• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends

  • Home
  • About Us
    • Mission & Structure
    • Councils
      • Administrative Council
      • Nominating Council
      • Quaker Life Council
    • General Secretary
    • Finance
    • Employment
    • Quakerism
  • News
    • PYM News
    • Post Your Story +
    • Newsletters
    • Meeting Statements
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • Post Your Event +
    • Annual Sessions
    • Continuing Sessions
  • Programs
    • Grants
    • Youth
      • Children (K-5th)
      • Middle School Friends (6-8th)
      • Young Friends (9-12th)
      • Friends Who Care for Youth
    • Young Adults (18 +)
    • Counseling
    • Aging Services
    • Pastoral Care
  • Resources
    • Faith & Practice
    • Governance & Stewardship
    • Ministry & Care
    • Outreach & Communications
    • Peace & Social Justice
    • Religious Education
  • Community
    • Working Together
    • Bridge Contacts
    • Resource Friends
  • Directory
    • Find a Meeting
    • Staff
    • Leadership
    • Quarterly Meetings
    • Arch Street Meeting House
  • Donate
  • Search

Community Engagement

Addressing Anti-Blackness Thread Gathering

Written on: January 23, 2021

Co-hosted with Chestnut Hill Meeting

This thread gathering calls us to unlearn and be accountable to our past and present anti-Black ideologies, institutions, and behaviors. Knowing that this journey has no finish line, we bravely and humbly come together to move forward in our journeys with intention to continue to learn and unlearn, through interrogation, conversation and understanding in ourselves, our faith community, and with each other.


Disengaging from Comfort or Decentering Comfort

As Friends, we lean on our understanding that we need discomfort to learn to be present during silence, and this discomfort is a growing relationship with spirit. This discomfort is the same discomfort we are growing with and building a relationship with when we are uprooting oppressive thoughts and behaviors. Racism and white supremacy means some of us are more accustomed to discomfort than others, as well as that what is comfortable for some is dangerous and violent to others. We invite participants to acknowledge and address that tension and imbalance with us.


Schedule

  • 9:00am Optional worship – led by Chestnut Hill Meeting
  • 10:00am Introductions & tech review
  • 10:15am Walking with Anti-Blackness – Oskar Castro
  • 12:00pm Optional communal lunch
  • 12:45pm Interrogating and Weeding out Anti-Blackness – Tenaja Henson and Sarah Willie-LeBreton
  • 2:00pm Resources and Closing

Facilitators

Picture of Oskar Castro

Oskar Pierre Castro is a professional with over twenty-five years of service in the social justice wing of the non-profit sector currently serving as the Director of HR and Inclusion at Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. A 1992 graduate of Rowan University where they majored in law & justice, over the course of their professional life Oskar’s work has supported BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) young adults in navigating the challenges of corporate culture, served as a national resource for activists concerned with the militarization of young people in the U.S. with an emphasis on the “poverty draft”, and conducted intense research to support local labor campaigns for service workers in Philadelphia. Most recently they provided pastoral care to young adults seeking to challenge themselves through a year of service with Quaker Voluntary Service where Oskar served as the Philadelphia City Coordinator and the Director of Equity & Inclusion for the broader organization. A member of Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, Oskar is also a writer, artist, and anti-racist activist who is married to a like-minded soul and is the parent of two amazing daughters.


Picture of Ten HensonTenaja Henson, known by many as Ten, uses they/them pronouns. Ten grew up in Pennsylvania and is a member of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. As a queer afro-latinx growing up in a predominantly white space, Ten found it hard to find representation and support in a lot of the spaces they showed up in. This pushed them to search for more in the work they pursued. During the time they were pursuing their undergraduate degree from Guilford College, Ten began to fall in love with community healing and facilitation. Their passions helped them to facilitate groups at Guilford College and return to their roots, and has helped PYM work through some of the challenges of reconciling with a racist past and how to move forward with accountability and love on the front lines. Currently Ten still facilitates around the topic of anti-blackness and Quakerism with PYM, and currently resides in North Carolina as the NC Campaign Coordinator for Reproaction, advancing access to abortion and reproductive justice across the state and the country.


Picture of Sarah Willie-LeBreton

Sarah Willie-LeBreton is the provost and dean of the faculty at Swarthmore College, where she has taught sociology and black studies for more than 20 years.  A convinced Quaker, she is a member of Providence Monthly Meeting in Delaware County, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and an alumna of Haverford College.  She writes and speaks on education, equity, and racial justice issues.

