Friends General Conference

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Quarterly Meeting Program-“The New Underground Railroad"

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Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting, 20 E. Mermaid Lane

Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting held a Program Meeting hosted by Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting  on Sunday, October 27th starting with Meeting for Worship at 10:30AM.  Chestnut Hill Meeting is now located at 20 E Mermaid Lane Philadelphia PA 19118.  This was the first Quarterly Meeting to be held at their new Meetinghouse; some twenty-five to thirty F/friends attended.

After worship, there was a potluck lunch and a tour of the new Meetinghouse followed by a program from 1:15-2:30PM.

The program was titled “The New Underground Railroad - Rerouting the School to Prison Railroad & Transforming Prison to Restoration” and discussed some of the work being done by Friends in the Quarter for peace and justice.  

Presenters were Germantown Meeting Friend Jondhi Harrel, Executive Director of The Center For Returning Citizens & Chestnut Hill Meeting Friend Carolyn Schodt, Alternatives to Violence (AVP) Community Coordinator Greater Philadelphia. 

The Center for Returning Citizens is an initiative to help people returning from prison find jobs and housing and provide life skills and support for a successful adjustment to life in the community.  The Alternatives to Violence Project is an initiative founded by Quakers and prisoners in 1975 to bring alternative ways of handling conflict to people who are incarcerated.  The program is now expanding to the community and the schools.  Carolyn and Jondhi are partnering in the community to share space and support each other's work.

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