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Civil Resistance Documentary Films Launch
Dear Friends,
Our former member at Putney Friends Meeting, Steve Chase, has shared these free resources in non-violent resistance.
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The Love That Overcomes
November 3, 2018
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God –Romans 8:38-39
This week, Quaker communities of faith across the six New England states are mourning with our Jewish neighbors the deadliest act of violence against Jews in this country’s history. We mourn with all who are targeted by hate. We join our hearts in grief with the grieving. We search for ways to respond to the corrosive evils of anti-Semitism, white supremacy, and the persecution of those labeled as “other,” even as we acknowledge our own complicity in these sins. We yearn for justice, for healing, for refuge for those most at risk. In town squares, in places of worship, in living rooms, in legislative offices and detention centers, we unite with countless others to protect people from further violence, violence fueled by false prophets preaching fear.
Each day brings further anxiety, violence, and vitriol, while some charged to be leaders incite the worst in us as human beings. We are surrounded by stories of hatred, division, and despair. And yet, we know this: The story of Love will endure.
This week, in the face of the mass murder of Jews at prayer, Jewish doctors and nurses treated the man who opened fire in the Tree of Life Synagogue. A stranger in a parking lot cradled the 12-year-old boy whose grandfather was one of two black people shot and killed by a white man outside Louisville, Kentucky. As some deny the basic humanity of transgender people and people seeking asylum, communities respond with acts of radical love, inclusion, and sanctuary. In these and so many unnamed acts, amidst such suffering, we see the infinite Love of God.
It is the testimony of the Religious Society of Friends that God is at work healing the brokenness of the world and the brokenness within each of us. Nothing can hold back the unshakeable power of Love in this time, and throughout all time. What matters in this moment–in every moment–is how we choose to participate in this eternal story. Our lives must proclaim that this Love is stronger than all fear.
We commit to live today trusting in this Truth. The words we say and the choices we make in the coming days and weeks must bear witness to Love in concrete acts of connection and care, in our homes and neighborhoods, in our schools and workplaces, in the coming elections, as communities of faith, as people who call this country home, as those seeking refuge and those offering it. We must waste no opportunity to love.
We must seek the grace to keep free from the politics of rage, division, numbness and dehumanization, even toward those we may perceive as enemies. We must nurture in each other the courage to come together across difference, to resist hopelessness, to renounce a worldview that treats anyone as disposable, to affirm that the Spirit of God dwells in everyone. With each person, in each moment, each place—this movement grows.
This is the time for a politics of presence, of radical relationship, of mutual aid and reconciliation. It’s a time to be witnesses, storytellers of the broken-hearted Love that overcomes the powers of fear. Let the walls of separation come crashing down.
New England Yearly Meeting of Friends (Quakers)
Fritz Weiss, Presiding Clerk
Noah Merrill, Secretary
Free the Children
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| American Friends Service Committee 1501 Cherry Street Philadelphia, PA 19102 United States |
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Now is the time to stand up for more humane values
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Yesterday the Trump administration announced the deployment of more than 5,000 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. In El Paso and other ports of entry, border agents have been seen in riot gear conducting exercises. People fleeing violence in Central America should be able to seek asylum in this “land of liberty.” And deploying more troops to our southern border only endangers lives and puts all of our rights at risk – at enormous taxpayer expense. We can make a difference. You can help. AFSC works in Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, and dozens of U.S. cities and towns, including at the U.S.-Mexico border. Our team has traveled with the migrant caravan and is on the ground in the region now, assessing where our expertise and resources can make the greatest difference. We have also been convening faith and human rights groups in the U.S. to develop a visible, moral response to this human rights emergency. We are developing plans to:
Amidst the harassment and threats of detention that migrants face on their journey, we have been inspired to see people along the caravan’s route respond with generosity and compassion. I have no doubt that our community will do the same.
P.S. My colleagues and I will be following up shortly with more about our efforts and how you can get involved in being a voice for change. Thank you once again for considering a gift to support this work!
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| American Friends Service Committee 1501 Cherry Street Philadelphia, PA 19102 United States |
Putney Area CASP meeting
Putney Area CASP meeting (Community Asylum Seekers Project)
Thursday, October 25, 6:30pm at the Putney Friends Meeting House
Please join us for a simple potluck supper followed by a meeting to update us on CASP’s work in southeastern Vermont and to strategize our next steps in the Putney area as we seek to support asylum seekers.
