2008 Nurture Section Draft for NYYM Handbook

OVERVIEW of NURTURE SECTION CHANGES:

MOVED AWAY OR LAID DOWN:

• Advancement—Now under MCC
• Committee on the Expenditure of the H.H. Mosher Fund—Now under GSCC
• Disability Concerns—Laid Down
• Friends Council on Education—Laid Down
• The McCutchen—Laid Down
• NJ Council of Churches—Moved to Witness
• NYS Council of Churches—Moved to Witness
• Religious Education—Laid Down
• United Society of Friends Women—Laid Down
• Women’s Concerns Committee—Laid Down
• YouthQuake Planning Committee—Laid Down

(I do not think it is necessary to continue to list in the Handbook the committees that have been laid down. Dropping them entirely is ok! mcm [clerk of Nurture Coordinating Committee])

MOVED IN or NEW TO NURTURE:

• Committee on Aging Concerns—New
• Epistle Committee—Moved in From MCC
• Junior Yearly Meeting—Moved in from GSCC
• Young Friends in Residence Committee—New
• Youth Committee—New

Purposes & Objectives

The Nurture Coordinating Committee (NCC) functions as an enabling body of the Nurture Section, which is composed of those committees, separately incorporated Yearly Meeting institutions, and representatives to certain wider Quaker bodies, all of which are concerned with the advancement of Friends’ principles, with education, and with the provision of nurturing services within the Yearly Meeting. They include:

Committees:

• Committee on Aging Concerns
• Epistle Committee
• Friends World Committee for Consultation/New York Section
• Junior Yearly Meeting
• Young Adult Concerns

Institutions within the YM:

• Oakwood Friends School
• Powell House Retreat & Conference Center

Affiliated Bodies:

• Friends General Conference
• Friends United Meeting
• Friends World Committee for Consultation/Section of the Americas
• Quaker Earthcare Witness

Functions & Activities

The Coordinating Committee provides advice and guidance to the constituent groups and considers the activities of these groups in relation to each other, assisting in their coordination. It functions as a clearinghouse for nurture concerns, forms task groups for exploring these concerns, and lays the groups down when the tasks are accomplished. It arranges for the reporting of nurture section concerns to Yearly Meeting sessions, coordinates preparation of the section budget, and participates in preparation of the Yearly Meeting budget.

Organization & Method of Appointment

Each group in the section appoints a representative to the coordinating committee. Nine members at large are named upon the recommendation of the Yearly Meeting Nominating Committee, three each year for three-year terms. From the at large members, NCC appoints a clerk, a financial clerk, a recording clerk, and a representative to the Junior Yearly Meeting Committee. The clerk (or another appointee) represents NCC on the Sessions and Liaison committees, and attends the Meetings for Discernment.

Meeting Times & Places

The spring Coordinating Committee Weekend is the most critical meeting of the Nurture Coordinating Committee. All representatives and at large members are expected to attend this entire weekend for budget preparation, annual organization, and other business as needed. NCC also meets during Summer Sessions, Fall Sessions and additionally as needed.

Finances

The Yearly Meeting Operating Budget provides money for office and travel expenses of NCC, as well as funds for task group activities not otherwise provided for.

Back to contents

History

When the McCutchen Friends Home was laid down in 2007, the board used its endowment to establish the Friends Foundation for the Aging. Since The McCutchen was located in North Plainfield, NJ, the board felt a particular concern to enable some type of program for seniors within NYYM.

A working group under the care of Nurture Coordinating Committee was appointed at Summer Sessions, 2007. The working group, with support and input from the Foundation, designed a program that would help connect seniors and the disabled in NYYM with the resources they were eligible for but, often, were unaware of. At Fall Sessions 2007 NCC made the working group a committee in order to provide the mechanism for the transfer of funds from the Foundation.

Functions & Activities

The Committee on Aging Concerns (CAC) operates a pilot program named ARCH: Aging Resources, Consultation, and Help. ARCH presently serves those meetings within one hour of Albany. Meetings are offered skill-building workshops to assist intergenerational activities within the Meeting, such as: Life Stories, Share the Care, Healthy Choices, Advance Care Planning, and Seasons of life.

