When Lisa Parker talks about peace, it’s infectious. When Parker adds Philadelphia to the mix, peace isn’t just a “rose-tinted glasses” kind of thing; it’s the reality she believes in for this city.
“I love Philadelphia,” she says. “It’s hard; it’s broken; it’s political; it’s amazing. It’s all those things, all at the same time. And it’s my home.”
Parker has spent the last 15 years advocating for all Philadelphians to take an active part in promoting peace. She’s done this by helming Peace Day Philly, a grassroots initiative borne of the United Nations International Day of Peace, which takes place every September 21. Her goal is to spread actions of peace across this City of Brotherly Love, uniting people of all walks of life, sparking a movement that outlives any activation.
The love and perseverance behind Peace Day Philly is there, and volunteers organize meaningful events each fall, lasting the week surrounding the international day. But Parker herself will tell you she wants much, much more. What keeps her going isn’t recognition; it’s her unyielding belief in the mission.
Why peace? Why Philly?
The journey to Peace Day Philly started with something seemingly innocuous to some: a viewing of Jeremy Gilley’s documentary “The Day After Peace.”
“It was created by an organization in the UK called Peace One Day. It talked about this global day of peace and how, on this day, they were able to get the Taliban to stop fighting and instead administer 4.5 million polio vaccinations,” Parker explains.
So moving was the 2009 film that it set Parker off on her own investigation. The International Day of Peace is celebrated every year by the United Nations and its member states, spanning global organizations, community groups, schools and more. The city of Chicago celebrates it as a major public event each year.
Parker said to herself, why not Philly? So much of her life — the good, the bad and the ugly — is ingrained in the city’s proverbial walls that Philly has become a part of her.
“I was born and raised in Philly. I grew up in Germantown. I went to the High School for Creative and Performing Arts and Temple University. I love this city,” says Parker, the emphasis all her own. She has spent decades as a social worker for the people of Philadelphia, getting struggling families and individuals the resources they need to survive, while also witnessing how peace could change the narrative.
“Peace Day is a global day but it’s a day of local opportunity,” she says.
After the documentary credits rolled, Parker’s wheels kept turning. Her efforts started small: Her first Peace Day involved Parker and her only son, who was in nursery school at the time, attending a local fair with a Jane Goodall-inspired upcycled plastic bag art. Parker shared with everyone she passed what Peace Day was all about.
In 2010, Parker returned to her middle school, Germantown Friends School (GFS), to spread action for Peace Day. “They have a really strong sports program, and I went to them with this initiative One Day, One Goal, a soccer initiative from the NGO Peace One Day,” Parker recalls.
One Day, One Goal is centered around peace and sportsmanship. Leadership at GFS was excited to participate and invited neighboring public schools to join in on the fun.
“We brought these sixth graders all together, from GFS, a Quaker school, and from area public schools, and then we split them into teams, so it wasn’t GFS playing the community schools; it was all the schools learning to play together,” shares Parker.
Her efforts have only grown more varied and deep across the city. In the last 15 years, Parker and the entirely-volunteer team at Peace Day Philly have worked with more than 175 organizations to create hundreds of programs for Peace Day each year — including the Philadelphia Eagles, Drexel and other local universities, dozens of nonprofits, the police, and even the mayor’s office.
Working with city officials to make it official
Throughout this journey, Parker has done her part to connect with the mayors of Philadelphia to enact Peace Day as an official city initiative. In the days of Mayors Michael Nutter and Jim Kenney, Peace Day gained some traction, though neither made the steps toward citywide adoption.
“[Mayors] Nutter and Kenney … did videos and they showed up,” adds Thomas Di Nardo, a retired PECO electrical engineer and Peace Day Philly’s board secretary and treasurer. He joined Parker’s group in 2012. “We had the mayor [at the time] come to City Hall and give a speech, sometimes on immigration. They’ve even moved the date [of pre-planned speeches] to coincide with Peace Day.”
Nutter made a speech to school children about peace. Kenney spoke about Peace Day at City Hall.
When current Mayor Cherelle Parker took office in 2024, however, efforts had to start over. “We talked to a city representative [at the end of June],” shares Di Nardo. “And hopefully this is the year we get visibility [from Mayor Parker’s office].”
“Administrations change, staff changes, and then we … make our case again,” Parker says.
Similarly, she notes that the same restart of advocacy has to happen when school district administrations change. This constant effort to be seen by officials in the community has been a consistent uphill battle for Peace Day Philly’s all-volunteer team, who have to constantly reshare their goals and hopes for peace with new administrations, while living their daily lives. For example, Parker still actively works as a mental health education coordinator for NAMI Main Line PA, while raising her son, and advocating for peace.
For now, Parker focuses on what she can control: organizing panel discussions on peace, presentations on peace-related actions — interfaith workshops, concerts and performances, drum circles, meditations, democracy circles. The possibilities, Parker and the team note, are endless. Anyone in the city has the opportunity to adopt peace into their own routine.
The promise of hope
The people behind Peace Day Philly are not naive. They know that a day of peace isn’t going to stop crime or eliminate gun violence. What they do know, however, is the feeling of hope that comes with each event and the sense of community that thrives when citizens come together for peace.
Case in point, for the last four years, Peace Day Philly has co-hosted an International Day of Peace youth and police community event in Kensington in partnership with District 7 Councilmember Quetcy Lozada. High school students gather in Fairhill Square Park to participate in food, fun, and football — the Eagles donate 100 NFL-grade footballs every year; sometimes they bring cheerleaders — marching to stop gang-related gun violence in schools and on the streets of Philly. The idea is to build trust and relationships between residents and members of the PPD.
“The cops play catch with the kids. They go on a six-block march … These kids have these signs that are just unbelievable, inspiring, saying ‘No guns,’ and ‘Be kind.’ They’re really passionate about it,” Di Nardo says. “In this neighborhood where the cops are feared, these kids are completely at one with the police for a moment. It’s a tremendous thing.”
Bianca Reyes, Principal at Kensington’s Julia de Burgos Elementary School describes the day as “one of the most impactful traditions for our students … to advocate for peace in the very community they call home.” She adds that this joining of community fuels hope, civic responsibility, and gives students confidence to become the next generation of changemakers.
Parker knows it’s incredibly difficult to measure the impact of such an event, that, at times, she’s swimming against a tide. But she also knows she’s not alone.
“I’m not an academic. I’m not an activist. I’m a social worker by training, and for me, peace is about human beings and connections,” she says. “I’ve worked in neighborhoods with so much gun violence, with structural injustice and economic injustice, with trauma that holds people back from healing and connecting … But there are so many organizations across the city that are working to build peace every day. Our small initiative invites everyone to look at this global day and use it as a platform to take meaningful action for peace in our individual worlds, in our communities and in our city.
“It’s a global day,” she reiterates, “but it can be a powerful day for peace action and greater unity in our city. We can decide the impact of Peace Day.”
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