Issue 52, September 2019Friends Center Tenant Newsletter
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S NOTE
I hope you had a good summer! The fall is often a time of renewed vigor and commitment, as well as cooler temperatures. When it’s nice out, please feel free to crack open the windows. As a LEED Platinum green building, it’s designed to use natural air conditioning.
Fall also comes with an uptick in the use of Friends Center’s event spaces. Please be sure to book your events well in advance!
Our staff does their best to balance the needs among our many tenants as well as the many outside groups that rent our facilities. Thank you for your patience and flexibility as we do our best to accommodate your requests. I also want to say how much I appreciate the good work of Shakirah Holloway, Erick Emerick, Jennifer Williams, Ed Waters, and our evening/weekend staff, who together keep the event facilities humming; thank you!
– Chris Mohr, Executive Director
AROUND FRIENDS CENTER
CONSTRUCTION ON RACE STREET
If you drive or bike down Race Street, be aware that there is street construction this week, possibly for as long as a month. The city is apparently replacing street light wiring on both sides of the street.
Find Us On…
Are you and your organization following Friends Center on social media? If not, we encourage and invite you to do so. We like to feature the posts of our partners and tenants!
Also be sure to check out Friends on 15th , our new podcast. We will soon be getting it listed on many of the podcast directories. Meanwhile, check out the podcast page on our website.
EQUITY PARTNER NEWS
AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE (AFSC)
All migrant children moved from Homestead detention center!
The American Friends Service Committee was one of several groups protesting the conditions and treatment of children at the Homestead facility and organizer Mariana Martinez declared victory.
PHILADELPHIA YEARLY MEETING (PYM)
Laramie: Travels with Josh
“Hello, my name is Joshua Ponter. I am a member of Haddonfield Monthly Meeting in South Jersey’s Philadelphia area. I have embarked on a year-long mission to travel around the country collecting stories about the founding of different meetings and looking at the way we practice Quakerism today. I will be blogging about my travels on the PYM website. Find my latest entry here. Please email me at JPonter1@gmail.com if there is anyone from your meeting who would like to sit down with me and speak to some of your history—or if you would like more information on me or my project. Thank you!”
CENTRAL PHILADELPHIA MONTHLY MEETING (CPMM)
Come one, come all to the meeting weekend
October 11-13: Uncovering Mysteries!
At Friends Center
The weekend will start on Friday, October 11, with a potluck and a dramatic reading of an original play about Mary Fisher, an early English Friend who undertook a dangerous journey alone to Turkey to tell the Grand Sultan about Quakerism.
Saturday will feature several workshops, including one on spiritual gifts offered by the Gifts and Leadings committee and a workshop led by Carolyn McCoy entitled “Opening to the Spirit.” After a catered lunch, families will enjoy a midday swim at Friends Select School as well as crafts and games. A highlight of the afternoon will be a tour of the “mysteries” of the building, including the secret safe and the windows and doors to nowhere. A talent show will follow a taco dinner, and will end with a fun overnight sleepover. Sunday morning before worship will feature a pancake breakfast.
TENANT NEWS
Singing City and Lyric Fest together in concert
Fall Concert–The Road Less Traveled
Saturday, October 5, 2019, 4 p.m.
Haddonfield United Methodist Church, 29 Warwick Road, Haddonfield, NJ 08033
Sunday, October 6, 3 p.m.
Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral, 23 S. 38th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Songs of journey and diaspora, welcome and belonging, leaving home and finding home. A timely program exploring world-wide migration and America’s roots as an immigrant nation.
The Alternative to Violence Project Presents
AVP: Introductory Workshops for Radical Peacemaking
Friends Center
Choose 1 day: Fri. September 6th, or Sat. September 7th
9:30 am – 4:00 pm (Sign in at 9:30, workshop at 10:00 am)
Complimentary lunch included. This event is free to attend, and registration is required
Click to Learn more about AVP.
EVENTS OUTSIDE FRIENDS CENTER
Peace Day Philly
Peace Day Philly is the Philadelphia region initiative for the International Day of Peace, September 21. We invite individuals, communities, organizations and civic leaders to use this powerful global platform to build peace on personal, local and global levels. Participate in a way that’s meaningful for you and your organization! Learn more.