It is the intention of the committee to expand ARCH to all of NYYM if the program proves feasible. To that end, CAC also coordinates activities with other NYYM committees and Meetings, in addition to their responsibilities for ARCH, in order to identify and meet the needs of all seniors in NYYM.

Finally, CAC disperses the funds received from the Friends Foundation for the Aging.

Organization and Method of Appointment:

The Committee on Aging is made up of six to eight members in three classes of three-year terms, approved on the recommendation of the NYYM Nominating Committee. The committee names a clerk, a financial clerk, a recording clerk, and a representative to Nurture Coordinating Committee. The committee hires, pays, and supervises the appropriate number of coordinators to support the ARCH Program. Presently two coordinators are under the care of CAC. The coordinators are legally staff of NYYM, and therefore also fall under the staff policies as promulgated and interpreted by the Personnel Committee in the General Services Section.

Meeting Times & Places

Meetings are held at the convenience of the committee, but no less than 3 times a year.

Finances

The ARCH Program and its coordinators are funded by the Friends Foundation for the Aging. CAC itself is funded by the NYYM budget, with a budget line under the Nurture Section.

Back to contents

Purpose & Objectives

1. prepare an annual epistle “To Friends Everywhere” conveying the greetings, spirit, and spiritual health and concerns of the New York Yearly Meeting Summer Sessions, to be sent to other yearly and general meeting of Friends, and to each monthly meeting in the Yearly Meeting
2. receive, digest, and select epistles (or excerpts) from other yearly meetings of Friends for reading during business meetings at Summer, Fall, and Spring Sessions

Functions & Activities

1. as they are made available, review epistles sent to Yearly Meeting office from other yearly and general meetings, noting items that speak to the condition and concerns of NYYM
2. as way is identified by the Yearly Meeting clerk, read selected epistles or excerpts thereof during business sessions
3. early in the week during Summer Sessions, review and read an age-appropriate epistle from another yearly meeting to each Junior Yearly Meeting group
4. make sure all major gatherings during yearly meeting sessions (meetings for business, keynote addresses, Bible study, etc.) are attended by at least one—preferably two—committee members, who take notes about content, process, and spirit
5. by Wednesday, begin writing the epistle, which is usually given its first reading at the Friday morning business session
6. receive and evaluate comments, preferably written, from Friends about proposed changes to the epistle and incorporate these and other materials into the epistle for its final reading, usually on Friday evening

Organization & Method of Appointment

1. On the recommendation of the Nominating Committee, the Yearly Meeting appoints four to six members each year to serve two-year terms.
2. The committee chooses a clerk to coordinate its activities and selects a representative to the Nurture Coordinating Committee.

Meeting Times & Places

1. The committee meets daily during Yearly Meeting Summer Sessions, with two meetings per day often needed on Thursday and Friday.
2. The remainder of the year business is conducted primarily via e-mail.

Finances

1. Generally the committee has no expenses. 
2. If expenses are incurred, these are met by an appropriation in the Operating Budget.

Skills & Capabilities Needed by Committee Members

1. ability to put aside one’s own opinions and agendas and listen for the essentials of each session attended—the content, process, and spirit
2. ability to work cooperatively and constructively on a team, including the ability to value and listen clearly for the sense of what each committee member brings to the discussion
3. ability, on the part of at least two committee members, to write with clarity, succinctness, accuracy, and inspiration
4. perseverance and dedication to a demanding task, and capability of working under stress, especially in the latter days of Summer Sessions

Back to contents

Friends General Conference (FGC) is an association of Friends’ yearly meetings and associations (14 in 2008), and a few directly affiliated monthly meetings, that nurtures religious life and witness within its constituent groups in the United States and Canada. FGC draws together the resources of its member meetings to provide conference services, publications, book distribution, intervisitation, and other outreach to its constituent meetings, to seekers, and to the Religious Society of Friends at large.

