The Seattle Draft Counseling Center was founded in 1969 to provide draft, military, and alternate service counseling. It continued until at least 1982. Reverend George Poor (of the Quaker faith) and Gretchen Parker were influential in the operations and success of the SDCC. The SDCC was a non-profit agency dedicated to providing information and counseling to any civilian with questions or problems concerning the Selective Service System, or any military personnel having problems with the military. They also encouraged draft education in the Seattle school system and gave workshops on draft counseling throughout Western Washington.

Irwin Hogenauer was a passionate activist against war and the draft. He was a conscientious objector during World War II and spent two years in a conscientious objector camp. After serving ten months of a two-year sentence for resistance to conscription, he was discharged early as a "non-cooperator." Beginning in 1947, Hogenauer was a war tax refuser and counselor, and he conducted workshops for training in nonviolence for the Fellowship of Reconciliation and the American Friends Service Committee. Hogenauer cared deeply about the individuals he was representing through his activism. He served as a resource, advocate, and pen pal for many drafted soldiers who were against war. Hogenauer wrote to the parents of soldiers to give them information about their sons, as well as to military officials to inquire about court decisions. Not only did he correspond with draftees and resisters, he also established relationships with other activists and nonviolent organizations, including the Chicago Nonviolent Training and Action Center.

Throughout his many years of activism, Hogenauer remained committed to nonviolence. In 1971, inspired by the nonviolent action occurring around the nation, he founded the Northwest Nonviolent Training and Action Center. Though NWNVTAC was declared defunct in 1972, Hogenauer continued to teach workshops in nonviolent action by request.