Three Days Left to Give
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Member News: Chloe Learey
VTDigger Report
Chloe Learey: Strategies to increase child care slots
Editor’s note: This commentary is by Chloe Learey, executive director of the Winston Prouty Center for Child and Family Development in Brattleboro, and a member of the Building Bright Futures State Advisory Council. The Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce recently named her Entrepreneur of the Year.
In the recent survey by the Child Care Counts Coalition of Windham County employers indicated that challenges around child care create a burden on business. A lack of quality, affordable child care impacts existing business as well as healthy economic development. The shortage of child care spots, especially for infants and toddlers (ages 0 to 3), has been well researched. We cannot afford to ignore this issue if we want our region and our state to attract a vibrant workforce and support thriving communities.
This is not a new issue in Vermont. Twenty years ago, a group called the Child Care Fund of Vermont issued a report titled “A Vermont Employer’s Guide to Child Care Solutions” which offered strategies for employers to consider in order to support employees who juggle the demands of parenting. Today, several organizations have picked up this idea of investing in a variety of projects aimed at supporting child care in Vermont. These initiatives are working to identify statewide opportunities and develop local initiatives to make a difference. While individual employers can develop their own strategies for supporting employees, the issues around child care are larger than any one company, and it will take a coalition to move the needle on some of the biggest challenges we face in maintaining and increasing the child care slots needed to support economic growth.
Challenge #1: There are not enough early educators.
Early care and education are not babysitting. The field has become more professionalized with the need for more qualifications. Right now, there are two local programs that are reducing their available spots for children due to a lack of staff, and one that has a classroom ready to open but cannot find teachers.
Strategy 1: Invest in workforce development.
Investing in workforce development, from creating opportunities for people to get in on the ground floor to subsidizing their education at the college level, addresses this challenge. For instance, the Windham Regional Career Center is sponsoring a course for people interested in getting the baseline qualifications for being able to be hired into a classroom position. “Fundamentals of Early Childhood Education” will run from Sept. 24 to Nov. 19 and could help generate up to 12 potential employees.
Strategy 2: Subsidize post-secondary education.
In a field that boasts some of the lowest wages of any job classification, college credits are a requirement for climbing the early educator career ladder. Supporting people to pursue advanced degrees will make the field more attractive. The United Way of Windham County has a Fund for Quality Early Education that provides resources for a range of activities that help improve the field, including money for professional development. Growing this fund can help more people enter and stay in the profession. This local solution can be adapted to other regions. More broadly, the state could consider some sort of loan forgiveness program or subsidizing the education of students in early education at Vermont state colleges.
Challenge #2: There are not enough slots.
“Stalled at the Start” estimates that 73 percent of infants in Windham County likely will not have access to a regulated program, and people get on waiting lists as soon as they find out they are pregnant.
Strategy: Provide funds to increase infrastructure.
Vermont Birth to 5, an initiative of The Permanent Fund, has created a statewide grant program, “Make Way for Kids,” to give funds towards projects that will increase quality child care slots. This concept could be expanded locally using the Windham County United Way Fund for Quality Early Education as well. So, for instance, if someone considers opening a program out of their home and needs to make some renovations, they could apply to the fund for assistance.
Challenge #3: Child care is too expensive.
Strategy: Increase scholarships and subsidies for families.
One of the conundrums in solving the child care puzzle is how to cover costs of providing the service and pay a wage that attracts a strong workforce without increasing tuition which already costs as much as housing every month. Employers can offer benefits that help alleviate the financial burden such as Flexible Spending Accounts and direct financial assistance such as a child care allowance. The costs of turnover and absenteeism help pay for the investments employers might make in this way. Child Care Fund of Vermont laid out these and other options 20 years ago!
There are concrete steps we can take together to solve the child care puzzle. If all the pieces fall in place, our future workforce gets the strong foundation they need to succeed, our current workforce can participate in the local economy, and our communities will grow and thrive the way we hope.
New England Yearly Meeting 2018 State of Society Report
Dear Friends,
This year the 32 members of New England Yearly Meeting Ministry and Counsel read all 35 of the State of Society reports that were sent to us from local meetings across New England.
At our meeting in May we walked around the room and drew pictures and wrote phrases about “what had life” in each of the geographical regions we call “Quarters.” Out of worship we shared what rose for us as we considered the overall state of our Religious Society, in this corner of the world. Our discernment was informed by the State of Society reports that you shared, the news we have been reading each month in the monthly e-mail newsletter, and by our travel in Ministry among Friends in the past year.
