Peace on the Street began with a simple discovery: young people would come first for the martial arts — and through them, could be introduced to meditation. Two decades later, that bridge is still our whole method.
Peace on the Street is committed to empowering the community with Zen arts, Zen martial arts, and Zen meditation. Our mission is to reduce conflict between the East Harlem communities as the neighborhood changes — increasing understanding and reducing violence among African American, Puerto Rican, and Mexican youth.
This is applied Zen: practice stripped down to what's useful under real pressure. Freedom, focus, and the ability to stop before you react. Peace through strength — paz via fuerza.
Teaching meditation and psychic self-defense inside Rikers planted the idea: bring this work to the young people of the inner city before they ever reach a cell.
Peace on the Street is founded. Youth arrive for martial arts — "nice with your hands" — and stay to discover meditation.
A residential cohort takes root — the beginning of a community that would return, decade after decade, as students became teachers.
Conflict-resolution and police-contact workshops, sesshin retreats, reentry support, and alliances across the Zen and martial-arts worlds — sustained by funders and the neighborhood alike.
Draft timeline — confirm exact dates and milestones with Stan & Richard before launch.
Teaches as Hui Neng, Roshi in the Hollow Bones Rinzai lineage, drawing on the Mondo Zen protocols of Jun Po Denis Kelly — with the conviction that meditation belongs to everyone, no robes required.
Brings the martial-arts foundation and the neighborhood trust that lets the work reach the young people who need it. (Bio to be confirmed.)
Placeholder figures — confirm before launch.
Whether you give, volunteer, or take a seat on the cushion, there's a place for you in this work.
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