Pardeep Kaleka

Pardeep S. Kaleka is hate and violence prevention senior advisor with Not In Our Town and a de-radicalization psychotherapist with Parents4Peace, assisting families and individuals offramp violent ideologies. He is also the author of, “The Gifts of Our Wounds” and an award-winning columnist with Milwaukee Independent. As a first-generation immigrant from India, Mr. Kaleka has spent more than 25 years in the public arenas of law enforcement, education, social services, assisting hate crime survivors and perpetrators across the United States with recovery. He is the former director of the Interfaith Conference and has also worked on numerous coalition-building efforts across ethnic, racial and religious differences. With a specialization in understanding the impacts of communal trauma, he has developed policies and practices to help mental health workers, social service practitioners, law enforcement agents, and educators build healthier, safer, more inclusive communities across the US. In 2012, following the death of his father in the hate killings at the Oak Creek Sikh Temple, he founded Serve2Unite, an organization nationally recognized for bridging school and community groups.

Education

MS, Clinical Psychology, Alverno College

BA, Criminal Justice, Sociology, Marquette University

Awards & Honors

2022 FBI Director’s Award

2021 Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, Carrol University

2021 United Nations of Greater Milwaukee

2021 Unity Award Milwaukee Magazine

2019 Robert H. Friebert Social Justice Award

2019 Citizen Diplomat Award Global Ties U.S.

2018 The Peace Center of Connecticut Peace Hero Award

2017 Milwaukee Press Club Excellence in Journalism Award

2017 Search for Common Ground Common Ground Award

2016 Hofstra University Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize

2015 Parliament of World Religions Faith Against Hate Award

2014 Milwaukee Coming Together Partnership Youth Leadership in Gun Violence Prevention

Current Research

Current research includes creating a counseling subspecialty on how to help offramp extremists and radicalized individuals from a mental health approach and developing communal approaches to hate and violence prevention.

Intellectual Contributions Presentations

Published Author of the “Gift of our Wounds,” Community Mental Health Columnist with Milwaukee Independent, Author of numerous Op-Eds on hate prevention. Most recently, I have testified for Congress on the rise of violence directed at minorities and minority institutions and the need to develop integrative prevention approaches.