The First Contact Reconciliation Collaborative seeks to awaken the light within each of us toward creating beloved community, most specifically among the Tribal Nations of Lenapehoking and the Religious Society of Friends – Lenape Tribal Peoples and Friends of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.

Our faithful “work” calls each of us to shift our ways of learning and being, and with revelation, opens us to Indigenous sovereignty. We listen to the voices of local Native Nations’ leadership; we accept invitation to Native Nations’ events; we seek historic truths of colonization; we acknowledge causative oppression that denies human rights and liberties; we acknowledge that of the Creator of all things; we bear responsibilities of being citizens of an unjust empire; and if invited by Native leadership, with solidarity, we pursue acts of justice from the predominant society.

We are members and fellow worshipers of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting region who provide a place of welcome and inclusion for Native voices. We are Friends who acknowledge this void of diversity within our Beloved community, lift up potential acts of slumber and/ or complicity, long to hear our Native neighbors, and create space for Native presence that has been missing.

The First Contact Reconciliation Collaborative will have several open set meetings annually, posted by PYM; we will gather periodically for educational talks/ workshops, advertised by PYM; and we will utilize conference calls for campaign updates.

As the collective PYM body embarks on the journey of the “…isms,” the FCRC calls on Friends to understand that sovereign Lenape Nations are still here today. A valuable introduction, We Are Still Here, is offered as a free downloadable from the Nanticoke-Lenape Tribal Nation. Additional FCRC web pages offer a multitude of opportunities for taking next steps – personal and corporate – or contact the FCRC for a listening session/ consultation.