Email this page

In a world filled with great promise, belief in the infinite possibilities of the human spirit animates the American Friends Service Committee, a practical expression of the faith of the Religious Society of Friends.

Peace and alternatives to war, hunger and world development, urban affairs, prisons and criminal justice, refugee displacement and immigration, community conflict resolution, and opportunities for youth have been the focus of the AFSC's New York Metropolitan Region for decades.

This is the mission we continue today.

HIGHLIGHTS OF HISTORY

1955 New York College Program organizes weekend seminar work camps offering young people practical work to benefit society. 1958 Harlem Project House, a center for AFSC's community organizing in East Harlem, New York, opens on East 111th Street. 1959 AFSC protests civil defense drills at City Hall Park. 1959 - 1966 Southern Student Exchange arranges opportunities for black high students from racially torn communities in the South to continue their education in New York City schools.

Spiderman visits AFSC with Marvel Comics' contribution of $150,000 for Africa Famine Relief May 1986

1960 - 1961
The East-West Exchange Project facilitates visits of Americans to Leningrad, and sponsors their Russian hosts to visit New York.

1961
Algerian Refugee Relief Program responds to the war in Algeria.

1962 - 1972
To help young men facing military service in Southeast Asia, the AFSC counsels conscientious objectors and trains counselors.

1963
Daniel Seeger, Regional Executive Secretary from 1966 to 1991, begins his challenge of the Selective Service law that made belief in a "supreme being" a requirement for conscientious objector status. As a result, the Supreme Court strikes the clause and the law is rewritten.

1963
International Students and Foreign Visitors Program gives foreign students opportunities to meet a wide cross-section of American host families.

1964
AFSC urges the creation of a civilian police review board.

1965 - 1966
DARE (Drive Against Rental Evasion) tests the enforcement of state housing laws against racial discrimination.

1966 AFSC co-sponsors a weekly silent vigil against the war in Southeast Asia in front of the Armed Forces recruiting station in Times Square, New York. 1966 High School Program hosts exchange visits between youth from Ridgewood, New Jersey and East Harlem, New York. 1968 Urban Affairs Program in Elizabeth, New Jersey undertakes community education regarding relocation of tenants from urban renewal sites. 1969 Lower East Side Project buys a rundown building and neighborhood youth renovate it to become a resource center.

End the Arms Race Procession, Manhattan

1970
Urban Affairs Program allocates funds to Washington Heights, New York to support community development.

1972
Yonkers, New York Criminal Justice Summer Youth Project supports high school students who document the treatment of members of minorities in court.

1974
Peace Education Program highlights concerns in the Middle East.

1974
Newark, New Jersey Criminal Justice Program begins to monitor injustices within the prison system and prepares prisoners, and their families, for release.

1975
World Hunger Program organizes "Food Day".

1975
Coalition for a United Elizabeth (CUE) becomes a self-sufficient organization in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

1977
AFSC sponsors a conference entitled "Can a Palestinian and Israeli State Co-Exist?"

1976-77
Ossining, New York Summer Youth Work Project expands the 11th Street pocket park on the Lower East Side in New York.

1977
AFSC hosts a conference on battered women. Volunteers Against Violence begin work with battered women in 1978.

1979 Prisons and Family Life Project expands in Newark, New Jersey with crisis intervention case work, advocacy for female offenders with children, and training for university social work students. 1979 The AFSC creates a refugee program in response to the "boat people" fleeing Cambodia.

Ringwood, NJ Workcamp 1974

1978 and 1979
AFSC supports a vigil in front of the South African Mission to the United Nations to commemorate the Soweto Massacre.

1980
As a response to pending immigration and refugee law, AFSC sponsors a conference on the impact of immigrants and refugees on American life.

1980
Justice the Helping Hand Project in Elizabeth, New Jersey creates the community Bail Bond Program to assist individuals unable to make bail.

1981
AFSC advocates for the Nuclear Freeze Campaign at both the Democratic and Republican Conventions. It wins a minority plank in the Democratic platform.

1981
Haitian Refugee Women's Program provides health training at refugee centers throughout New York City.

1983
Youth Service Opportunities Project organizes volunteer work projects for junior and senior high school students, and assists agencies to develop community action programs.

1985 Flushing Community Conciliation Center in Queens, New York aids neighbors to resolve disputes 1986 Marvel Comics contributes $150,000 from the sales of a comic book to AFSC's relief effort for African famine. 1988 Immigrant Rights Monitoring Project begins service to immigrant communities in northern New Jersey.

Flushing Conciliation Center training, Flushing, NY 1986

1990
Peace Education and Action Program protests U.S. actions in the Persian Gulf.

Contact Us

Elizabeth Enloe
Regional Director

15 Rutherford Place
New York, NY 10003

Phone:
(212) 598-0950

Fax:
(212) 529-4603

Email us