From the Director

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Time for Community

As always, thank you for making our city, state, nation, and world a better place. We appreciate that you choose to do it here at Friends Center. In these urgent and uncertain times, it is more important than ever to have the community, connection, and collaboration here. We are grateful that Friends Center serves as a container to hold space for your work. We count on you to keep going forth and doing it, even as circumstances change daily!

—Chris Mohr, Executive Director

Around Friends Center

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Closed for Juneteenth, June 19

Friends Center will be closed on Thursday, June 19, for the Juneteenth holiday. Here are some activities and resources for the day:

» Philadelphia parade and festival

» Juneteenth Philly

HVAC maintenance 6/19-20

Friends Center’s heating, ventilation, and cooling system will be off for needed maintenance on June 19. It will be off at least through Friday morning, 6/20. It may be warm in the facility on Friday. You may wish to work from home that Friday if you can.

EVENTS

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Acts of Reparation Film Screening, Sun., 6/15, 7 pm

Acts of Reparation follows two friends as they explore what reparations means to them. Selina, who is Black, and Macky, who is white, have been friends and filmmaking partners for 25 years. The screening will be followed by a conversation with Breanna Moore, whose scholarly expertise is the abolition of the slave trade in the 19^th century. Sponsored by Central Philadelphia Friends Meeting, reparationWorks, and the Grassroots Reparations Campaign.

» Details and link to register.

Friends Center events: A great value for a Center City venue!

As always, please let your colleagues, peers, and friends know about our meeting spaces. We provide a great value, robust facilities, the convenience of Center City, and a friendly staff—and always a nonprofit discount! Thank you.

Equity Partner News

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Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM)

Registration is Open for Annual Sessions

PYM Annual Sessions takes place in late July at Cheyney University and on Zoom. The theme is “Members One of Another.” PYM is glad to partner with Cheyney—the first Historically Black College or University (HBCU). They were founded in part with a grant from a Quaker family. Friends are invited to join as a community, either in person or online, based on what works best for you.

» More info and register here.

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)

AFSC Speaks out on National Guard Deployment to Los Angeles

» Read AFSC’s statement

Photo: Jon Krieg, AFSC (taken in Iowa!)

People’s Tribunal – Fridays with Fetterman

AFSC is part of a coalition called “Fridays with Fetterman.” They recently held a “people’s tribunal” here. Read the WHYY article.

Central Philadelphia Friends Meeting (CPFM)

CPFM Hosts Quakers Walking from Flushing, Queens, NY, to Washington, DC

In May, a group of Quakers walked from Flushing, Queens, NYC, to Washington, DC. They stopped at Friends Center to present to CPFM. They brought a copy of the 1657 Flushing Remonstrance, a petition from Dutch settlers in Flushing to Pieter Stuyvesant after he banned Quakers, then a new sect. The neighbors said they would be good neighbors to the Quakers and treat them by the Golden Rule.

The Quaker Walk 2025 called on Quakers and everyone today to be good neighbors to immigrant neighbors today. Read the story by the Associated Press.

Decal on Quaker walk support vehicle, while at Friends Center.

Tenant News

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Joyful Readers

Not Joyful news, unfortunately

» Philadelphia tutoring program focused on student literacy cut by DOGE. Chalkbeat News.

» Philly lost $10.2 million in the latest round of DOGE funding cuts to AmeriCorps. The cuts targeted eleven education programs, including CityYear, Teach for America, and Joyful Readers: Inquirer.

» Nonprofit Quarterly: Hillary Kane, PHENND

» Lawsuit filed by 24 states + DC

Tract Association Of Friends

New website

Ordinarily we would not necessarily focus on an organization’s new website in this newsletter, but in this case, it gives us an opportunity to tell you more about one of our quieter Quaker tenants!

Founded in 1816, the Tract Association has published pamphlets, essays and books on Friends beliefs, concerns, history, and practice. They also have a calendar numbered with the months and days according to traditional Quaker practice (Firstmonth and Firstday, etc.).

