Presiding Clerk Melissa Rycroft has called a threshing session for PYM on the Advocacy Policy.
The Advocacy Policy was approved by Administrative Council in 2022. The policy encourages Friends and meetings to advocate politically – to follow their leadings, be in relationship with elected officials and make known their expectations of our government. It also affirms that as a non-profit PYM and groups within PYM are not to lobby by the IRS definition – to ask a lawmaker to vote in a specific way on specific legislation or ask others to ask their lawmakers to do the same.
Some Friends have been calling for this policy to be on the PYM agenda for meeting for worship with attention to business. Our clerk has recognized it is important that we address the issue with more time than is available now on the sessions agenda and so she has scheduled a threshing session between Annual and Fall Sessions. This will be the only agenda item. All are welcome to attend.
A threshing session is a Quaker process that allows us to unfold a topic of concern without the pressure of coming to a decision. It also allows Friends to create a space for all information and views to be shared so that everyone can see all the perspectives. There will be minutes and there will be advanced documents so Friends can enter the space with much of the same information.
As one concern of Friends has been that they don’t know who was consulted or how much research was given to this decision as Administrative Council discerned it, staff and clerks put together a timeline of events, including minutes from the council and the yearly meeting. This document is attached. Friends can learn more about the policy by reading these two posts and this document on PYM’s website:
Following this event will be two training sessions, one on how individuals can engage in lobbying and another on how meetings can participate in advocacy. These three events together are an opportunity for those who care deeply about the advocacy policy to unpack this complex issue, and for all of us to arrive at a point of greater clarity on the subject.