Friday, September
13, 2019 –
Monday, September 23, 2019
The City of Philadelphia Office of Immigrant Affairs partners with more than 30 community organizations for 10 days to honor the city’s multiculturalism. The week’s aim: Engage immigrant communities like Philly’s Latino neighbors and neighborhoods, with a variety of to-be-announced events. Learn more.
On this episode of Friends on 15th we had the pleasure of interviewing Dena Herrin and Cherice Arrington of Girls INC! Take a listen and learn how girls get started learning to run the world!
Issue 51, August 2019
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S NOTE
In a time when it
seems every day brings news of some fresh example of injustice, violence, and
inequality, I’m glad to be a part of the Friends Center community. Of course,
it’s true that the people who work, attend events, or worship here are by no
means perfect nor better than anyone else. Still, a lot of good things are
happening here to advance justice, peace, and equality. This newsletter gives just
a few examples.
Speaking of the
newsletter, Jennifer Williams has been doing a great job collecting your
stories for it. I thank her for her good work. I am also pleased to announce
that she was recently promoted to the position of Guest Reception and Marketing
Coordinator. She has taken on new duties, such as producing our new podcast
(see next item), and I know you’ll want to join me in congratulating her.
– Chris Mohr, Executive Director
AROUND FRIENDS CENTER
As you all know by now (or at least that‘s what we’re hoping) Friends Center has launched its Podcast “Friends On 15th” and it’s a hit!!! Friends On 15th was birthed out of the appreciation we have for the good works being done by our tenants. Friends Center houses roughly 40 non-profit organizations, both Quaker and non-Quaker, whose mission statements we support. By this we were compelled to find a new way to help get their good doings on the front line.
We will be interviewing the organizations in our building, providing them with an opportunity to showcase their accomplishments.
We hope that you will give Friends On 15th a listen and look forward to hearing your feedback.
EQUITY PARTNER NEWS
AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE (AFSC)
The American Friends Service Committee was one of several groups protesting the conditions and treatment of children at the Homestead facility and organizer Mariana Martinez declared victory Saturday. Read more on this amazing story!
PHILADELPHIA YEARLY MEETING (PYM)
The Annual Sessions has ended and the atmosphere has shifted! As light hearts and smiling faces pass me by I couldn’t help but to wonder (as a non-Quaker) why are these individuals so filled up? Soon after, the opportunity to sit and briefly chat with attendees of Sessions was upon me.
I was able to gain a better understanding of the annual sessions and as a result, I am no longer in the dark about the Light. Below is a lovely and enlightening quote from one the the delegates who attended.
“It is no coincidence Sessions comes at a time of full bloom. A sense of expansiveness & freedom pervades the day and we are reminded of our commitment to come together. We gather with full whole hearts seeking spiritual renewal while enjoying sweet fellowship in an environment full of integrity & love.”
-Kimani Keaton, Gifts processing and data entry associate, PYM
CENTRAL PHILADELPHIA MONTHLY MEETING (CPMM)
TENANT NEWS
EVENTS OUTSIDE FRIENDS CENTER
Pardon Workshop with
X-Offenders for Community Empowerment
When: August 12, 2019 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Where: 2227 N. Broad Street Philadelphia PA 19132
Need assistance with a pardon? Wayne Jacobs, Co-Founder and Executive Director of X-Offenders for Community Empowerment is hosting a workshop to get you started with the pardon application. Mr. Jacobs hosts his clinic at 2227 N. Broad St, Philadelphia, PA 19123 every 2nd Monday from 6-7pm. For more details, please call 215-668-8477 or email jacobs19132@yahoo.com.
Hidden Lives Illuminated
Mark your calendars for the debut of Hidden Lives Illuminated! Short films created by currently-incarcerated artists will be projected onto the walls of Eastern State nightly August 15 through September 12. Learn more at HiddenLives.org. #HiddenLives
Issue 50, July 2019 Friends Center Tenant Newsletter
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S NOTE
TENANT COOKOUT
It’s hot outside, and once again it’s time to gather in the courtyard for good food, fun games, and great company here at Friends Center. It’s our way to thank the tenants for being part of the community here.
