Chico Peace and Justice Center

The CPJC can trace its history back to the tense Cold War years of the early 1960s. The U.S. military built Titan missiles and nuclear warheads that were to be stored in already built underground bunkers in northeast Chico.  Chico resident Wilhelmina Taggart, alarmed by this development, made weekly visits to the base to pray. Eventually, the missiles were removed, but by then Willa was joined by Florence McLane and Helen Kinnee. Together they started the Chico Peace Endeavor, and began holding a weekly peace vigil in downtown Chico. Forty years later, the vigil still takes place

In the early 1980s, the three founders and others agreed that there was a need for a center where people could meet and find information about peace and justice issues. The Chico Peace & Justice Center opened its doors in 1982 on Walnut Street and became a 501(c)3 non-profit organization on September 13th, 1983.

Among the issues the Center has addressed: nuclear weapons and militarism, war tax resistance, poverty & hunger, violence & youth, racism, sexism, homophobia, gun control, the death penalty, minority and immigrant rights, Central American and Mexican violence related to U.S. policies, and U.S. military intervention in other countries.

The principle linking the Center's work on all of these issues is a belief in the importance and power of non-violence, both as a moral value and as a tool to effect positive change. Since its inception, the Center has initiated numerous conflict resolutions and violence prevention programs in the community, working on a shoestring budget and almost exclusively with volunteers. Some of these programs have been ongoing, and others have been initiated in response to specific community needs.