Its goals are:

1. provide, and help its affiliated yearly and monthly meetings to offer, opportunities for worship and spiritual nurture to people ranging from the most seasoned Friends to the newest seekers
2. nurture monthly meetings and worship groups, particularly those that are small and isolated, or are in areas where little support is available
3. build and sustain an extended, loving community of Friends based on the experience of unity in God’s spirit while embracing and respecting great diversity.
4. articulate, communicate and model core experiences, values and principles of Friends, such as the direct experience of God, the miracle of the gathered meeting, the meeting for worship for business, the balancing of individual leadings with corporate discernment, and the call to live and witness to our faith

Perhaps FGC’s most visible activity is the annual Gathering of Friends, a week-long conference for 1,500–2,000 Friends. In addition, FGC maintains a bookstore, publishes books, religious education curricula and outreach materials, sponsors lectures and workshops, communicates with other religious groups and, through the Friends Meetinghouse Fund, provides consultation and assistance for development and expansion of meetinghouses.

The work of FGC is carried out by its committees and staff. The administrative committees include Finance, Development, Nominating, Personnel, Property and several smaller committees. Other work for the organization itself is guided by the Committee for Ministry on Racism, which works to enhance racial and ethnic diversity and eradicate racism within FGC and its affiliated meetings.

The program committees of FGC guide and carry out the programs serving Friends and their Meetings. These committees include: Advancement and Outreach, Christian and Interfaith Relations, Long Range Conference Planning, Ministry and Nurture, Publications and Distribution, Religious Education, Traveling Ministries, and Youth Ministries.
The policy-making body of FGC is the Central Committee, which meets annually, and an Executive Committee for interim decisions.

Functions of Representatives

Representatives are expected to attend the annual Central Committee meeting, and to serve on at least one program or administrative committee. They keep FGC informed of the needs and concerns of NYYM, and inform NYYM about FGC activities. To the extent possible, all members of Central Committee are expected to promote and participate in the Annual Gathering, and other programs of FGC. It is hoped that as well as giving of their time and energies to support the work of FGC, they will be able to make financial contributions. However, limited financial resources should not be a barrier to Central Committee service.

Organization & Method of Appointment

Representatives are appointed for three-year terms, one-third each year. FGC’s policy manual stipulates that each yearly meeting appoints two representatives for each 500 members. Since NYYM counted 3500 members in 2007, we currently appoint 14 representatives. These representatives function as a committee within the Yearly Meeting and appoint from within their group a clerk, a representative to the Nurture Coordinating Committee, and one representative to FGC Executive committee. The Yearly Meeting clerk is an ex-officio member of the Central Committee

Meeting Times and Places

The Central Committee meets for a long weekend in late October or early November. In recent years, this meeting has been held in New Windsor, MD. Program and administrative committees meet during that weekend, and each holds at least one other meeting during the year. The times and locations of these meetings are different for each committee.

Executive committee meets for a weekend in late January or early February, and another in late April or early May. Other meetings may be called as needed. These weekends are in widely varying places, usually hosted by a monthly meeting.

The New York Yearly Meeting representatives meet during yearly meeting sessions, during Central Committee weekend, and at other times occasionally if necessary.

Finances

The operating budget includes an annual contribution to Friends General Conference and an allocation for the expenses of the representatives.

Back to contents

Friends United Meeting (FUM) is an umbrella organization, consisting as of 2008, of thirty yearly meetings, twelve in North America (including New York Yearly Meeting), plus eighteen in Jamaica, Cuba, and East Africa. These are joined in a covenant of cooperation to carry out ministries both to their own constituencies and to the world.

FUM’s activities and concerns include

• staff and volunteers who provide support for Friends’ work in Uganda, Kenya, the Middle East, Belize, Cuba, and Jamaica
• publication of Quaker Life magazine, issued six times a year
• selling books published by Friends United Meeting Press by mail and Web site orders

FUM is governed through its triennial sessions (2008, 2011, 2014, etc.) and through its General Board. Triennial sessions are held, usually in early July and usually in the United States, but FUM is increasingly holding meetings and gatherings elsewhere, often in Kenya. The General Board meets for three or four days, usually on the second weekend in February, June, and October, and usually in Richmond, Indiana, but in an effort to foster intervisitation board meetings are often hosted by constituent yearly meetings, for example, at Woolman Hill in NEYM, Quaker Lake in NCYM (FUM), and Powell House.