If you’re interested in being a tenant here at Friends Center, please contact Chris Mohr at 215-241-7191 or by email at cmohr@friendscentercorp.org
– Chris Mohr, Executive Director
AROUND FRIENDS CENTER
Check out our new podcast, “Friends on 15th”!
Beth Feldman Brandt and Melissa Talley-Palmer of the Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation joined us for the first episode of the Friends on 15th podcast (July 2019).
If you are interested in being featured on the Friends on 15th podcast, we encourage you to reach out to Jennifer Williams, our receptionist.
EQUITY PARTNER NEWS
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
Roots
IRL: Abolition, Global Solidarity, and the Future
An outside Netroots event
Evening of Saturday, July 13
Outside of Netroots we are building a communal space in Philadelphia grounded in organizing practices that are accountable to visions of divesting resources away from state violence at home and elsewhere, and investing instead in a future for our children, and in people power that remakes the world. Dream Defenders, AFSC, War Resisters League, Adalah Justice Project, and other partners are co-creating a spacetobring those in Netroots interested in people-powered movements who have been transforming Philadelphia and the planet into where the real work happens, in community and struggle.
We believe world-making starts within our communities so these sessions will share skills, experiences, and tactics that apply an abolitionist and internationalist framework through local specific strategies that can be enacted wherever you live. Towards a future without war, settler occupation, prisons, and police. Building a future with environmental justice, community safety, global accountability, and abundance.
11:00 am – 2:30/3 pm: Bus Tour of Black Radical History in Philadelphia led by Mike Africa Jr., preregistration required, can reserve a spot at the ticket link.
6:00 pm Dinner
8:30-9:30 Plenary presentation
Plenary presentation with Marc
Lamont Hill in conversation with Kempis “Ghani” Songster and Mike Africa Jr.
Register here: https://www.warresisters.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=40
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM)
Annual Sessions
July 24-28, 2019 at The College of New Jersey
Annual Sessions is a wonderful opportunity for Friends of every age from 100+ Meetings to gather together for fun, business, and fellowship. Grounded in Spirit, we conduct shared business, plan collective projects and learn from one another in worship sharing and in interesting workshops. We encourage YOU to register today! Drop by for just a session, stay for a day, or attend the whole five-day program.
The theme for the 339th Annual Sessions is “How do we Center ourselves in Trust and Love”.To “center” is to access the essential knowingness that you are alive, which is all you need to see what is true. Start with your breath. Notice how you breathe–feel the ground beneath you and the air that moves through your lungs and throat. Centering in trust and love is about the choices you make when truth comes knocking on your door. Trust compels us to open it willingly and joyfully and to welcome the transformation that might come next.
Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting (CPMM)
CPMM hosts Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting of Friends
Sunday, July 21
The day begins at 9:30 with a program titled “Climate, Race, Justice and Democracy: We’re all in this together.” Several Friends will share stories of their efforts to address the intersection of these issues. We will then take time in worship sharing to reflect on what we can learn from these connections and how we might bring greater joy, clarity, faithfulness or power to our engagement with this critical work in the world. From 12:15-1:00 pm, hospitality will take place and all are welcome to bring salads, dips, chips and light desserts. Meeting for Worship for Business will take place from 1-4.
TENANT NEWS
Girls Inc. Needs Your Support—Please Vote!
Girls Inc. of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey is a Philadelphia Foundation Key to Community grant finalist in the Opportunity Divide category. This funding opportunity is unique because the public will determine who will win. Top prize in each category is $200,000; second place is $100,000 and third place is $33,000. All nine winners will also participate in their fall Leadership Institute.
Every day until July 26th, you can vote for them once daily here. In addition to voting daily, please spread the word – we want everyone to know that we’re a finalist for this awesome opportunity. Thank you all for your support and happy voting!
