Committee on Friends Education (CoFE)

CoFE's purpose
We nurture and strengthen vital relationships between Friends schools and their Meeting communities for the benefit of both, and we champion Friends education.  

Programming

• We bring together school committee members, school administrators, and meeting clerks from all over the Yearly Meeting for worship-sharing, networking, and bridge-building. Another such gathering is planned for March 17, 2012. The workshop will focus on relationship building and will introduce a new meeting-school relationship brochurer. Click here to learn more about the workshop.
• We provide financial support to PYM member children in PYM Friends schools through the FEF- PYM Tuition Aid Program. This program works in collaboration with Monthly Meetings, Quarterly Meetings, and Friends Schools' Financial aid officers to provide annual educational grants.  Students qualify based on financial need, and parents obtain Tuition Aid applications through their monthly meetings, this website, or by contacting Friends in Education Coordinator, Grace Cooke at GCooke@pym.org. Restricted funds for this purpose also come through the Jonathan E. Rhoads Endowment Fund and Friends Council on Education. 
• Our workshop at Summer Sessions 2011 provided an opportunity for Quaker youth to reflect together on the transformative effect of student-led service and leadership opportunities in public schools and Friends Schools. 

Participation

• Friends who are members of a Meeting in a care relationship with a school may participate in the work of this group by attending CoFE workshops and being attentive to the meeting-school relationship. 
• To share any meeting-school success stories with CoFE contact the clerk, Scott Spence, or Friends in Education Coordinator, Grace Sharples Cooke at 215-241-7224 or gcooke@pym.org.
• Friends with fundraising expertise and a passion for Friends education could be helpful by raising up the Jonathan E. Rhoads Endowment fund as an option for capital contributions that will support Tuition Aid.