Functions of Representatives

Representatives to the General Board carry New York Yearly Meeting concerns to FUM, provide reports of the work of FUM to the Yearly Meeting, and take other opportunities to open channels of communication between the two bodies.

Organization & Method of Appointment

Representation to the board is related to the size of the yearly meeting. New York Yearly Meeting is entitled to one General Board member for every 1,000 adult yearly meeting members. Therefore we currently send:

Three—General Board
Nine—Triennial Sessions

Appointments to the General Board are for three years. The representatives to the triennial sessions serve only for the four or five days of the triennial.

Since the General Board often meets during triennial sessions in early July, the Yearly Meeting should include among its representatives to the triennial sessions those who are being named to the board for the next triennium. Thus, appointments are made at the New York Yearly Meeting annual sessions in the year preceding the next FUM triennial sessions (i.e., 2010, 2013, 2016, etc.). New York Yearly Meeting names an equal number of alternates in case some named representatives are unable to attend.

The New York Yearly Meeting representatives choose a clerk or convener and a representative to the Nurture Coordinating Committee.

Meeting Times & Places

In addition to the FUM general board meetings, the New York Yearly Meeting representatives may meet during Yearly Meeting sessions and, occasionally, at Representative Meeting sessions.

Finances

The Operating Budget provides an annual contribution to FUM. Other contributions received from Yearly Meeting trust funds are administered by the Committee on World Ministries.

The Operating Budget also includes a sum for an accumulating travel pool, which helps to pay the costs of representatives to triennial sessions and an allowance for expenses (travel, room, and board) of representatives serving on the General Board.

Back to contents

History

In 1937, after years of concerned work to reconnect a fragmented Quaker world, the Second World Conference of Friends created the FWCC “to act in a consultative capacity to promote better understanding among Friends the world over.”

Today, Friends from yearly meetings and groups in 56 nations continue this work. Around the world there are four cooperating, autonomous FWCC Sections serving Africa, the Americas, Asia & the West Pacific, and Europe & the Middle East. FWCC’s World Office is in London.

FWCC’s purpose: The FWCC encourages fellowship among all branches of the Religious Society of Friends. Linking Friends through regional conferences, youth pilgrimages, and coordinated visitations, FWCC’s programs deepen Friends’ faith in God and strengthen our commitment to witness and service in the world.

Yearly meetings are assigned representation on the basis of membership to the Section of the Americas (which includes North, South, and Central America) and to the world organization.

Functions & Activities of Representatives

The representatives act as liaison between the Yearly Meeting and FWCC. They carry Yearly Meeting concerns to FWCC and report back to the Yearly Meeting. This includes an annual written report.

Representatives should attend the annual meeting of the Section of the Americas. Each one is asked to serve on one of the Section’s committees, which meet at the time of the annual meeting and at other times as necessary. Representatives should attend and help in the planning of the annual regional conference, to which all interested Friends are invited. They are asked to make Friends in the Yearly Meeting aware of the need for funds to support FWCC’s work.
Those Friends appointed to attend the world plenary meetings should be prepared to report their experiences to groups in the New York Yearly Meeting area and others within reasonable travel distance.

Organization & Method of Appointment

New York Yearly Meeting is entitled to appoint six representatives to the Section of the Americas. Terms of office begin with the calendar year next following Yearly Meeting appointment, but representatives are encouraged to attend any functions of the Section of the Americas between Yearly Meeting appointment and the first of the year. Appointments are made by the Yearly Meeting for three-year terms, on the recommendation of the Nominating Committee, and two representatives are appointed each year. Additionally, the Nominating Committee recommends for appointment each year two interested Friends who are not representatives, to support the work of the committee. This makes a total committee membership of 12.

The committee names a clerk; the clerk or named designee is a member of the Nurture Coordinating Committee.

New York Yearly Meeting is entitled to appoint four people from among its representatives to attend the world plenary meetings. If the Nominating Committee is unable to find four of the representatives able to attend, it may nominate other suitable Friends. These appointments are made a year in advance, and names are forwarded to the FWCC London office.

