Tag: July

Friends Center July Tenant Newsletter: Drill! Build! Paint!, A New Newsletter & CASA’s 7 figure piece of the pie

Issue 80, July 2022

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S NOTE   

The big news is about construction!

—Chris Mohr, Executive Director  

AROUND FRIENDS CENTER

Construction Update 1:
Friends Child Care Center

General contractor MJ Settelen projects work will be completed for the new Friends Child Care Center facility in the Lower Level of the main office building in mid-September. FCCC will need time to move in and to complete the inspection process. Once they move, we will freshen up the main meeting rooms, and those will once again be available for tenant events and meetings. We hope all spaces will be available by October 1, if not sooner. However, as with any construction project, especially in today’s economy, there may be unanticipated delays.

Refresher: Friends Center’s Shared
Event and Meeting Spaces

Construction Update 2:
1520 Race Street

Friends Select School expects to occupy 1520 Race Street as their new STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) building by the end of August. They will be doing exterior brick work in the next week or so, so there will be more activity in the courtyard. Please use caution when visiting the courtyard.

EQUITY PARTNER NEWS 

PHILADELPHIA YEARLY MEETING (PYM)

In the Light:
The Yearly Meeting’s Print Newsletter

Earlier this month, we sent out a print newsletter to Friends in the yearly meeting. We plan to send out a print issue of the newsletter quarterly. This issue of the newsletter illustrates a new way in which our yearly meeting has been called—and our faithful response to it—the call to witness against racism. You can read it online.

Engaging in PYM-wide corporate (meaning of the body) witness is one of the strategic directions we approved in 2014. Six months after accepting those directions, we committed to a witness to address racism. The minute we approved expressly declares that the ministry is not one to be given to a group of people to carry on behalf of PYM but that we are all to find our way in it. All Friends, all households, and all meetings are asked to consider what their own response to the call is.

Many of the stories in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting reflect our journey to eradicate racism, create spaces of belonging, and transform our inner lives. This newsletter is filled with a selection of those stories from local monthly and quarterly meetings and PYM groups. Read, be inspired, and share your meeting’s stories on the PYM website so we may continue to know one another.

The next newsletter will be sent out in the Fall and will include a gathering of stories about all topics from across the yearly meeting. If your meeting has a story to submit, please do so at pym.org/news/share-a-story/.

Also, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting is conducting its 342nd annual sessions this week!

AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE (AFSC)

Read about AFSC New Mexico’s Farm to School project, an effort to create a replicable model for school food procurement that supports local producers for sourcing fresh, healthy produce for school children.

CENTRAL PHILADELPHIA MONTHLY MEETING (CPMM)

“What is First Day School?”

“What if I have babies or toddlers?”

“What if I have school-aged children?”

“What does Quaker Spiritual Education for Kids Look Like?”

“What is your child safety policy?”

The answers to all of these questions and others resources concerning religious education for children can be found here.

TENANT NEWS

CASA Scheduled to Receive $1.8 Million
Pennsylvania CASA is excited to share that Governor Wolf signed the budget adopted by the General Assembly into law and CASA is scheduled to receive $1.8 million.

“This is an exciting time for CASA in Pennsylvania. It is the result of years of work by the state office including staff, board, and volunteers. We were lucky to be supported by local programs at different points in the process. There is still a lot of work ahead for all of us, but the opportunities this funding provides for CASA are great and worth all the effort.”

Full Article Available Here…

Women in Housing & Finance PA Event 2 :
Philadelphia

Address:  Triple Bottom Brewing 915 Spring Garden St, Philadelphia, PA 19123

When: Friday, July 29, 2022 6 PM – 8 PM

We’re back! Women in Housing & Finance PA (WHF-PA) is returning to in-person with events in three locations across Pennsylvania in late July and early August. Join us for some or all of the summer events!

Join us as WHF-PA returns to in-person events for an outdoor happy hour at Triple Bottom Brewing in Philadelphia! The beautiful patio on Spring Garden Street will be reserved for our members and guests. Registration includes one alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage and snacks. Register here, we’ll see you there!