» Website: tractassociation.org

Philadelphia Youth Sports Collaborative

10^th Year Anniversary Celebrations Kick off

Congratulations to PYSC on kicking off its 10^th anniversary celebrations with a reception here at Friends Center!

Gender Justice Fund

May was Masc Ally Month

In May, Gender Justice Fund recognized Masc Ally Month. This year’s events focused on fighting transphobia.

Physicians for Social Responsibility PA

PSR-PA opposes PGW rate hike

PSR-PA is among those groups telling regulators to reject potential PGW rate hike and to plan better for climate impacts.

» Initial story on WHYY, May 7

» Follow up on June 10: Philadelphia Gas Works says it is seeking facts in the rate hike case. Climate advocates say the utility is trampling on First Amendment rights. Read more.

So much depends
upon

a green oak
leaf

dotted with rain
drops

beside the Quaker
Meetinghouse

(Hat tip to William Carlos Williams.)

The American Friends Service Committee supersized their yard signs into banners for our fences on 15th Street and Race Street.

They say, “Quakers welcome migrants with dignity.”

Read more about what Quakers are for, not just what we’re against, by reading AFSC’s six principles for welcoming, dignified, and just immigration: afsc.org/welcome.

Participants in the Quaker Walk 2025 visited Friends Center on 5/11/2025.

A group of Friends from Brooklyn Quaker Meeting organized the walk as a Quaker/interfaith pilgrimage for peace and justice. They are walking from Flushing, Queens, to Washington, DC, to “affirm & defend everlasting human rights across all borders.”

They are carrying with them a copy of the Flushing Remonstrance of 1657. The remonstrance was a letter from settlers in Flushing (now part of Queens, NYC) to Peter Stuyvesant, Director General of New Holland, who had banned Quakers and Quaker worship. They wrote to say they would not, but would welcome any Quakers, and people of other faiths, who approached them with love. They said they would do unto others as they would have done unto them.

Today Quakers are well established. These Friends today call us to welcome new immigrants and other faiths in the same way that our neighbors in Flushing welcomed us in 1657.

Here is a photo of their support van in our loading zone. You can see the windows of the Race Street Quaker Meetinghouse reflected in the van windows!

Congratulations to our tenant Philadelphia Youth Sports Collaborative on launching their 10th anniversary celebration in our courtyard today!

You too can have your event in Friends Center’s conference and meeting spaces, with access to the outdoor courtyard.

Click here to learn more about events at Friends Center, the Quaker hub for peace and justice in Center City Philadelphia.

Philadelphia Youth Sports Collaborative, one of our many excellent nonprofit office tenants, has their 10th anniversary kickoff celebration here Friday, 5/2/25. Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker will speak and show her support for sports-based youth development programs!

Check out this brief video from Beth Devine, PYSC executive director.

For Earth Month, we got a new recycling bin outside our front door. Now you can dispose of your recyclable containers even before you enter our office building or the Race Street Quaker Meetinghouse. Reduce, reuse, recycle. And compost when you can!

Learn more about our green building and Quaker testimony on care of creation on this page.

Our courtyard gardens between the Race Street Quaker Meetinghouse & our office building are an oasis of peace in Center City Philly. Now showing: Carolina silverbell, lilacs, and a shrub. Could it be alnifolia, aka summersweet or coastal sweet pepperbush?

The Tri-College Philly Program of Bryn Mawr, Haverford & Swarthmore colleges held a social sciences colloquium on the topic of “elites” here on the evening of 4/17/2025.

We are pleased to have Tri-Co Philly as one of our many office tenants! Tenants also have access to the event spaces in our office building & Quaker Meetinghouse.

APRIL 2025, Issue 100!

FROM THE DIRECTOR

Welcome to the Pennsylvania Policy Center!

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In these days of uncertainty, this kind of advocacy at the local, state, national, and international levels is more important than ever. Friends Center is glad to be a facility and a community for PPC and all of the organizations here who are working to create a better community and world.