Meeting Times & Places

The annual meeting of the Section of the Americas is held during the spring, usually in North America. At some time, it could be held in Latin America. New York Yearly Meeting is grouped with New England and Philadelphia Yearly Meetings and eastern Canada Friends for an annual regional conference, held in the spring or the fall.

The FWCC Committee meets at the time of Yearly Meeting and Spring and Fall Sessions. Plenary meetings have been held in different parts of the world every three years, but the next one will be in 2012, five years after the previous one.

Finances

New York Yearly Meeting provides for an annual contribution to FWCC, Section of the Americas, in the Operating Budget. The Operating Budget also includes an amount for an accumulating travel pool to aid some of the representatives to the Section annual meeting and to the world plenary sessions, and there is a line for committee expenses.

Back to contents

Purposes & Objectives

To ensure that nurturing sessions with Quaker content are provided for school age children through high school, who attend the annual residential Summer Sessions of New York Yearly Meeting.

Functions & Activities

1. to establish policy for Junior Yearly Meeting (JYM)
2. to appoint Junior Yearly Meeting coordinators
3. to support Junior Yearly Meeting volunteers and coordinators
4. to develop and manage the Junior Yearly Meeting budget

Organization & Method of Appointment

The committee consists of fourteen members: nine at-large members appointed by the Yearly Meeting upon recommendation of the Nominating Committee, one-third appointed each year for three-year terms; two representatives from Sessions Committee; one representative from Nurture Coordinating Committee; and two youth members. Coordinators are members ex officio and are expected to attend committee meetings. The committee appoints a clerk, an assistant clerk, and a recording clerk each year. A nominating committee is established as well to suggest names to the Yearly Meeting Nominating Committee. A representative to the Nurture Coordinating Committee is named.

Meeting Times & Places

The committee meets as needed and always during NYYM Summer Sessions. Committee members are encouraged to spend additional time as needed on committee business to become acquainted with JYM volunteers and to take on responsibility for support of volunteers and coordinators.

Finances

JYM receives an allocation from the Operating Budget. A grant has also been received from the Lindley Murray Fund in some years. The budget is prepared by the clerk or assistant clerk working closely with the coordinators. Funds are used to cover program supplies for JYM, some volunteer housing costs at Silver Bay, coordinators’ expenses, and most of the cost of the volunteer planning weekend in June.

Back to contents

History

Oakwood Friends School’s roots go back to 1796, when a group of Quakers, prompted by the desire to provide “useful and necessary” learning to both sons and daughters, opened Nine Partners Boarding School in Millbrook, New York. After some years, the school began to decline, and it was laid down as a Yearly Meeting school shortly before the Civil War. Soon thereafter, western New York Friends opened a Yearly Meeting boarding school, Oakwood Seminary, at Union Springs on Lake Cayuga. In 1920, faced with waning enrollment and a disastrous fire, its board and the Yearly Meeting decided to move and rebuild the school in Poughkeepsie.

A coeducational, college-preparatory, boarding, and day school for students in grades six through twelve, Oakwood is chartered by the Board of Regents of New York State. Friends’ philosophy shapes the purposes and guides the life of the school. The school program includes un-programmed meeting for worship, meeting for business, and daily exposure to Quaker testimonies in its curriculum and community life. Seventy five students and more than fifty faculty members and their families reside on the campus, creating a vibrant, multi-age residential community that is joined each day by an additional one hundred day students who hail from surrounding towns and counties. Oakwood Friends School is accredited by the New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS), and it holds membership in the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) and the Friends Council on Education, as well as other professional organizations.

Since its founding as a Friends school, Oakwood has been devoted to the fundamental Quaker belief that there is “that of God in every person.”  In putting that belief into practice, Oakwood remains firmly committed to its long-standing goal of supporting an inclusive, diversified community of students and staff in an atmosphere of mutual respect and enrichment.  Oakwood Friends School provides equal opportunity in the administration of its admissions, educational, and hiring practices.

Functions of Board Members

The Board of Managers is responsible for the oversight of the school. Members attend board meetings and serve on committees. Board members also provide a means of communication between the school and Friends and local meetings. The board makes an annual written report to the Yearly Meeting.