 


Registration

Registration for this event is now closed. Check out upcoming Thread Gatherings on The Seasons in the Life of a Meeting (February 6th), Truth and Transformation in Community (February 27th), and Engagement and Fundraising (March 6th).

This article mentions:Anti-Racism, Community Engagement, Thread Gathering

Let’s Talk with Moore Unity

Written on: January 14, 2021

Moorestown Friends Meeting’s Anti-Racism Committee sponsors Let’s Talk with Karen Reiner and Meredith Butts, President and Vice President of Moorestown’s MooreUnity, about the group’s efforts “to raise awareness of divisive forces in our community and promote inclusion by building bridges across those divides.” Reiner and Butts formed MooreUnity after KKK materials were distributed in Cinnaminson and a Jewish community center in Cherry Hill received a bomb threat. Their efforts and experience are relevant far beyond Moorestown. To join the conversation, click here, or phone 646-558-8656 and enter meeting ID 815 8781 6369.

This article mentions:Anti-Racism, BLM, Community Engagement, Inclusivity, Peace and Social Action, Racism, Social Justice, Undoing Racism

Barnegat Quakers invitation to free holiday Zoom concert, Friday, Dec. 11, 8 pm

Written on: December 11, 2020

The Barnegat Quakers are pleased to announce we are hosting a free holiday concert on Zoom, and you are invited. On Friday, Dec. 11, 2020 at 8 pm, Pennsylvania folk singer Charlie Zahm will perform in a joyous concert, featuring traditional songs of the British Isles & Early America, along with songs of the Holiday Season. Charlie has performed up and down the Mid-Atlantic and across the country in the last 30 years bringing a big bag of songs of love, loss, exploration, immigration , the sea—and the list goes on! Join us for this special virtual Zoom concert, with the music and the histories behind the songs. For more information, contact events@barnegatquakers.org.

This article mentions:Burlington Quarter, Christmas, Community Engagement, fellowship, joy, News of an Event

PYM Staff Snapshot: One Month of Shelter in Place

Written on: April 16, 2020

A snapshot of the Community Engagement Team’s work by Zachary Dutton, Associate Secretary for Program and Religious Life

[Read more…] about PYM Staff Snapshot: One Month of Shelter in Place

Filed Under: Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, Staff This article mentions:Community Engagement, PYM, Staff

Primary Sidebar

Browse News

  • Communications & Outreach
    • Epistles
    • Friends in Fellowship
    • Minutes
    • Quaker Self Portrait
    • State of the Meeting Report
  • Governance & Stewardship
    • Administrative Council
    • Annual Sessions
      • Annual Sessions 2019
      • Annual Sessions 2020
    • Arch Street Meeting House
    • Continuing Sessions
    • Employment
    • Finance
    • General Secretary
    • Grants
    • Monthly Meeting Management
    • Quaker Life Council
    • Staff
    • Volunteering
  • Ministry & Care
    • Aging Services
    • Counseling
    • Faith & Practice
    • Families
    • Friends Counseling Service
    • Pastoral Care
    • Resource Friends
  • Peace & Social Justice
    • Addressing Racism
    • Eco-Justice Collaborative
    • Environment
    • First Contact Reconciliation Collaborative
    • Legislative Policy Collaborative
    • Middle East Collaborative
  • Philadelphia Yearly Meeting
  • Quakers & Quakerism
    • Famous Quakers
    • Quaker History
    • Quaker Tourism
  • Religious Education
    • Friends Who Care For Youth
    • Middle School Friends
    • Young Adult Friends
    • Youth Programs

Before Footer

Resources

  • ★ Schedule a Zoom Call
  • ✓ Update Your Household Information
  • How To Guides
  • Library
  • Epistles
  • State of the Meeting Reports

Our Organization

  • Mission & Structure
  • Administrative Council
  • Nominating Council
  • Quaker Life Council
  • Finance
  • General Secretary
  • Employment

Our Community

  • How We Work Together
  • Addressing Racism
  • Collaboratives
  • Sprints
  • Threads
  • Resource Friends
  • Bridge Contacts

Footer

Contact Us

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting
1515 Cherry St
Philadelphia, PA 19102
info@pym.org
215-241-7045 (FAX)
Directory

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

Email Newsletters

The latest news, events and program updates from Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.

Subscribe →
© 2021 Philadelphia Yearly Meeting · Privacy Policy · SiteMap