The prayerful reflection at this meeting as well as the work of a smaller group of Friends nominated to carry forward the work of putting the sense of the meeting into words, led us to the final document which was read at Annual Sessions, and which is being shared with you now (attached). We hope your meeting both sees itself reflected in this report, and is able to recognize the ways in which the meeting is a part of a larger whole, which may or may not share the exact same condition.
This report is an imperfect effort at capturing how Truth prospers among us. We continue to hold your meeting in our prayers and we look forward to hearing from you throughout the year, with joys and concerns, and particularly if there are ways that our committee can support the thriving of your local meeting community of Friends.
In the abundant Love that holds us all,
Honor Woodrow (Framingham, MA, Friends Meeting)
Clerk of New England Yearly Meeting Ministry and Counsel
2018 State of Society Report
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. Amos 8:11
The words of the Lord are justice, love, mercy, patience, service, comfort and
joy. We find them inscribed deep in our yearnings, suffering, hope, and imagination, often unaware they are a sacred gift. Through them we enact our lives, inhabit our bodies, and work with the materials of the world and of culture. Reminders echo around us in the wordless language of the land, the creatures, and the rhythms of the cosmos. Some of us are reached in one way, some of us in another; at bottom the hunger is the same—to be available, filled up, transformed so as more and more to speak, act, and live as children of the Light. We feel the words as divine intention and a call to follow where it will lead in this time of fear—and hope.
As we have reflected and prayed about the spiritual condition of our Yearly Meeting, we have heard in visits, meeting reports, newsletters, minutes of concern, and prophetic witness that Friends are seeking to live more fully according to the gifts of the Spirit that we are given. The hunger for knowledge and for better access to the wisdom of our community are leading to a widespread desire for adult religious education. The recognition of this need, or desire, in turn is calling out gifts of teaching, writing, and organizing in many meetings. The results take many forms—book groups, forums, retreat attendance, and more. Groups of Friends called to ministry are gathering more frequently for mutual encouragement and guidance to better service. The gift of eldership, which can liberate the life and service of individuals and of meetings, is more widely understood, encouraged, and put into action. We rejoice in the freshness of the life that rises. It stands in bold contrast to the tenor of our times that leaves us at times cold and lost.
The longing for justice, for right living, and for peace that is more than the absence of war is bearing fruit in acts of witness. Friends reach for the commonwealth of God when we stand with the earth in a time of climate change, stand with refugees, immigrants, and Native Americans in a time of xenophobia, and stand with those who bear the burdens of the economic and social systems in which we are all embedded. One Friend’s gift of money to every meeting in New England stimulated the power of
901 Pleasant St., Worcester, MA 01602-1908 (508) 754-6760 • neym@neym.org
imagination, and enabled many meetings to take steps to strengthen their work or presence in the community.
There are, in truth, as many challenges before us as ever. Some meetings feel themselves in decline; some Friends feel isolated in meetings which have not taken the risk of seeing and encouraging the gifts of their members. A number of meetings have made an effort to increase their connectedness within their meeting community and thereby reduce the sense of isolation that some may feel. This has often been coupled with outreach to the communities which surround them. The work to know and see each other more deeply, and to reach out to non-Quakers has resulted in a clearer sense of who we are as Friends. It has also been important when meetings have actively shared resources with each other within their quarters and beyond.
There is a constant pressure from the culture and society around us to live individualistically. We feel the invitation to judge, separate, and make distinctions within our communities. Friends struggle to turn the invitation aside and claim instead the blessing of true community so that the common life can flow freely. We are learning that when we allow the Spirit to keep our individualism in check, fuller life and vitality in the meeting are unleashed. Investing in the common life brings blessings that are for some surprising and unfamiliar. In true community, the individual’s uniqueness, voice, agency, and gifts, are affirmed and refreshed with new meaning.
We have been led as a people to walk further and further out on the limb of faith. Taking risks in our commitment to address the seeds and practices of white supremacy within us, and to respond prophetically and actively to the climate crisis. We see that taking a risk, even a small one- encourages more risk-taking, and as we have read all the news of the yearly Meeting, a risky question arises: What is the foundation of our hope? How can we speak with confidence about the springs from which our witness, our endurance, our experiments and our joy take their strength? We see that where we are alive to the springs of life, are willing to be foolish in the eyes of the world, to be children in the Spirit, our faith takes us into hard places. In these hard places we see our true condition more clearly. This demands of us both deep inner work and deep outer work. Where will we find courage and capacity to tell that story, and to share what wonders we have found?
Ministry and Counsel Committee
New England Yearly Meeting
A Deeper Hope
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