Organization & Method of Appointment

The Board of Managers is made up of twenty-five persons, selected by the following groups:

1. The New York Yearly Meeting appoints a minimum thirteen members of the Religious Society of Friends and up to a maximum of twenty when needed to fill the full complement of twenty-five managers. Board members are initially appointed for a three-year term. Seven of these individuals are appointed to concurrent terms on the school’s board of trustees.
2. The Board of Managers appoints up to five persons as at-large members, from among those who have sincere interest in the school; they need not be Friends.
3. The Oakwood Friends School Alumni Association nominates up to five persons who are alumni of the school and who need not be Friends to be alumni managers. The board approves the appointment of alumni managers.

All appointments, by law, must be confirmed at the next meeting of the board. No member may serve more than three consecutive terms without retirement for at least one year. Information about persons appointed by the board will be forwarded directly to the clerk of Yearly Meeting.

The trustees of the school, appointed by New York Yearly Meeting, have the power to sell, mortgage, lease, or otherwise use and dispose of the property and of the corporation as they shall deem best suited to the purposes of the Board of Managers. A trustee’s term expires with the expiration of his/her term as manager.

The Board of Managers makes its own bylaws and operates by them. It appoints its officers and committees and designates a member to represent Oakwood Friends School on the Nurture Coordinating Committee. All meetings of the Trustees and of the Board of Managers and of its committees are conducted in the manner of Friends.

Meeting Times

The regular meetings of both the trustees and the managers are held on the campus of Oakwood Friends School, as follows:

1. the last weekend of September
2. the last weekend in November or the first weekend in December
3. the last weekend in January, at Oakwood Friends School
4. the last weekend of April, to include the selection of officers for the coming academic year (next-to-last weekend if Easter is the last weekend), at Oakwood Friends School

Special meetings of managers and trustees may be called by the president, as provided in the bylaws. At a meeting of trustees, four shall constitute a quorum, and at a meeting of managers, eight shall constitute a quorum.

Finances

An annual contribution to Oakwood Friends School is provided in the Operating Budget. In addition, the school is the designated beneficiary of certain trust funds administered by the Yearly Meeting trustees.

Back to contents

Powell House was established by New York Yearly Meeting in 1960 as the result of a gift of residential property from Elsie K. Powell Sr. This property, with subsequent additions and improvements, now consists of Pitt Hall, the Anna Curtis Center, a director’s residence, a youth directors’ residence, and fifty-seven acres of land with a campground and two wildlife ponds. Powell House presently has bed space for 87 people.

Powell House is used primarily for religious conferences and similar gatherings of members and attenders of meetings belonging to New York Yearly Meeting. It is also used for meetings of Yearly Meeting committees or conferences sponsored by them. The programs include a wide variety of educational, inspirational, and organizational activities for youth and adults related to the religious, benevolent, and social concerns of the Religious Society of Friends. The facilities are available for use by affiliated Friends’ organizations and other religious or educational groups having interests compatible with those of Friends. Short-term sojourners may sometimes be accommodated.

Powell House supports a staff which includes the directors, office staff, facilities support (grounds and housekeeping) and cooks. Staff offices are presenting in Pitt Hall.

Functions & Activities

Members attend Powell House Committee meetings and serve on subcommittees such as Fiscal Management, Personnel, Program, Property, and Fundraising. They serve as channels of communication between Powell House and the Yearly Meeting and their own local and regional meetings.

Organization & Method of Appointment

Powell House is managed by a membership corporation, Elsie K. Powell House, Inc, and that corporation is legally bound by its bylaws. Members of the corporation, called the Powell House Committee (or PoHoCo), are appointed by the Yearly Meeting for terms of five years with approximately one-fifth named each year. Under the bylaws of the corporation, membership is held to no fewer than twenty and no more than forty persons. A few youth are co-opted to represent youth conference participants at meetings of the corporation. The corporation appoints from its membership a Board of Directors, not fewer than nine nor more than fifteen persons, who function as trustees in the management of the property and as an executive committee in directing the affairs of the corporation. The corporation also appoints a president, a vice president, a secretary, and a treasurer. It may appoint an assistant treasurer. The president and vice president are required to be members of the Board of Directors, and they serve as chair and vice chair (as legally required) of that board. The committee names a representative to the Nurture Coordinating Committee.

