The Martin Institute Welcomes Chaplain Clementina Chéry

About the Speaker

Chaplain Clementina Chéry is the founder, President and CEO of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute (LDBPI), a Center of Healing, Teaching and Learning for families and communities impacted by murder, trauma, grief and loss. Chéry founded the LDBPI in 1994 in Boston, Massachusetts after the murder of her 15-year-old son Louis. For more than 25 years, Chéry has used her experience as a survivor to serve families impacted by murder, advocate for survivors of violent crimes and develop best practices for homicide response.

Through the LDBPI, Chéry’s vision is to create and sustain an environment where all families can live in peace and to transform society’s response to homicide. With the support of elected officials, including Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), the LDBPI and Chéry have equipped the City of Boston with resources and guides, including The Survivors’ Burial and Resource Guide: A Step by Step Workbook for Regaining Control, Always in my Heart: A Workbook for Grieving Children and co-authored The PeaceZone: A Program for Social Literacy.

Chéry has presented at the National Office for Victim Assistance, Harvard University’s Schools of Divinity and of Medicine, Boston College’s Schools of Social Work and of Law, Temple Israel, Trinity Church Boston and to multiple police departments including Boston and Miami. She is a founding member of the National Coalition for Survivors of Violence Prevention.

Chéry has received awards in recognition of her courageous leadership, tireless peacemaking work and service to her community. In the last 10 years, Chéry was named one of Boston’s 100 Most Influential Leaders of Color, was awarded the 2016 Impact Award by Phillips Brooks House Association at Harvard University, received the Champion of Peace Award from Salem State University and was named Citizen of the Year by the National Association of Social Workers.

In February 2012, Chéry was ordained as a senior chaplain with the International Fellowship of Chaplains, Inc. She also holds honorary Doctorate Degrees from Regis College, Mount Ida College and the College of the Holy Cross. 

This event is sponsored by Stonehill College's Martin Institute for Law & Society.