QuakerSpeak Video:

“On Quaker Deathways: Practices Around Death and Dying”

QuakerSpeak is a production of new tenant Friends Publishing Corporation. FPC also publishes Friends Journal magazine.

“Working as a healthcare chaplain—you know, almost all modern healthcare chaplains are interfaith chaplains. It’s actually against the chaplain’s code of ethics to proselytize any particular faith, and so my Quaker faith set me up very well for that—just to understand that there’s that of God in every person and to be genuinely curious to meet them where they are.”

—Carl Magruder (The Accidental Chaplain) Video: https://youtu.be/jc6ajthaedE

Friends Center Tenant Newsletter: Going Once, Going Twice, SOLD!, Upgrades, Job Openings and more!

Issue 73, August 2021 

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S NOTE  

As announced in February, we have now completed the sale of the 1520 Race Street building to Friends Select School, effective today! 

Thank you to everyone involved, including former tenants of 1520, who collaborated with us on plans for relocation of workplaces and storage; the advisors & board of directors of Friends Center, who thoroughly reviewed every aspect of the deal; and especially the staff and contractors of Friends Center. In particular, a big shout-out to Erick Emerick for managing our side of the move-out.   

– Chris Mohr, Executive Director 

AROUND FRIENDS CENTER 

We’ve upgraded! That’s right, our Historical Quaker Meetinghouse has been updated with some modern-day technology. The Race Street Room now features a built in PC, camera and microphones giving super hosts the ability to hold Zoom meetings. 

What’s that??? Over having zoom meeting you say?!!? No problem! You can now invite up to 300 in person guests to meetings in the worship room. And the room now has air conditioning for hot weather! (Masks required.) 

EQUITY PARTNER NEWS  

PHILADELPHIA YEARLY MEETING (PYM) 

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting recently completed their 341st Annual Sessions, which was virtual again this year.  You may review all of Annual Sessions or focus on the parts that speak to you the most: 

AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE (AFSC) 

ARE THERE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS HIDDEN IN YOUR INVESTMENTS? 

Knowing what you own is the first step to aligning your investments with your values. You be invested in state violence through companies involved in mass incarceration, immigrant detention and surveillance, military occupation, or the border industry. 

Our database includes original research and lists over 150 company and industry profiles. Learn how companies profit from and support state violence. Then use this knowledge to create change.

CENTRAL PHILADELPHIA MONTHLY MEETING (CPMM) 

Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting is now hosting in person and virtual Meeting for Worship. Meeting for Worship will begin at 11a.m., and unfortunately is no longer followed by coffee hour. The building will close at 1 pm. If you wish to attend CPMM’s virtual Worship, please email the meeting office at office@cpmm.org to get the meeting ID and password. 

TENANT NEWS 

Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance 

The Conference 

What does the future of energy efficiency look like? A difficult year has given us new appreciation for “business-as-usual” conditions. But as the industry recovers, we’re facing a unique opportunity to look beyond the old “normal” and shape the future. KEEA and EEA-NJ’s first in-person event of 2021, Forging the Future for Energy Efficiency, presents two days of forward-looking programming examining the policies, technologies, and companies pushing our industry into a new period of growth and innovation. 

When: September 22-23rd at the Philadelphia Navy Yard; act by August 13th for early bird pricing! 

» Register here. 

Community Ventures 

 Job Opening: Assistant Rental Manager 

Community Ventures is a non-profit, mission-driven developer and property manager of affordable housing in Philadelphia. 

Seeking a career-minded and energetic Assistant Rental Manager to join the team managing a group of affordable residential properties in North Philadelphia. Click here for responsibilities, requirements and benefits.

IN THE (QUAKER) NEIGHBORHOOD 

Do you know a Quaker leader?   

FCNL is searching for a new General Secretary. 

The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) seeks a Spirit-led, seasoned, and strategic leader who brings vision, inspiration, and executive experience to the role of General Secretary. The new General Secretary will be a courageous Quaker leader with a commitment to justice, peace, and environmental stewardship; to expanding diversity, equity, and inclusion within the FCNL community and beyond; and to building and nurturing relationships across political and organizational divides that promote healing of divisions in the Congress and the country. 

A position profile is posted on the FCNL website at www.fcnl.org/gssearch.  

