Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends

Social Justice

Stories of Service: QVS Alumni Panel

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Quaker Voluntary Service​ invites you to a special QVS Alumni Panel on March 7th from 4-5:30pm. The panel will feature four young adults who served in QVS and currently live and work in the Philadelphia area. Panelists will share about the ​transformational experience of QVS​, and how they are engaged in spiritually-grounded service and community today. Alumni panelists include:

  • Olivia Chalkley, 2017-2018 Atlanta
  • Paloma Collazo-Vargas, 2019-2020 Philadelphia
  • Andrew Huff, 2015-2016 Boston
  • Maire Moriarty, 2013-2014 Philadelphia

QVS has five program cities including Atlanta, Boston, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Philadelphia, and Portland, OR. Each year, over 30 young adult Fellows spend a year serving with various social justice organizations, experiencing the Quaker Way, and living in community. Today, many Alumni play key leadership roles in Quaker meetings and organizations and work in settings which contribute to the healing of the world. These young adults infuse our Religious Society and the wider world with life and vision.

This event is free and open to the public. RSVP at ​quakervoluntaryservice.org/events​.

Let’s Talk with Local Farmers

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The Anti-Racism Committee of Moorestown Friends Meeting seeks to identify political and legislative priorities to support anti-racism. Given the Meeting’s roots in NJ farming, one obvious area of interest is agriculture. The committee acknowledges the systemic racism that permeates agriculture and farming in the United States. US Senator Cory Booker has taken note of the relative paucity of Black-owned farmland not just in NJ but throughout our nation. The direct connection between discriminatory practices of the USDA and the status of Black farmers was first documented by government-sponsored reports in 1997. The discrimination primarily took the shape of denying Black farmers timely access to government loans which caused Black farmers to lose their farms. The 2002 Farm Bill and the 2018 Farm Bill signaled progressive efforts to address this discrimination. While some progress has been made, e.g., an increase in the number of Black farmers and the acreage of Black farms, more is needed as the average farm income of Black-operated farms in 2017 was 40% of that of white-operated farms. To address this gap, the Justice for Black Farmers Act, co-sponsored by Senator Booker in late 2020, seeks to provide land grants to Black farmers.

On the recommendation of Member Pete Small, several committee members met for a tour of Free Haven Farm in early November 2020. We fell in love with the owners, the kale, and the fire sauce. Established in 2017, Free Haven Farms is a Black-owned farm in Lawnside, NJ. Its owners are Cynthia (Moorestown Friends School, 1997) and Micaiah Hall. The Halls are passionate about their mission of sustainability and attainability. To that end, Free Haven Farm produces much more than produce – farm tours, ag workshops, soil testing, garden consultation, a science camp for kids, and yoga and capoeira angola (Brazilian martial art) classes. Mr. Hall is the former Farm Director of Mill Creek Farm in Philadelphia. Dr. Cynthia Hall is an environmental geochemist and Associate Professor at West Chester University. Their farm reflects their interest in building bridges into the community through healthy food and food education for those with limited access to both.

Please join the Moorestown Meeting’s Anti-Racism Committee on Thursday, February 25 at 7:30 pm by Zoom for a conversation with Cynthia and Micaiah Hall. Click here or phone 646-558-8656 and use meeting #873 3565 8140.

Book Discussion: “Caste” by Isabel Wilkerson

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Join us for a discussion about “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent” by Isabel Wilkerson, a New York Times Bestseller and Oprah’s Book Club Pick.  Hosted by Haddonfield Monthly Meeting, the discussion will be facilitated by Karriem Lateef Salaam, a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at Friends Hospital, Philadelphia, and Clinical Assistant Professor, Drexel College of Medicine.   This event will be held on Tuesday, February 16, 2021, from 7-8:30 PM.

This is an online event. A link to Zoom will be emailed on the day prior to this event to all who have pre-registered.  Please use this link to pre-register:   https://www.southjerseyquakers.org/caste-registration/

Let’s Talk About Inauguration 2020

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The Anti-Racism Committee of Moorestown Friends Meeting invites you to a conversation about America’s journey toward equality as reflected in various events of inauguration day 2020. Click here to join us. Some useful resources you may like to review include:

President Biden’s inaugural address; transcript is here

National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman reads ‘The Hill We Climb’; transcript here

Many media outlets have reflected on the many ‘firsts’ related to this inauguration day; there’s a brief overview from Forbes magazine here.

Many of the proclamations and orders President Biden issued on his first day relate to racial justice.

Video of seven hours of the day’s events is here.