Meeting Times & Places

The Powell House Committee meets three times a year, outside of Yearly Meetings sessions, for a full weekend in Pitt Hall. Committee members are charged a nominal fee for these weekends to cover food and facility maintenance. The Board of Directors meets annually as called.

Finances

Sources of income for Powell House include guest fees, contributions solicited from supporters and Yearly Meeting members, the Yearly Meeting Operating Budget, and Yearly Meeting trust funds. In addition, committee members are expected to support Powell House with donations to the level they are personally able. Other income is derived from investments and rent from Old Chatham Monthly Meeting.

Back to contents

Purposes & Objectives

Quaker Earthcare Witness is a spiritually centered organization of American Quakers and like-minded people seeking ways to integrate their concern for environment with Friends’ long-standing testimonies for simplicity, peace, and equality. Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW) holds two annual meetings, hosts the Earthcare Center at FGC Gathering, and sends visitors to yearly meetings to carry a concern for Earthcare in their visit.

History

2007 marked the 20th anniversary of the founding of Friends Committee in Unity with Nature (now Quaker Earthcare Witness). In 1987, a workshop at Friends General Conference united Friends in their desire to “give forceful witness to the holiness of creation and to demonstrate in their lives the meaning of a testimony on earthcare.” That summer FCUN was born and began publishing BeFriending Creation—followed by a series of pamphlets on sustainability and creation care for Friends.

In 5th month 2003 the organization changed its name to Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW), which continues to educate Friends about Earthcare through a variety of means. Along with its publications it participates in the management of the Finca la Bella farm in Costa Rica. More recently, QEW has representatives to the FCNL board. Members of QEW joined Friends from Philadelphia YM to form the Friends Testimony on Economics (FTE) program which publishes the Quaker Eco-Bulletin insert. As of this year, QEW has two DPI Observer badges for the United Nations. Because of this growing role and presence in policy work, the organization experiencing some growing pains as it moves into the next 20 years with a new name, and change in mission focus. For some this is quite tender. The fall meetings in Atlanta in 2008 will continue work on articulating organizational purpose.

Activities, Method of Appointment, Meeting Times & Places

New York Yearly Meeting has one representative appointed by the Yearly Meeting on the recommendation of the Nominating Committee. The representative attends the two semi-annual meetings of the organization, serves on the organization’s Steering Committee, and is expected to become active in QEW; participating in committee work in-between the two meetings. The representative organizes an interest group and/or a display on QEW at Yearly Meeting sessions to deepen the understanding of QEW and its work. The representative reports to the Earthcare Working Group, and to the Yearly Meeting.

Finances

The Yearly Meeting has a line in the Operating Budget for representatives attending QEW annual meetings.

Back to contents

Purposes & Objectives

To be a center of community for all Young Friends, that is, Circle of Young Friends (CYF). To help Junior Yearly Meeting (JYM) graduates, young adult seekers, and young members of monthly meetings gain the confidence and energy to become active members of the Religious Society of Friends.

Functions & Activities

The committee:

• provides a place of continuity between JYM and New York Yearly Meeting
• encourages young seekers through the building of community
• facilitates the organization of CYF gatherings
• produces and circulates the CYF newsletter
• provides outreach to young Friends within and outside of New York Yearly Meeting
• solicits and distributes money for the CYF Fund
• provides valuable experience and information on Quaker process through committee work

Organization & Method of Appointment

Members are nominated from those who are out of high school, and from eighteen to thirty-five years of age. There is a maximum of twelve members, each serving a two-year term—two classes, six members each. At least two-thirds of the committee total must be Friends. Requesting membership in a Monthly Meeting is encouraged. The officers include clerk, assistant clerk, recording clerk, financial clerk, and historian. Representatives are chosen for Nurture Coordinating Committee, Sessions Committee and JYM (either staff or committee). Subcommittees include: CYF Fund, Outreach, and CYF Newsletter. At each spring CYF gathering, a nominating committee is appointed to handle all necessary nominations. Those nominations are then brought to NYYM Nominating Committee for consideration.