RULES
Hosted by Community Ventures at Friends Center:
Lessons Learned: Living Building Challenge Affordable Housing Demonstration Project
Tue, 7/16/2019 – 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Please join Green Building United as they present the Living Building Challenge’s Affordable Housing Demonstration Project! Together we will review the design process and final design solutions, discuss lessons learned, and celebrate the success of the group! After a brief overview presentation, we will gather in small groups and review the project using the imperatives of The Living Building Challenge as a guide. The goals is to continue our efforts to provide sustainable affordable housing if dense urban environments, and to determine priorities for next steps. Project leaders will be on-hand to help guide discussions.
https://greenbuildingunited.org/events/lessons-learned-lbc-affordable-housing-demonstration-project
Rachel Miller becomes PLSE’s Director of Criminal Records Expungement
Via Generocity
Also, AFSC announces Jason Drucker as their new Associate General Secretary for Advancement.
EVENTS OUTSIDE FRIENDS CENTER
Decarcerate PA: Fundraiser for Philadelphia Bail Fund
Date: July 11th, 2019
Location: “Tattooed Mom” 530 South St, Philadelphia Pa 19147
Time: 7-9 pm
Join Decarcerate
PA as we celebrate and raise money for the Philadelphia
Community Bail Fund! Help bring our loved ones and
community members home. Enjoy raffle prizes from local businesses and artists.
Hear from Philly Community Bail Fund organizers about the success of Mama’s Day
Bail Out, and learn how to get involved throughout the year.
The Philadelphia Community Bail Fund posts bail for residents of Philadelphia
who cannot afford to pay bail while advocating for the abolition of bail and
pretrial detention in our city. Their goal is to end cash bail in Philadelphia
while working to free as many people as we can.
The Philadelphia Community Bail Fund is run by a collective of volunteer grassroots
organizers and active members of the community, including folks they have bailed
out. They are committed to organizing
with and for the people most directly impacted by the racist system of mass
incarceration, criminalization and policing. They use a non-judgmental approach
and do not consider a person’s charges to respect an individual’s
constitutional right to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.
Behold the newest additions to Friends Center: exterior signs to clearly identify us!
Issue 49, June 2019
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S NOTE
Our big news is visible for all to see, at least all who are outside the 1501 Cherry Street building on either Race Street or 15th Street. Keep your eyes peeled and you will see what I’m talking about.
After a very busy spring, June is still almost as busy, with a film premiere, a vegan flea market, several graduations, and more. As always, I would like to thank the Friends Center staff for all they do to provide the foundation for the work that you do—I am so grateful to you.
– Chris Mohr, Executive Director
AROUND FRIENDS CENTER
Film Premiere: Elder Voices
Philly Vegan Pop: 3rd Birthday
Energy Co-op Networking Reception & Annual Meeting
This is a great opportunity to learn more about recent developments at The Energy Co-op and reconnect with our community of energy consumers.
What: 2019 Networking Reception and Annual Member Meeting
When: Thursday, June 20th, 6:00 – 8:00pm
Where: The Friends Center, 1501 Cherry Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102
Light refreshments will be served. So that ECA may accommodate all who wish to attend, please RSVP here.
EQUITY PARTNER NEWS
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
Joyce Ajlouny, General Secretary of AFSC, will be one of three plenary speakers for the annual conference of Friends Association for Higher Education (also a Friends Center tenant). The other plenary speakers will be Maurice Eldridge, Vice Chair, The Chester Fund for Education and the Arts and Pendle Hill board member, and Frances Rose Blase, Provost of Haverford College (a participant in the Tri-College Consortium Philly Program, also a Friends Center tenant). Join teachers, scholars and educational administrators on the beautiful campuses of Swarthmore College and Pendle Hill Quaker Study and Retreat Center. The theme is “Truth and Inspiration” and other topics of interest to Friends and educators through presentations, panel discussions, and the plenary talks.
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM)
PYM Families Community Playdate
June 15, 2019 @ 9:30 am – 12:30 pm
Where: Please Touch Museum, 4231 Avenue of the Republic Philadelphia, PA 19131
Contact: Children and Families Program 215-241-7171Email
Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting (CPMM)
Join CPMM for meeting for worship on Sunday mornings at 11am. Be sure to ask for a parking placard to avoid any run-ins with PPA.
