Building Peaceful Families celebrates, educates, and inspires individuals through programs that help them become more involved, responsible, and committed family and community members.

OUR BEGINNINGS

Founded in 2004 by Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Sharon Chatman, Building Peaceful Families has provided programs in our community that enrich the lives of men, women, and children. By encouraging, educating, honoring, and engaging parents and other role models, we have positively impacted the lives of thousands of Bay Area children.  

OUR FOCUS

BPF specifically targets the underserved in our community - grandparents raising their own grandchildren, father and father figures, single parents, parents in the criminal justice system, teenage fathers and mothers, and people with physical challenges. We know that by making a positive impact on an adult, we will positively influence the life of a child.

OUR COMMITMENT
It is difficult to adequately express the importance of the BPF mission, and the determination and passion we feel for what we do. By treating every one of our program participants with dignity and respect, we are actively striving to build peaceful families in the San Francisco Bay Area.

“No Strings Attached”:

Elmwood Women’s Facility Project

15th Annual

Fatherhood / High Promise Families Conference

Like so many other groups, 2022 is an exciting – and challenging - time of transition, re-focus, and re-building for Building Peaceful Families.

This year, we are expanding the annual Fatherhood Conference to include justice-involved families.  We recognize that when one family member goes to jail, it affects the whole family – mothers, fathers, children, and beyond.  With that in mind, on October 1st we will hold the first in-person Fatherhood / High Promise Families Conference.  In partnership with Santa Clara County, San Jose City College, and supportive community-based organizations, the focus of this innovative program is on reducing violence and trauma-exposure for these parents and their loved ones, while also increasing their family’s resilience and overall quality-of-life.

In the winter of 2022, Building Peaceful Families and the County of Santa Clara conducted focus groups with justice-involved women at Goodwill Industries, which offers services to the formerly incarcerated, and Elmwood County Jail.  The purpose was to understand the needs of women being released from Elmwood, with the goal of increasing their chances for safe and successful reentry into the community.  The result is No Strings Attached, an innovative program that coordinates non-profits, BPF, and County agencies to provide needed clothing, hygiene products, safe transportation and other resources to women as they are released from Elmwood.