AFSC - New Hampshire
The overall goal of AFSC's New Hampshire program is to advance the cause of peace and justice by supporting the growth and development of an effective, sustainable New Hampshire peace and justice movement.The program works toward that goal by providing resources, training, and assistance to grassroots groups and coalitions; and by providing information and a Quaker perspective to the general public.
The New Hampshire Office opened in 1975, and since then had conducted organizing and education campaigns on issues including: economic justice; affordable housing; nuclear power and weapons; conscription and conscientious objection; US foreign policy in the Middle East, Southern Africa, and Central America; Criminal justice; and the theory and practice of nonviolence. Click here for a new timeline of our work.
July 12-17, 2009, After the Meltdown: Building a Solidarity Economy
OCTOBER 10, 2009, Youth Activism Benefit for AFSC with Pioneer Civil Rights Activist Claudette Colvin. For more information, click here.
Networks and Coalitions
AFSC-NH is a member of the Martin Luther King Coalition, the Granite State Organizing Project, and the New Hampshire Housing Forum.
Some 2009 NH Legislation
Employment
SB 40, known as the State WARN Act, would require medium-large employers to give advance notification to their employees prior to any large-scale layoff. The bill was proposed by George Copadis, the Commissioner of Labor, and is backed by organized labor and worker advocates.
Civil Rights for Trans-gendered People
Despite the moving testimony of trans-gendered individuals who described how they had suffered unfair discrimination without any recourse under New Hampshire law, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 5 – 0 to recommend defeat of HB 415, which would add gender identity and expression to the list of protected categories in the state’s human rights statute. Senate defeat of this measure, which passed the House by a single vote, seems likely. Nevertheless, we are impressed with how far this bill progressed during the first year in which it was considered. We send our appreciation to the bill’s sponsors and to the courageous people who volunteered to tell their own stories at the State House.
Please contact your Senator and Representatives now. To find the contact information for your Senator and Representatives, go to: http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/ns/whosmyleg/
Please get in touch with me for more
information about any of these issues.
Arnie Alpert, American Friends Service
Committee, aalpert@afsc.org,
(603) 224-2407