TENANT NEWS
New Century Trust:
2. Farrah Parkes Joins New Century Trust: “I have always wanted my work to be about making a difference”
New Century Trust, which works to build the economic and political power of women and girls throughout the Southeastern Pennsylvania region, announced it has named Farrah Parkes its new executive director. Parkes has worked for more than 15 years in the nonprofit sector. The new executive director of New Century Trust says that the private foundation’s focus on gender justice is a perfect fit.
Spark:
Seventh-grader Brooklyne Spraggins wins award for her business plan for a food
truck.
From left: Tara O’Neill and Jamie Gumina of KPMG; Brooklyne Spraggins, S. Weir Mitchell School; Elaine Melchiorre, Executive Board Vice Chair of PFCU; and Jeff Ryan, Executive Board Chair of Spark. (Courtesy photo)
More than 100 seventh-grade students from four Philadelphia schools—S. Weir Mitchell School, Middle Years Alternative, Boys’ Latin Charter School, and Henry C. Lea—came together May 21 for a project-fair style event at which they presented the career interest projects they developed with professional mentors. It is an initiative of Spark Philadelphia, a career exploration and mentoring nonprofit. Throughout the 2018-19 school year, Spark mentors—including architects, web developers, and engineers—volunteer to work with middle school students in a 13-week workplace-based mentoring program.
Brooklyne Spraggins, a seventh-grader at S. Weir Mitchell School, worked with mentors from KPMG to create a business plan for a Parisian food truck, complete with merchandise and a menu.
EVENTS OUTSIDE FRIENDS CENTER
PYM: Friends in Fellowship
Quakers Got Talent Concert
When: June 17, 2019 @ 7:30 pm
Where: William Penn Charter School – Kurtz
Center for the Performing Arts 3000 W School House Ln Philadelphia, PA 19144
Cost: $35 or pay your age
Contact: Grace Sharples Cooke215-241-7115 Email
This event will benefit PYM programs and gather our community around a fun event. Quakers Got Talent will feature an 8:00 PM performance with Rachel Zatcoff, a Broadway star, plus Emily Drinker (singer songwriter) and Zenaida Peterson (slam poet). Together they are donating their talents in support of our programming.
Friends in Fellowship is an event series that bring Friends—and friends of Friends—together for fellowship, refreshments, and networking. They are perfect for expanding your experience of Quakerism beyond Sunday Meeting for Worship.https://www.pym.org/fellowship/
Issue 48, May 2019 Friends Center Tenant Newsletter
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S NOTE
On June 1st, we welcome the Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania as our newest tenant. The Housing Alliance is a statewide coalition working to provide leadership and a common voice for policies, practices and resources to ensure that all Pennsylvanians, especially those with low incomes, have access to safe, decent and affordable homes.
One of our longtime tenants, Community Ventures, is a member of the Housing Alliance, making for a nice connection. (See below for some exciting news about Community Ventures’ work!)
– Chris Mohr, Executive Director
AROUND FRIENDS CENTER
Holiday Reminders:
QuakerSpeak Videos Filmed at Friends Center
The QuakerSpeak video series brings weekly interviews on contemporary topics to YouTube. The channel has over 2 million views to date. Many of the videos have been filmed in whole or in part at Friends Center. We’ve compiled a list of some of them here.
Get Informed, Get Inspired, Get Involved!
Date: Saturday, May 4
Time: 10am – 3pm
Location: Friends Center
Friends Committee on National Legislation and Philadelphia Yearly Meeting’s Legislative Policy Collaborative invite you to organize and mobilize with FCNL:
Lunch and childcare can be provided if noted on your RSVP.
EQUITY PARTNER NEWS
American Friends Service Committee
Happy 102nd Birthday AFSC! We thank you for all that you do and wish you many more successful years of changing the world! 3/30/1917
PHILADELPHIA YEARLY MEETING
Quakers Got Talent Fundraiser
Kurtz Center for the performing Arts
William Penn Charter School, 3000 W. Schoolhouse Ln, Philadelphia Pa
Date: Monday June 17, 2109
Doors Open: 7:30 Show time: 8pm
We are bringing Broadway to Philadelphia for a fundraiser to benefit PYM programs. Roy Zatcoff will perform with his daughter Rachel Zatcoff, who made her Broadway debut as Christine in “Phantom of the Opera” and is currently starring in an off-Broadway Yiddish version of “Fiddler on the Roof.” The slam poetry artist Zenaida Peterson and the singer-songwriter/NPR Tiny Desk Contest finalist Emily Drinker will add their talents to the mix.
