On Monday, September 29th, Peace Action Fund of New York State (PAFNYS) will present its annual William Sloane Coffin, Jr. Peacemaker Awards to lifelong educator and former NY-16 Congressman, Jamaal Bowman, and anti-racist educator and activist, Jesse Hagopian.
The awards ceremony and reception will begin at 6 pm at Scandinavia House in New York City, and will also be livestreamed for those who cannot attend in person.
Bowman and Hagopian were selected as this year’s 2025 Peacemaker Awards honorees for their activism for a free and fair U.S. education system. They will be honored alongside student activists who are raising their voices on campus to advocate for peace and justice.
The theme of the event, “Teach Truth!,” is inspired by the title of Jesse Hagopian’s recent book, Teach Truth: The Struggle for Antiracist Education (Haymarket Books, 2025),
The carefully-researched book examines the Right’s ongoing efforts to target antiracist educators and censor discussions of structural oppression and racism, challenging the reader to fight back.
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 policy-making. In Congress, he championed 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 to provide funding to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
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 inspiring storytelling and unwavering commitment to truth in education. For over two decades, he 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. As a longtime educator and organizer, Hagopian emphasizes that our democracy is at stake, as well as entire systems of knowledge that challenge the status quo.
Student Activists Being Honored
During the event, the Peace Action Fund 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.
Holly Maguigan Peace with Justice Award
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.
Peace Action Fun and William Sloan Coffin
William Sloane Coffin Jr. (1924 – 2006) was a Christian clergyman and peace activist ordained in the Presbyterian Church (he later received ministerial standing in the United Church of Christ).
A former CIA officer and later chaplain of Yale University, he was influenced by the social philosophy of H. Richard Niebuhr (1894-1962) and became a leader in the Civil Rights and Peace Movements of the 1960s and 1970s.
Coffin went on to serve as senior minister at Riverside Church in New York City and President of SANE/Freeze (the nation’s largest peace and social justice group and a forerunner of Peace Action) and prominently opposed United States military interventions in conflicts, from the Vietnam War to the Iraq War. He was also an ardent supporter of LGBTQ rights.
Public Invited
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, 58 Park Ave, in New York City or online via livestream on On Monday, September 29th, beginning at 6 pm.
Tickets are available for purchase here.
Read more about Peace Movements in New York.
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