Effective Quaker advocacy is about opening hearts as much as changing minds. It asks us to share our own experience with lawmakers and to connect with the currents of the Divine in our meeting. It also means that our identities and stories matter - in what we share, in how we advocate, and even in how possible it feels to be in the conversation and get our perspectives heard.
FCNL’s March Quaker Changemaker event is an intergenerational conversation about what “bringing ourselves into lobbying” looks like. Speakers will offer their own experiences, encourage us all to consider how identity affects our lobbying, and discuss the ways that power and privilege show up in (and can be challenged through) congressional advocacy.
Speakers
Larissa Gil Sanhueza will moderate the event. As the young adult advocacy coordinator, Larissa focuses on developing and training young adult advocates around the country.
Specifically, she manages the Advocacy Corps program, a group of 20 young adult organizers who mobilize their communities around one legislative issue every year. Larissa also oversees recruitment for Spring Lobby Weekend, a four day lobbying and educational event that brings together 500 young people from around the country.”
Mary Lou Hatcher is assistant clerk of FCNL’s General Committee and a member of Lehigh Valley Friends Meeting (PA), Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.
In her own spiritual life Mary Lou practices a contemplative silent worship desiring a clear mind, an open heart, and a humble willingness to respond to God’s presence. She has been practicing with Quakers since 1988 serving her local Meeting in the areas of religious education, pastoral care, and social concerns.
As FCNL’s Quaker engagement associate, Bobby Trice cultivates relationships with Friends and other FCNL constituents. He supports Quakers’ spirit-led advocacy on Capitol Hill and around the nation.
Bobby is a member of Friends Meeting of Washington, Baltimore Yearly Meeting, and carries a concern for drawing connections between Friends’ faith, history, community, and witness in the world. Bobby came to FCNL through the organization’s young adult programs and from Swannanoa Valley Friends Meeting where he realized he had been a Quaker all along.