CENTRAL PHILADELPHIA MONTHLY MEETING
Panel on Meeting-School Relations
Saturday May 11, 2019
Drew Smith, Executive Director of Friends Council on Education, and other panelists. (Time to be determined)
In the works for next fall: Sessions on the history of public education, of Friends education, and an overview of the history of education in philadelphia to imform us about what is going on and how we got to where we are.
TENANT NEWS
Community Ventures Wins PACDC Blue Ribbon Award
Congratulations to the staff, board and residents of Community Ventures on winning a 2019 Blue Ribbon Award from the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations (PACDC)! Centennial Village is a 51 unit mixed-use development that has transformed the West Parkside neighborhood. Community Ventures has transformed 44 previously vacant and blighted lots and buildings into a rejuvenated, vibrant block of affordable housing and commercial space.
http://www.community-ventures.org/pacdc-award/
After School All Stars: Hoop-a-thon, June 1
ASAS Philadelphia & Camden will host our 2nd annual All-Star Hoop-a-Thon at the historical Palestra at the University of Pennsylvania on June 1, 10 am–12:30 pm. All funds raised will expand ASAS’ programs and services for Title 1 students in our region. Register at https://afterschoolallstars.org/philcam-hoopathon19/.
CASA Annual Gala, May 8
At its annual gala, CASA will honor its 2019 “Champion for Children” Vai Sikahema, anchor of NBC10 Philadelphia News Today, former Philadelphia Eagles player and host of the weekly feature Wednesday’s Child. We will also honor our 2019 Outstanding CASA Advocates Allison Davenport and Jennifer Bellot. CASA Philadelphia is a volunteer-driven community organization serving abused and neglected children in foster care across our City. Our volunteers are in the courts, the schools, and every neighborhood speaking out on behalf of abused kids. Because of these volunteers, children attend class, stay connected to loved ones, and can return to a safe, permanent home sooner. More info.
EVENTS OUTSIDE FRIENDS CENTER
2019 FRIENDS CONFERENCE ON RELIGION AND PSYCHOLOGY:
The Mystical & Spiritual Dimensions of Trauma & Healing
May 24-27, 2019
Pendle Hill, Wallingford, PA FCRP is one of the oldest conferences in the U.S. dedicated to individual spiritual exploration with a focus on in-depth psychology, specifically Jungian psychology. The plenary speaker will be Donald Kalsched, Jungian Analyst. Interest Groups will meet on a wide range of topics including Creative Writing and Mindful Movement, Tai Chi, Death & Dying, the Joy of Movement, and Poetry Discussion. http://fcrp.quaker.org/
| Issue 47, April 2019 Friends Center Tenant Newsletter |
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S NOTE
I will let the cherry trees on Cherry Street speak this time, in honor of spring and upcoming Earth Day. Please take time to enjoy the courtyard and front plaza whenever you need a little break!
– Chris Mohr, Executive Director
AROUND FRIENDS CENTER
Get ready to celebrate Earth Day, Friends Center-style! Stop by to enjoy some water ice, pretzels and—oh, yeah—do some recycling. On Monday April 22nd we will be collecting all of your E-waste and shredding. Let’s use the next few weeks to do some spring cleaning and ready ourselves for Earth Day J. We can’t wait to see you there!
REMINDER ABOUT ROOM USAGE
While it is sometimes possible to use a room on a drop-in basis at the last minute, you must check with the front desk before doing so. With 40 organizations here on site, and another 70-80 outside groups a year using our facilities, we are very busy! Just because a room is empty now doesn’t mean it’s not booked 15 minutes from now. Also, as a courtesy, kindly do not use the glassed-in conference rooms (134, 135, 136) on the side of the Cherry Street Room when the Cherry Street is in use for an event. Whenever Cherry Street is not booked, you are very welcome to have a conversation or take a break at the round tables under the balcony or on the comfy chairs in Room 135. No reservations are necessary. All other common rooms should be reserved with Friends Center staff. Thank you!
