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Be Peace – Be Hope was formerly known as Be the Peace – Be the Hope. Coverage before 2024 appears under the former name.
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Be Peace – Be Hope is a Houston nonprofit that gives young people the life skills, confidence, and well-being to care, connect, and lead.
Founded in Houston in 2015, Be Peace – Be Hope is a nonprofit that equips young people with the life skills, confidence, and well-being to thrive. Its trauma-informed, CASEL-aligned programs have reached more than 10,000 students across 70 schools, with work extending from Texas to France, Lebanon, Iraq, and beyond.
Be Peace – Be Hope is a Houston nonprofit founded in 2015 by Karine Parker with Noël Bezette-Flores. It provides social-emotional and life-skills education to young people, their teachers, and their families, grounded in neuroscience, mindfulness, and the healing arts. Programs run through workshops, teacher training, youth-led community projects, and parent circles, and have reached more than 10,000 students across 70 elementary, middle, and high schools. Ten years of pre and post program data show measured gains in resilience, self-efficacy, and hope. The organization was formerly known as Be the Peace – Be the Hope. It is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, EIN 93-4865528.
Fast Facts
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Founded
2015, Houston, Texas
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Founder and CEO
Karine Parker
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Co-founder
Noël Bezette-Flores
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Status
501(c)(3) nonprofit, EIN 93-4865528
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Former name
Be the Peace – Be the Hope
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Students reached
More than 10,000
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Schools
70 elementary, middle, and high schools
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Teachers and parents trained
More than 1,000
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Where we work
Houston, San Antonio, and Corpus Christi, with international programs in France, Lebanon, Iraq, Burkina Faso, India, Rwanda, and Greece
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Method
Trauma-informed, CASEL-aligned, TEKS-supportive, grounded in neuroscience, mindfulness, and healing arts
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Outcomes (up to, measured pre and post over ten years)
60% decrease in anxiety and depression, 80% increase in resilience, over 90% of students reporting more hope
Results varied depending on the cohort.
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2019Rotary International Award for Excellence in Service to Humanity
Awarded to Karine Parker for work in at-risk schools, refugee camps, and orphanages across Africa, India, and the Middle East. Rotary International recognizes up to 150 non-Rotarian recipients worldwide each year.
- 2020
HISD Jean Davis Myers Volunteer Service Award
The district's most prestigious service award, given to one organization each year across the largest school system in Texas. Nominated by parents and parent coordinators.
- 2019
BridgeUp at Menninger Innovation Grant
Awarded by The Menninger Clinic, one of the top psychiatric hospitals in the United States.
- 2017
Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund grant
$85,000 through the Greater Houston Community Foundation, used to serve more than 1,000 students and teachers across ten HISD campuses after the storm.
Television
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CBS, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Hidden Heroes.
Nationally syndicated, 2017.
Academic publication
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Using Art as a Vehicle of Hope and Understanding: Messages from Youth in the United States and Africa.
Noël Bezette-Flores and Karine Parker, in Innovations in Higher Education Teaching and Learning, Emerald Publishing, 2018.
ArtHouston Magazine
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Hope Art
Issue 4
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Inspiring Community through Hope, Arts and Education
Issue 6
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Can Art Inspire Hope?
Issue 7
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A Song of Hope supporting Be the Peace – Be the Hope
Issue 8
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Arts Integration: Fostering student learning and growth through the arts
Issue 9
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EsperHope: How Creativity and Gaming Can Inspire Real-World Change
Issue 23
Books and publications
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Once Upon a Hope / Il Était Une Fois L'Espoir. Poetry for Peace / Poésies pour la Paix.
2017 to 2019. A bilingual exchange of stories between children in Houston and children in refugee camps in Burkina Faso.
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I Come from Greatness / Peace of Mind.
2021 to 2023. A collaboration with the Azay-le-Rideau Castle, Felix Cook Elementary, and the Houston Center for Photography, supported by Arts Connect Houston.
Karine Parker
Founder and CEO
Karine Parker-Lemoyne is the founder and CEO of Be Peace – Be Hope, a nonprofit whose award-winning well-being and life-skills education program has reached more than 10,000 students in grades 1–12 and 1,000 teachers across over 70 schools.
Since founding the program in 2015, she has been guided by a deeply held belief: every young person deserves to feel valued, discover their strengths, and have meaningful opportunities to contribute. Her work brings together creative expression, insights from neuroscience, mindfulness, relationship-centered practices, and student-led initiatives to support young people and the adults who nurture their growth.
Through her collaboration with Secours populaire français and the Rotary USA–France Inter-Country Committee, Karine helps connect young people in France and the United States, creating opportunities to learn from one another and turn their strengths and ideas into acts of solidarity.
Karine is a certified collaborative practice trainer, following four years of training through the International Certificate in Collaborative Practice (ICCP) program at the Houston Galveston Institute. She is also a Positive Intelligence (PQ) Coach.
As the author and illustrator of A Place Where Hope Grows, she shares practical ways to nurture resilience, belonging, and purpose, drawing on her work with children, families, and educators, particularly in underserved communities. She is a recipient of Rotary International's Award for Excellence in Service to Humanity. Originally from France, Karine lives with her family in Houston, Texas.
Available for interviews on: social-emotional learning, trauma-informed education, youth mental health, arts in education, and international humanitarian programs in schools, refugee camps, and orphanages.
Languages: English and French.
