EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S NOTE
Tenant Handbook Now Available Online
Friends Center now has an online Tenant Handbook!
The page links to our guidelines and policies, including community standards, catering guidelines, holiday schedules, key fob policies, and more. It also has links to request forms for room reservations, and for phone/Internet changes.
We did a “soft launch” of the page a few months ago. Now, we’d like to make it more visible—and to get your feedback. Please look at the page and let me know if you have questions or want to suggest additional information to post.
– Chris Mohr, Executive Director
STAFFING UPDATES
We are happy to announce Teneshia Washington is our new substitute evening/weekend desk clerk. You may know from her other roles with Prisoner Visitation & Support and Physicians for Social Responsibility – Philadelphia Chapter. Please introduce yourself if you don’t already know her!
Receptionist Jennifer Williams welcomed her new child, Josiah, in late December. Mother and baby are doing well. Please join me in wishing Jennifer, husband Stefan, and their family all the best.
AROUND FRIENDS CENTER
In case you missed it last month, New Century Trust joined us as a tenant in the 1520 Race Street building in January. They work to end political and economic inequalities facing women and girls in Greater Philadelphia. They were founded in 1882; one of their co-founders was a Quaker.
Meanwhile, Greenpeace’s Pennyslvania office moved out at the end of 2017. Their local field organizer is not far away, though; she now works with the local chapter of the ACLU!
PHONE SYSTEM UPDATE
As mentioned in an email to all tenants, the phone system is being transferred from AFSC to Friends Center. We will be working with the service provider, Watson Communications, to make the transition as seamless as possible. Costs and services will remain the same for the moment. We will have to switch out some digital or analog phones for “IP” phones, but that is a fairly quick process.
PARTNER NEWS
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends hosts Friends in Fellowship, a series of evening talks at the Historic Arch Street Meeting House, our sibling site at 4th and Arch Streets in Philadelphia.
These fun talks are designed to bring Friends & “friends of Friends” together for fellowship, refreshments, and networking. Events are free & open to the public.
- More info and full schedule: www.pym.org/fellowship
Event 1/25, 7 pm: “Teaching to the Heart, Teaching to the Mind”
- Sydney Coffin, English teacher at Edison-Fareira HS in North Philadelphia and a Yale National Initiative Fellow: methods for fostering students’ creative expression through poetry and art.
- Chris Bond, social studies teacher at West Windsor-Plainsboro North HS: impact of research in neuroscience on the importance of learning standards that involve social and emotional aspects of students.
American Friends Service Committee brownbag presentation:
“Tools for a new movement: Economic Activism”
Friday, Jan. 26, 12:30-1:30 pm
Martin Luther King, Jr. Room
Join AFSC’s Dalit Baum for a presentation entitled “Tools for a new movement: Economic Activism.” See the emails and the flyer in the lobby.
TENANT NEWS
Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity (PLSE) founder Mike Lee leaves to join DA’s office; Zane Johnson named managing attorney
» Philadelphia Magazine
» PLSE Press Release
Art-Reach organizes MLK Day art project for students from Overbrook School for the Blind
» Read more