EQUITY PARTNER NEWS
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC):
Annual Corporation MeetingApril 11-14 The AFSC Corporation is a body of approximately 120 Quakers from across the U.S. who gather once a year to conduct business, worship together, and connect AFSC and one another to the powerful witness of Friends’ work for peace and justice. You are invited to attend several of the events of the Corporation, especially the two public events and the workshop “dry runs” on Thursday. Come learn and engage with some of AFSC’s program work and provide feedback on the dry runs!
Public Events: Please RSVP and share!
Pedro Rios, “Love Knows No Borders” Action
Marc Lamont Hill, “Working across Borders for a Just Future”
Both events will be livestreamed. This is a great opportunity to connect with the work your colleagues in local offices are doing, as well as with Corporation members who represent AFSC to Quakers across the country. We hope to see you there!
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM)
Spring 2019 Sessions News + Young Adult Friends-Led Worship to End Berks Immigrant Detention On Saturday March 23, 117 people from 50 PYM Monthly Meeting communities convened for Spring Continuing Sessions near Reading PA. A summary of the day’s events is available here.
Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting (CPMM)
Film: “Quakers, the Quiet Revolutionaries”April 11, 2019, 6:30 pm
Location: Friends Select School Theater, 16th & the Parkway Central Philadelphia Friends Meeting invites you to a viewing of this documentary about Quakers, made by The Gardner Documentary Group. The 79-minute film illuminates tells the story of a spiritual movement that has played a remarkable role in the religious, social and political life of our nation. Demonstrating an influence disproportionate to their numbers, Quakers have led anti-slavery, civil rights and women’s rights movements and been strong advocates for world peace. The event is free of charge.
TENANT NEWS
CAIR-Philadelphia Banquet a SOLD OUT Success!
More than 900 American Muslims, interfaith leaders, and social justice activists gathered at Springfield Country Club on Saturday, March 9th, for the 13th Annual Banquet of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. US Congresswomen Susan Wild, Chrissy Houlahan, and Mary Gay Scanlon were present, along with other political, community, religious and interfaith leaders, and imams and representatives from almost all of the Delaware Valley Islamic centers and mosques. At a reception before the banquet, both Rep. Wild and Rep. Houlahan spoke movingly about the need for a united stance against Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, and white supremacy. Learn more about this event.
Singing City:
T-VOCE presents
Unity in Diversity: Celebrating our Differences and Embracing our Similarities
Wednesday, April 10, 2019, 7 p.m.
BOK Building, 800 Mifflin St, Phila PA 19147
This hour-long performance will explore identity, both individual and communal, through art, dance, music, and spoken word. This concert is a collaboration between Backstage Pass (Opera Philadelphia’s theater technical after-school program), Esperanza Dance Ensemble, and T-VOCE (Teen Voices of the City Ensemble). T-VOCE is made possible due to a partnership between Art Sanctuary, Opera Philadelphia, Play On, Philly!, and Singing City. Register.Note: T-VOCE rehearses here in the Race Street Room!
COMMUNITY ITEMS OUTSIDE FRIENDS CENTER
Art that Liberates: Celebrating Creative Work by Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated People
Tickets
When: April 13, 2019 @ 1:30–5:30 pm
Where: The Barn at Pendle Hill 338 Plush Mill Rd Wallingford, PA 19086
Cost: $60 includes light refreshments
Contact: Jesse White 610-566-4507 x137 EmailEvent website
Philly Spring CleanupApril 6 | Citywide
The City of Philadelphia’s annual Philly Spring Cleanup will take place on Saturday, April 6! It’s the largest citywide cleanup of the year, and your help will make it a success.
Thousands of volunteers take part in cleaning their neighborhoods and parks each year. Your enthusiasm and dedication will make this the best year yet!
Choose from about 300 projects all over the city. You can stay local or help a different neighborhood. Grab a friend or neighbor and volunteer together! Learn more and sign up.