On September 29th, Peace Action Fund of New York State (PAFNYS) will present the 2025 William Sloane Coffin, Jr. Peacemaker Awards to lifelong educator and former U.S. Congressman, Jamaal Bowman, and anti-racist educator and activist, Jesse Hagopian at a ceremony in New York City attended by leading peace and justice activists.
Jamaal Bowman and Jesse Hagopian were selected as this year’s 2025 Peacemaker Awards honorees for their tireless activism and efforts to fight back in the midst of the Right’s all-out assault on education in the United States. Now more than ever, it is crucial to uplift the anti-racist educators who are defending young Americans’ right to learn the truth about the nation’s history.
Jamaal Bowman is a lifelong educator and former U.S. Congressman who has dedicated his career to transforming communities through equity-driven leadership, education, and bold policymaking. In Congress, he championed groundbreaking legislation, including the Green New Deal for Public Schools to invest in public schools and zero-carbon school facilities; the More Teaching, Less Testing Act to end the over-emphasis on standardized testing; and the African American History Act provide funding to the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). As founding principal of Cornerstone Academy for Social Action (CASA) in the Bronx, Dr. Bowman led the school to top-tier growth scores in NYC, doubled math proficiency, and built a student-centered curriculum that prioritized social-emotional development and community partnerships. Whether in schools, Congress, or community spaces, Dr. Bowman continues to build systems that center justice, equity, and human potential.
Jesse Hagopian is a nationally-recognized educator, speaker, and writer known for his clear vision, inspiring storytelling, and unwavering commitment to truth in education. For over two decades, Jesse has been on the front lines of public education—as a classroom teacher, curriculum builder, mentor, and organizer working to center student voices and reimagine what schools can be. He teaches Ethnic Studies at Seattle’s Garfield High School—his alma mater and the site of the historic 2013 MAP test boycott—and serves as an editor for Rethinking Schools magazine. He is also the author of Teach Truth: The Struggle for Antiracist Education. This carefully-researched book examines the Right’s ongoing efforts to censor discussions of structural oppression and racism, challenging the reader to fight back. As a longtime educator and organizer, Hagopian recognizes that our democracy is at stake, as well as entire systems of knowledge that challenge the status quo.
The awards ceremony and reception will take place on Monday, September 29, 2025 beginning at 6pm at Scandinavia House (58 Park Avenue) in New York City. The awards ceremony will also be livestreamed virtually beginning at 6pm ET. Tickets are available for purchase at tinyurl.com/WSCA25.
During the event, PAFNYS will also honor student activists who are speaking out in the current climate of fear and intimidation by presenting two awards – the Don Shaffer Student Peacemaker Award and the Holly Maguigan Peace with Justice Award – to those who have made a notable impact over the past year.
The Don Shaffer Student Peacemaker Award – named for New York peace activist Don Shaffer – will be presented to Peace Action Le Moyne (PALM), the student Peace Action chapter of Le Moyne College in Syracuse. This student peace group stood as a leading voice for peace and justice on Le Moyne’s campus throughout the 2024-2025 school year, taking action to educate their peers about the health crisis in Gaza, the dangers of nuclear weapons, the pervasive influence of the military industrial complex, and about local community issues such as the Christopher Columbus statue in downtown Syracuse. Alongside El Progresso and other advocacy clubs, the group also led a workshop and campus-wide walkout on a Day Without Immigrants and participated in Syracuse’s No Kings rally.
The Holly Maguigan Peace with Justice Award — named for feminist activist, lawyer, and law professor, Holly Maguigan — will honor the work of a young peace organizer who has exemplified the principles of peace with justice. This year’s award will be presented to Nabiha Subzwari, a 2024 graduate of Macaulay Honors College and current student at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health pursuing her Masters in Public Health in Epidemiology. As a co-organizer for the student Peace Action chapter at Macaulay Honors College, Nabiha led the chapter in organizing around Gaza, participating in campus protests, and resisting administrative pushback. At Columbia, she has been organizing for visibility of Muslim and SWANA (Southwest Asian and North African) identities on campus to create spaces for solidarity, and hopes to use her education and career to advocate for medical justice and peace.
The public is invited to join Peace Action Fund of New York State (PAFNYS) in honoring this year’s changemakers, whether in-person at Scandinavia House in New York City or online via livestream. Tickets are available for purchase here.
ABOUT THE AWARDS
Since 2007, Peace Action Fund of New York State (PAFNYS) has hosted the annual William Sloane Coffin, Jr. Peacemaker Awards ceremony and reception in New York City to bring leading peace activists together for an evening of solidarity and camaraderie. The event — named to honor the legacy of the Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr., a civil rights and anti-war activist who championed the power of civil disobedience and peaceful protest in fighting injustice — recognizes peace activists who serve as a model for current and future changemakers. Previous recipients of the Peacemaker Award include Professor Rashid Khalidi and celebrated peace activist Leslie Cagan (2025); Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! and grassroots group, Afghans for a Better Tomorrow (2023); Katrina vanden Heuvel, publisher of The Nation (2022); athlete-activists Etan Thomas and Renee Montgomery (2021), voting rights activist Desmond Meade (2020), climate activist Bill McKibben (2019), anti-war organization US Labor Against the War (2018), and indigenous activist LaDonna Brave Bull Allard (2017). Learn more about the awards at https://www.panys.org/wsc-awards.
ABOUT PEACE ACTION FUND OF NEW YORK STATE (PAFNYS)
The Peace Action Fund of New York State (PAFNYS) is a non-partisan, non-profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to promoting the non-violent resolution of conflict, the abolition of nuclear weapons, halting the global spread of conventional arms, building a human rights culture and supporting human needs instead of militarism. PAFNYS is a companion organization to Peace Action New York State (PANYS), the New York affiliate of national Peace Action, the largest grassroots peace organization in the United States.
