Peace and Social Concerns Committee
CPMM organizes its work through committees. Peace and Social Concerns Committee is a very active, socially-engaged group of people who work together to address some of the most pressing issues of our time, particularly those of interest to committee members.
Current areas of concern include:
- Climate Crisis and Environmental Justice
- Voting Rights and Voter Suppression
- Middle East Conflict
- Female Reproductive Rights
- Nuclear Proliferation and Risk Reduction
- Gun violence
Recent Activities
- Hosted the opening and exhibition of the Philadelphia region’s first “Imagine a Clean Energy Future” Student Contest among 5th – 12th grade students. The Friends Center exhibited over 100 of the students’ entries for more than a month in April and May 2023.
- Sponsored a workshop welcoming the “Golden Rule”, a modest sailboat on a major mission to prevent nuclear conflict. The Golden Rule played a critical role in stopping nuclear testing in the Pacific Ocean in the 1970’s and is now supported by Veterans for Peace. George Lakey, one of our members with a direct connection to the Golden Rule published an article recently describing its work in the larger context of successful social change activism and protest.
- Conducted a discernment process to develop policy guidance for the Friends Committee on National Legislation on the issue of Female Reproductive Rights.
- Awarded several small grants to local nonprofit corporations
- Provided a donation to Ukrainian community development and war relief efforts
The Committee's charge
The Peace and Social Concerns Committee (PSCC) provides advice and support to the Monthly Meeting in the meeting’s witness on issues of peace and social justice. It also encourages members and attenders to participate in the work for social change of larger Quaker groups or other bodies, or to independently pursue leadings to social actions consistent with Friends’ testimonies.
Full text of the Committee's charge.
Witness minutes*
- Minute on Mass Incarceration; approved by the meeting, May 14, 2017.
- Minute on the Climate Crisis
Articles and resources on peace and social concerns
- "Integrity and Mass Incarceration," by Pamela Haines.
- Public Banking in Philadelphia.
- The Cash Bail System—Up Close and Personal.
- Pennsylvania Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative — a video
Friendly Neighbor Funds
Friendly Neighbor Funds Reports
* Quakers formally express the witness concerns on which the meeting is in full agreement as "minutes," statements of conscience approved in the meeting's meeting for worship with attention to business.