The Albuquerque Center for Peace was founded in 1983 to provide space where groups working on peace and justice issues could support and network with one another. In 1984, the words "and Justice" were added to our name to better represent the greater mission and goals of our work. We moved to our second, larger location on the NE corner of Harvard and Silver in 1987 and in 2003, we purchased and moved to our current location.

 

The initial focus of the Center was disarmament and peaceful economic conversion -- work that reflects our location in a state that has been controlled economically by the war industry since the 1940s. Our work broadened in the mid-80s to include Central America solidarity movements, including the Sanctuary Movement; and the Peace Education Project, which provided local educators with resources, curricula, and training on issues such as multiculturalism, Rethinking Columbus, and Nonviolence. Throughout the 80s and into the early 90s, the Center published Center News, a newspaper of local actions, campaigns, and commentary on peace and justice issues.

In the 1990s, Center members, staff and volunteers organized peaceful resistance to unjust US policies, including the 1991 Gulf War and the opening of WIPP -- a nuclear weapons waste dump in southeast NM.

 

With the controversial election of 2000 and then the September 11, 2001 attack on the US, the activity at the Center has greatly increased. We continue to support and implement projects that work to overcome challenges to peace and justice.