July Newsletter – New additions, Farewells, Annual Sessions and much more!

Issue 62, July 2020

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S NOTE:
Some Notes on Moving from Yellow to Green

Philadelphia’s move to the “green” phase of the governor’s reopening process has been delayed at least a month. During the yellow phase, organizations that can telework are supposed to continue doing so. One of the main differences for the green phase is that teleworking will be “encouraged,” but not required.

                Meanwhile, Friends Center has adapted its facilities and its cleaning and operational practices to address the Covid-19 pandemic. (See guidelines, linked to the right.) Signage is up throughout the facility to assist you with keeping the appropriate distances. Fortunately, our heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems generally follow best practices, such as having air flow from ceiling to floor. We are introducing more fresh air than usual into the main office building through the air handler unit on the roof. And anyone in an office or suite with operable windows can just open the window!

Food for Thought on Statues…
In other news, author Diana Butler Bass recently wrote a thread on Twitter about the statue of Mary Dyer in Boston. Friends Center has a casting of that statue, too, of course.

                The thread is very thoughtful, especially in light of the efforts to remove offensive statues here and in cities across the country. Notably, Butler Bass reflects, “The state put up a statue to one of its most innocent victims. Not the theocratic overlords who murdered Mary Dyer.”

– Chris Mohr, Executive Director

AROUND FRIENDS CENTER

Friends Center will be closed on 7/3/2020 in recognition of Independence day. We will reopen on Monday 7/6/2020.

New: CHANGING TABLE!

In doing our best to consider the guests and tenants of our facility, we’ve decided to install a changing table in our handi-capable gender-neutral bathroom on the first floor of the 1501 Cherry Street building. Thank you to Friends Center’s own Jennifer Williams and CPMM’s Dan Zemaitis for the suggestion!

Saying a Fond Farewell

This month we say farewell to three longtime tenants of Friends Center, who are making other arrangements for work in the current times:

  • Center for the Study of Economics
  • Food and Water Watch Pennsylvania Office
  • Friends Association for Higher Education

We wish them all the best in their new working arrangements, and appreciate having had them as part of our Friends Center community.

EQUITY PARTNER NEWS

AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE (AFSC)

The Poor People’s Campaign: Worthy of Quaker support then and now;

Just days before his assassination in 1968, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. sent a letter soliciting funds for the Poor People’s Campaign that read, in part, “[The Southern Christian Leadership Conference] SCLC cannot wait; it cannot watch as the only systematic response to riots are feverish military preparations for repression. It cannot sit in appalled silence and then deplore the holocaust when tragedy strikes. We cannot condone either violence or the equivalent evil of passivity.”

More than five decades later, it is chilling how applicable those words still are.

  • Read the full article by Joyce Ajlouny, AFSC’s General Secretary.

PHILADELPHIA YEARLY MEETING (PYM)

Annual Sessions Coming Soon

Plus: Runway to Annual Sessions

As we approach our 340th Annual Sessions, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting will be hosting virtual workshops, Mindfulness Meditation classes, and Plenary Sessions as a part of our Runway to Annual Sessions series. 

Featured Online Workshop:

Accompaniment as Anti-Racist Practice for Social Change
Lucy Duncan, AFSC

TUESDAY, JULY 6, 6-8 PM

Free of charge

Accompaniment as spiritual practice offers a way for deep relational shifting and for showing up for the long haul while learning deeply how to be present for both the momentary and longer term needs of the community you are hoping to support.

For a full list of scheduled offerings (June 15 – July 25), and registration follow the link.

CENTRAL PHILADELPHIA MONTHLY MEETING (CPMM)

CPMM Virtual Meeting for Worship Sunday’s at 11 am

We will be using the Zoom computer application (app) to host this meeting, which you can download here: https://zoom.us/support/download. Once you have the app loaded on your digital device, you simply will need to click on the given link at meeting time, and you automatically will be in the virtual meeting space. The login information for joining this meeting is below. We have recently moved to a password-protected meeting. If you have not received the password in the email from the meeting secretary, please contact the meeting office at office@cpmm.org. 

NEWS

  • Friends Journal Article; Who’s the Proper Quaker Now?