Who we are. We are Peacemakers....

Henry L. Roberts—Hank Roberts as he is fondly known to friends and colleagues became a mentor for The Boys and Girls Club of Oakland, California in 1986. The areas of greatest need for mentoring were in: ballet, fencing and soccer. Ballet was foreign territory.  Fencing involved swords; having grown up in St. Louis, Missouri, Hank  Roberts had witnessed his fair share of weaponry. Soccer it was, even  though Hank knew nothing of the sport.

Hank Roberts is a graduate of Southern Illinois  University, Carbondale, Illinois. He has a Bachelor of Science Degree in  Psychology. In 2004, Hank Roberts was employed by 3M as a Hospital  Sales Trainer and was the corporation's number one pharmaceutical  salesman in the nation. In 2000, Hank Roberts was honored by the San  Francisco Library Foundation with The Bay Area’s Unsung Hero Award.

Hanks' first soccer team came from multicultural East  Oakland. He has been named Soccer Coach of the Year in District  4–Northern California. As a soccer coach, Hank elevated the self-esteem  of disadvantaged youth—in particular pre-adolescent/adolescent boys.  Mentoring and coaching were a natural blend, the perfect ingredients,  which caused all who collaborated with Hank Roberts to succeed. Not only  in soccer, but academically as well. The seeds—children playing soccer,  rooted Peacemakers, Inc., on the educational map here in the Bay Area  community.

Peacemakers became incorporated in 2000. Allowing their  program to be fully utilized in the Oakland Unified School District,  and the Ravenswood School District of East Palo Alto. This educational  partnership enables children from kindergarten – fifth grade, advancing  on to middle school (Claremont Middle School, Oakland, California) to  learn in peace. Peacemakers’ services educate students to become peer  leaders, role models—Junior Peacemakers, within their schools. Including  extra-curricular activities enriching their lives. Students, their  peers, and adult mentors interact daily reinforcing a structured  atmosphere, where self-esteem and academic success are always fostered.  Approaching conflict resolution through praise, positive discipline and  continual assessment of each student—their individual educational  contract, Peacemakers’ program(s), educators, each school, and all  families. This is nothing fancy, but critical to the success of the  entire community.

The following questions are constantly probed with respect to educational contracts:

•Is the student thriving? If not, why?
•What is the home environment like?
•What can Peacemakers do to contribute to the effectiveness of the parents or caregivers who live with, guide, and shelter our students?
 

Peacemakers, Inc., provides outreach and aid through  counseling, financial aid, vocational training, education, and provision  of food and clothing. Something is working. Graduates who have  participated in Peacemakers’ programs are coming back to serve as adult  mentors. Contributing to the next generation, their families, schools,  and the Bay Area community—success, gladness and joy. Indeed! 

Dr. Marlon Foxworth holds a PhD in Education and brings a plethora of expertise and experience in education to Peacemakers Inc.

Dr. Foxworth's experience as a Superintendent of  Milpitas, Hayward and Rialto Unified School Districts and his work with  Oakland Unified School District as Associate Superintendent of Secondary  Education, Director of Student Services and Director of Safety/School  Climate have been invaluable in defining the need of Peacemakers inc. in  schools. His work as Principal and teacher in Los Angeles, Berkeley,  San Francisco and Oakland Unified School Districts provide the  experience and understanding of the cultural diversity necessary to work  with students and parents.

Dr. Foxworth has spent his life and career working as  an agent for change in our schools and communities. In 2000, he received  the Ida B. Wells Risk Taker Award and in 1998 received the Martin  Luther King Jr. Award from the City of Hayward.

Dr. Foxworth is the author of The Black White Divide in  America Still: The Inherent Contradiction in Partial Equality and  numerous other writings including his PhD dissertation Conflict in an  Urban School: A Case Study.