Region History
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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Flushing
Conciliation Center training, Flushing, NY 1986
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1990
Peace Education and Action Program protests U.S. actions
in the Persian Gulf.
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