FCNL Changemaker Event: Strengthening Quaker Community

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Join us for our lively January Quaker Changemaker conversation about how advocacy and other forms of collective action can bring and hold us together. We’ll focus particularly on what we’ve learned about ways that virtual gathering and action can strengthen community bonds and spiritual experiences.

Our panelists will be Carolyn Levering and Jen Higgins-Newman. Carolyn will discuss how participating in FCNL’s Advocacy Teams can help bring new life to meeting communities. Jen will share perspectives from her work to facilitate community-building and community action as the program manager at Beacon Hill Friends House, a center for Quaker learning and action and a residential intentional community grounded in Quaker principles.

Providence Young Friends Host Immigration Vigil At Delaware County Courthouse

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Providence Meeting’s Middle School Friends led a highly successful vigil for immigrant rights at the Delaware County Courthouse on October 3, 2020. The event was to focus attention on the treatment of immigrants on the U.S. border and a call for action to address this issue. Supporting our middle school Friends were a large contingent from the Movement of Immigrant Leaders of Pennsylvania (MILPA) and local elected officials. [Read more…] about Providence Young Friends Host Immigration Vigil At Delaware County Courthouse

Let’s Talk with Moore Unity

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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.

Going Forward Together: Palestine as a lens to collective liberation

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The Middle East Collaborative of the Yearly Meeting hopes many will be interested in a webinar, Going Forward Together: Palestine as a Lens to Collective Liberation on Sunday, January 10 at 3 EST.  The panel includes Sa’ed Atshan, of Central Phila. Monthly Meeting and our Collaborative, and Assistant Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at Swarthmore College joined by Reverend Dr. Leslie D. Callahan, the first female pastor of the St. Paul’s Baptist Church of Philadelphia; & Rebecca Pierce, an African American and Jewish filmmaker in San Francisco. Moderator will be Tarek Abuata , Executive Director of SABEEL.   Learn about Friends of SABEEL in North America here  and Christian Jewish Allies here.

The panelists will discuss topics ranging from common struggles in countering racist systems of white supremacy and political Zionism, to efforts across movements to advocate for collective liberation, to our role in this movement. 

Directly following the Webinar, at 4:45, there will be an opportunity to share thoughts and reactions in a one-hour informal discussion hosted by the Tikkun Olam Chavurah and moderated by Rabbi Linda Holtzman. The link for this new conversation will be shared during the Webinar.

Register here.

Providence Meeting Unites on Racial Justice and Anti-Racism Statement

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Our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.

— Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

This fall Providence Meeting united around the following statement on Racial Justice and Anti-Racism.

Consistent with our mission, Providence Friends Meeting seeks to involve members and attenders as partners in the ongoing work of racial justice, advancing equity, and undoing the effects of racism. This work requires us to examine and transform our own individual beliefs and actions, the beliefs, actions and policies of our meeting as a corporate body, and to challenge the effects of racism in the larger society. These include, among others, disparities in healthcare, economics, housing, voting access, climate justice, the workplace, criminal justice, and education.

Goals

  1. As Providence Friends Meeting acknowledges and honors the fundamental value and dignity of all individuals, we strive to be a culturally safe space where all individuals and groups are treated with respect in regard to their unique cultural needs and differences.
  2. We strive to build a pluralist, anti-racist community that encourages participation and leadership among all Friends, and supports and elevates partners and community members most affected by racism and bias.

Providence Friends Meeting resolves to use these queries to further these goals.

Corporate Queries

  • How does our meeting support, model and encourage active and ongoing anti-racism work? How do we move all members forward on their journey to being their best selves?
  • How are we working to change the ways that our meeting benefits from privilege and systemic inequality?
  • How do we create “space at the table” for all individuals and groups?
  • How do we actively consider the effects of our decisions on those who have been harmed by racism?
  • How do we use Spirit-led decision making to promote equity, diversity, and inclusion rather than support structures that reinforce inequities?
  • How do we carry this work into our worship and committee work?

Individual Queries

  • How do I regularly examine myself for attitudes and behaviors that indicate any hidden prejudice?
  • If someone suggests that something I have said or done is racist or discriminatory, do I listen and consider their point of view?
    ● How do my lifestyle choices affect the causes of justice and injustice in our nation and the world?
    ● How do I seek ways to make my local community, state and nation more just and equitable?
    ● How do I challenge statements, practices, behaviors, and interactions that diminish, demean, disempower, or otherwise harm others and their identities?

How do I do this with loving kindness that honors that of God in each person?