Please join me in welcoming Pennsylvania Policy Center, our newest tenant. According to their website, PPC “creates the tools that political officials, opinion leaders, grassroots organizations, and the people of Pennsylvania need to expand our vibrant democracy, secure our freedom, and seek economic justice in Pennsylvania.” They conduct research, develop policy ideas, educate legislators and advocates, and partner with grassroots organizations.

—Chris Mohr, Executive Director

AROUND FRIENDS CENTER

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Earth Day E-Waste and Shredding Collection Drives

The Friends Center’s annual Earth Day E-waste and shredding day is upon us. Collection for this will start Monday April 14th and will continue until Monday April 21st.

Collection will take place in the front lobby. Please refer to Erick’s email for materials that will be accepted. Yes, you can bring items from home!!

Let Erick know if you have other questions: (215) 241-7190 or eemerick@friendscentercorp.org.

Thank you for your participation!

TV episode filmed at Race Street Meetinghouse: now showing?

In late 2023, the Worship Room in the Race Street Meetinghouse was the setting for a scene in “Dope Thief,” based on the novel by Dennis Tafoya. In the book, one of the characters takes a break and decides to attend a Quaker meeting for worship.

The show is now streaming on Apple TV. If anyone watches it, please let us know if Friends Center made the final show or if we ended up on the cutting room floor!

» Show streaming on Apple TV

» Inquirer feature article

EVENTS

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Friends Center event spaces: A great value, right in Center City!

Friends Center continues to provide a great value, with robust facilities, a convenient Center City location, and our friendly and staff. We serve a wide variety of community organizations, both local and non-local, in addition to all of our tenant organization. We can also host weddings and memorial services.

Please let your colleagues, peers, and friends know about our meeting spaces, and be sure to tell them we always have a nonprofit discount! Here’s a shareable link:

» Book your next event at Friends Center!

EQUITY PARTNER NEWS

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Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM)

Local Quaker Meetings support PYM’s lawsuit

As mentioned last time, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting sued the Department of Homeland Security in January for reversing the “sensitive sites” policy, which would allow ICE to conduct immigration enforcement actions inside houses of worship, among other locations. A judge granted a temporary injunction to prevent ICE from entering the plaintiffs’ houses of worship without a judicial warrant.

Many Quaker monthly meetings—the local congregations of Friends—have approved minutes of support. They are collected on PYM’s website here.

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)

AFSC Corporation Meeting to be held at Friends Center April 24-26

The AFSC Corporation is the highest level governing body of AFSC. This year’s theme is “Healing Through Justice: Our Collective Journey.” Publicly accessible programs include several workshops and a commemoration of the 50^th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. The event will include a conversation with AFSC’s Archivist, Don Davis.

» Learn more.

Central Philadelphia Friends Meeting (CPFM)

CPFM to Host Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting;
Head of Brummana Friends School in Lebanon to Speak

April 27, 12:45 pm

CPFM is one of eight meetings in Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting of Friends. As its name implies, the Quarterly Meeting (PQM) meets once a calendar quarter, except in the summer, when Philadelphia Yearly Meeting has its Annual Sessions.

CPFM will host the next meeting of PQM here at Friends Center. The featured speaker will be David Grey, head of Brummana High School, a Quaker coeducational day and boarding school in Brumanna, Lebanon. It was founded by British Quakers in 1873.

» Register here

TENANTS

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In-Advance

Spadework training at Friends Center
May 8-9, 2025

Spadework is In-Advance’s community organizing training program. This training will focus on “Back to Basics”: base-building. developing leadership, and organization as spaces for transformation.

» Learn more and register here.

Singing City

1. Spring Concert: Remembrance & Resilience Through Song 

Thursday, May 1, 7:30 p.m.
Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel
8339 Old York Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027

Sunday, May 4, 3 p.m.
The Church of the Holy Trinity Rittenhouse Square
1904 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103

Singing City and Nashirah, Julia Zavadsky, director, will collaborate on a concert featuring music with themes of resilience and hope, including Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Mari Esabel Valverde’s When Thunder Comes, and Rollo Dilworth’s Weather.