Meeting Times & Places

The Committee meets at least five times a year: at NYYM Spring, Summer, and Fall Sessions and at the spring and fall CYF Gatherings.

Finances

The New York Yearly Meeting Operating Budget provides funds for committee expenses. The CYF Fund is designated specifically to provide scholarship aid to the wider body of CYF.

Back to contents

Committee Purpose & Objectives
The purpose of this committee is to establish and support a young adult Friends intern program
hosted by a monthly and or regional meeting. The interns will design, and facilitate youth
conferences as well as work with the host meeting in ways to be determined by the needs of that
meeting.

Functions & Activities

1. provide support and networking for the project sites
2. locate and solicit sources of funding
3. receive applications for internship; interview and select interns

Organization & Method of Appointment

1. On the recommendation of the Nominating Committee, the Yearly Meeting appoints 3–6 members each year to serve two-year terms. The committee membership should not exceed 12 people and those Friends should reflect a diversity of NYYM regions.
2. The committee chooses a clerk to coordinate its activities and selects a representative to the Nurture Coordinating Committee.
3. Each project site will name a representative to the committee

Meeting Times & Places

1. The committee meets primarily by e-mail and conference call.
2. At least once yearly, the committee will gather to meet in person.

Finances

1. YFIR has a fund line under the Treasurer-Managed Funds which are not part of the Operating Budget. This YFIR Fund will be used specifically for YFIR related intern and youth program expenses and the YFIR committee will approve the distribution of these funds.
2. YFIR also has a line under “Committee Expenses” in the Nurture Section, which is part of the NYYM Operating Budget and which will be specifically for committee-related expenses.

Back to contents

History

NYYM laid down the Religious Education Committee in July of 2004. The Task Group on Youth (TGoY), under Nurture Coordinating Committee, was formed at Summer Sessions 2006 in response to widespread concern for youth work in the Yearly Meeting.

After careful consideration of the recommendations left by the former Religious Education Committee, the Task Group took as its charge supporting Spirit-led, intergenerational youth work in Monthly Meetings and Worship Groups. The TGoY used numerous avenues for discerning the needs of youth and youth workers, working to find the best form in which to address those needs.

At Fall Sessions 2008, the TGoY made a recommendation for the formation of a Youth Committee under the care of Nurture Coordinating Committee. The TGoY recommended that this new committee represent all youth work in the Yearly Meeting, by asking that all committees, Task Groups and Work Groups involved in youth work send one or two representatives to the Youth Committee. The Youth Committee would in turn send two to three representatives to Nurture Coordinating Committee. In order to bring this about, each of the committees contained in the Youth Committee will revise their Handbook page to reflect this change.

The recommendation to create this Youth Committee was approved by Nurture Coordinating Committee at Fall Sessions 2008, and by New York Yearly Meeting at Spring Sessions 2009.

Functions & Activities

The Youth Committee facilitates communication and exchange of resources and information among the youth workers and their committees within NYYM, articulates the needs and work concerning youth to the YM as a whole as well as names and brings forward the gifts of our younger Friends.

While each committee has oversight of its own work, the Youth Committee is responsible for the development of protocol across all of the committees and working groups for the safety of youth and youth workers, and for maximum communication. In addition, the Youth Committee representatives to Nurture Coordinating Committee report on behalf of all the committees and groups contained within the Youth Committee.

Organization and Method of Appointment

The Youth Committee is constituted with representatives from Junior Yearly Meeting, Powell House Youth Program, Resource Library, Oakwood Friends School, Fall and Spring Sessions Youth Program, and Young Friends in Residence Committee, along with a liaison with Friends General Conference Youth Ministries Committee and representatives from such working groups as First Day School and other committees/groups as they may emerge.

In addition, there are six at-large members, each appointed to staggered three-year terms by the NYYM Nominating Committee. In order to achieve parity, the committee asks the NYYM Nominating Committee to name at least three members under the age of eighteen. These young Friends can be attenders or members of Monthly Meetings or Worship Groups.

The committee names a clerk, a recording clerk, and three representatives, who report for the Youth Committee to Nurture Coordinating Committee.

Meeting Times & Places:

Meetings are held at the convenience of the committee, but no fewer than 3 times a year.

Back to contents