Hannah Hochkeppel has more than 10 years of experience in a variety of education and program development spaces and is deeply invested in the work of youth empowerment, advocacy, and peacebuilding. Most important to her is centering youth voices and youth leadership as an integral piece of this work. As a non-profit and education professional, she has a passion for interfaith partnership, supporting social justice movements, and developing strategy for conflict resolution and peacebuilding around the world.
In addition to her non-profit work, she has also previously worked in the fields of mental health counseling and religious education. She holds a B.S in Psychology from Virginia Tech, a M.A in Religion and Theology from Seattle University.
Hannah currently serves as the Director of Youth Engagement for Paths to Understanding. In the past, she has served as the Global Programs Director for Kids4Peace International and the United States Country Director for Seeds of Peace. Her work has focused specifically on creating interfaith and intercultural peacebuilding programs for K-12 students. She has worked with youth in the United States, along with youth globally in Western Europe, South Asia, and the Middle East (with a special focus on Israel and Palestine).
Hannah implicitly trusts the power that youth hold to change the world and hopes that even amidst the messiness of navigating conflict and injustice, upholding the gifts and wisdom that youth bring to this work of building peace is integral to moving our communities forward.