2. New Executive Director

After 16 years as Executive Director, Lauren Anderson will retire at the end of May. As a long-time member of the choir, she hopes to enjoy many more years singing with this remarkable ensemble. Her grandfather, the Rev. A. Herbert Haslam, in his work with Philadelphia’s Fellowship House in the 1940s, was the catalyst for the choir’s creation. Founded by Elaine Brown, it began as Fellowship House Choir in 1948.

After an extensive search, Singing City has hired Michael Bolton, to start June 1. Michael has worked on community initiatives at Opera Philadelphia and as a host on WRTI, among many other pursuits.

Congratulations, Lauren, and we look forward to welcoming Michael!

Philadelphia Youth Sports Collaborative

2024 Annual Report

PYSC’s report highlights a year of growth, impact, and momentum for the future of youth sports in Philadelphia. This past year, PYSC:

 ✅ Launched the Philly Youth Sports Fund, securing city investment to support community-based programs.

 ✅ Hosted the PYSC Summit: Sports & Mental Health, bringing together experts, coaches, and advocates.

 ✅ Expanded partnerships to provide more kids with access to quality coaching, safe spaces, and life-changing opportunities through sports.

IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

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Friends Select School

Community Pantry on Race Street

Friends Select School is now hosting a community pantry on the 1600 block of Race Street. 

A year ago, they initiated a pantry pilot program for spring semester. The pilot was incredibly successful, and the school decided to formally continue the pantry, which is now open to anyone in the community 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Please help spread the word by sharing the following announcement:

Friends Select School Community Pantry

• The FSS community pantry is located on the 1600 Block of Race Street, mid block on the south side of the street.
• The pantry accepts and offers dry food goods, canned items, individual snacks or beverages, toiletries, clean socks, and clean hats & gloves seasonally.
• The pantry can not accept prepared food or meals or any items that need to be refrigerated.
• Items can be placed directly into the pantry, or, if the shelves are full, items can be left at FSS reception at 17th and the Parkway.

If your organization is interested in hosting a drive for pantry items and would like to schedule a drop-off time, please contact Margaret Smith (margarets@friends-select.org).

WIDER QUAKER COMMUNITY

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“The Return of Benjamin Lay”

Quintessence Theater
7137 Germantown Ave. (Mt. Airy), Philadelphia
May 1 – May 18, 2025

A play based on Marcus Rediker’s book The Fearless Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf Who Became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist,is coming to Philadelphia’s Quintessence Theater in Mt. Airy. Given the themes, we thought folks at Friends Center might be interested.

From the theater:

“2025. In the silence of a Quaker meeting house, Benjamin Lay – shepherd, sailor, revolutionary, and the British Empire’s first revolutionary abolitionist – returns from the grave almost 300 years after his death, as feisty and unpredictable as ever.

“The 4ft “David” confronts the “Goliath” of slavery as he demands once again to be readmitted into the Quaker community that disowned him for ideas considered dangerous and disruptive.”

» Tickets available here.

Quaker Voluntary Service seeks an Executive Director

Quaker Voluntary Service (QVS) is now accepting applications for a new Executive Director. You would be a great fit for this position if you believe Quaker spirituality has something to offer social justice movements and young adults; you have interest and skills at administration and financial management; and you have experience working with nonprofit structures, including board collaboration and staff supervision and management. See the full job description at https://quakervoluntaryservice.org/employment/.

How to apply: Email a cover letter and resume to the QVS Board Executive Director Search Committee, at ExecSearch@quakervoluntaryservice.org. Interviews will be scheduled on a rolling basis as applications arrive, with priority given to applications received by April 15, 2025. Desired start date is July 1, 2025, but can be flexible for the right candidate.