Peace House Information

The Peace House is an education and advocacy center for a wide variety of justice and peace issues, including human rights, economic justice, environmental sustainability, nonviolence, and peace. The Oklahoma Peace Strategy Newspaper has been in publication since 1986. Regular and frequent letters to the editor, Op-Ed pieces, and editorials published in the Daily Oklahoman, smaller newspapers around the state, and national publications has made Director Nathanial "Batch" Batchelder and the Peace House widely known and recognized. During the 1980s, Peace House work centered around the nuclear arms race and US involvement in the civil strife in Central America. Through the 1990s, Peace House work expanded to include hunger and poverty advocacy through RESULTS and Bread For the World. Civil Rights continued to be a focus as Batch worked with the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday Coalition, the Latino Community Development Organization, Native American Indian groups, and emerging gay rights groups. The Peace House developed and maintains a strong relationship with "Pastors For Peace" which annually sends mission caravans of humanitarian aid to Nicaragua, Cuba, and the Zapatista movement in Mexico. The Peace House is affiliated with numerous national groups, including PEACE ACTION, but is funded entirely through contributions from individuals and a small number of organizations and houses of worship. Batch's work for human rights, including founding and chairing for ten years the Central Oklahoma Human Rights Alliance (COHRA), earned for him the Oklahoma Human Rights Commission's annual human rights award in December, 2007. With Conna Wilkinson, Batch and the Peace House have founded the Peace Education Institute which generates public education programs for people of all ages, and summer peace camps for children and youths. While the Peace House has 501(c)4 status, permitting advocacy and lobbying on political issues, the Peace Education Institute may receive tax-deductible contributions, serving the educational missions of both institutions.