognition that none of this work happens alone. For instance, Men’s Bond-Fire, a space for men impacted by incarceration, has birthed a Brotherhood.
Through our Generation Peace program, students and survivors of all ages transformed public spaces into works of art, with four new installations in historic Roxbury and Roslindale, and a mural installation in Puerto Rico.
Those are just snapshots. In 2025, we reached thousands through our programs, services, and events, carrying love, unity, faith, hope, courage, justice, and forgiveness into communities near and far.
Your support affirms what we see every day: peace is collaborative. It is practiced, strengthened, and carried forward together. Thank you for your support.
Matt Parker — Board Chair
Robert Jenkins — Board Chair
Clementina Chéry — President and CEO
Alexandra Dorrelus — Co-Executive Director
Rachel Rodrigues — Co-Executive Director
Stories
The Work, Told By the People Behind It
A Legacy That Inspires
Long before he became the inspiration for our organization, Louis David Brown was simply a young boy whose joy filled every room. Those of us who knew him still think of the way he moved through life, even at his young age, with laughter, confidence, and curiosity.
Over three decades later, that spirit continues to guide our imagination toward new paths to healing, teaching, and learning.
It leads us to bring Peace Play in Urban Settings, our signature healing practice, into communities across the country. It shapes our publications, sets the table for stories and conversation, and lives on in the images we capture and voices we amplify.
Every milestone on the following pages began as something much smaller: a question, an act of kindness, a word. Like Louis’s own curiosity, those beginnings have led to something larger than any one of us could have imagined.
Thank you for reading and being in this work with us.
Events
Bringing Our Community Together
29th Annual: Mother's Day Walk for Peace
Setting the Table
25th Annual:
Survivors of Homicide Victims Awareness Month
10th Annual: Peace B'Que
THE CAMPAIGN FOR PEACE
Build With Us
On September 21st, the International Day of Peace, we held a Ceremonial Groundbreaking on the site where the National Center of Healing, Teaching, and Learning will be built.
More than a building, the National Center will serve as a healing hub for survivors and returning citizens, a teaching ground for professionals, and a learning space for people to gather, restore, and reimagine.
