Students from New Jersey, a musician from Missouri, a college advisor from North Carolina, and a board member from New York gather on stage with protest posters, baritone ukelele, and microphones in hand. They sing: “Not another penny more, nothing for the Iran war.”
At FCNL’s Friends Changemaker Weekend, advocates of all ages gathered in-person and online to learn new skills, lobby for peace, and build lifelong relationships. While FCNL celebrates the 115 lobby meetings and the new yes votes on Iran war powers resolutions, we also celebrate the connections that we fostered and the leaders we developed. The community we built is the foundation that will allow our advocacy to grow for years to come.
Planting seeds for future collaboration
For this inaugural intergenerational conference, we didn’t want everyone’s first words to be “Nice to meet you!” Instead, we wanted the event to be an energizing reunion where people could say “It’s so great to see you again.” For months leading to the conference, we connected leaders in our grassroots programs through exchanging email addresses, setting up Zoom meetings, and bringing people together on delegation leader calls.
We wanted the event to be an energizing reunion where people could say “It’s so great to see you again.”
Our North Carolina delegation exemplified our cross-program, intergenerational approach. The group included longtime Advocacy Team members, our Guilford and Western Carolina University Campus Chapters, students from UNC-Asheville, an organizer from our Diaspora Organizers cohort, and an Advocacy Corps alumna and General Committee member. The Western NC Advocacy team worked together with the Western Carolina chapter in the beginning of the year on a lobby visit. Ahead of the conference they shared the work of scheduling senate lobby visits and brainstormed together on our delegation leader calls. This months-long collaboration made lobbying together in-person at the event natural and familiar.
Breaks weren’t just for snacking; people across programs in our network were taking initiative to get together on their own. New York-based organizers from our diaspora cohort and our Advocacy Teams organized their own lunch to plan summer projects, and Maggie Jean, a Georgia-based diaspora organizer took advantage of down time to film video testimonials with Advocacy Team members urging support for TPS for Haiti. A few Earlham alumni shared stories with current Earlham students and educators at Friends schools organized a meet up with each other over lunch one of the days. We can’t wait to see what new collaborations continue to unfold.
Elevating our network on the main stage
We wanted to be sure to show the leadership of members of the network from the main stage this year. Elia Schmelz, a Friends School of Baltimore Campus Chapter co-head and Sara Smith, our New Hampshire Advocacy Team communicator welcomed the audience and guided participants through setting community agreements during the welcoming ceremony.
Beth Reeves, Lancaster, PA Advocacy Team communicator, and Aseel Farah, diaspora organizer cohort alum, shared their stories of successful relationship building with Congressional offices who initially disagreed with their ask in a panel on building bipartisan support.
The conference featured brand-new workshops emphasizing critical skills: building coalitions, funding our movements, and friendly persuasion in an election year.
Notably, several Advocacy Corps alumni, Advocacy Teams leaders, and Delegation leaders joined staff as co-facilitators and featured speakers of the workshops, sharing their wisdom and experience and inspiring other advocates to share as well.
The musical talent in our network was on full display during the closing ceremony, where all who had made protest posters, filled in our “War is not the answer” banner, or worked on our bilingual original song shared their art onstage.
Passing the baton
During our “Pursuing Peace Across Generations” session, in response to the query, “What was the first time you remember advocating for an end to war?” we heard participants across generations both online and on-site share stories of being lone advocates against war in Vietnam or war in Gaza, or being both outraged and inspired recently by protest movement in Minneapolis.
At the core of our work is ensuring that the pursuit of peace can continue across generations.
At the core of our work is ensuring that the pursuit of peace can continue across generations. Our leaders want to make sure that even if they have to step away, the work can still continue. It can be a challenge to find new people with the skills, aptitude, and time to lead the work that needs doing. Still, we know that potential leaders are always out there— we just have to ask and create the space for them to thrive.
In New Hampshire, when one long time Advocacy Team leader Sara Smith was planning a move to another state, she made sure to use Friends Changemaker Weekend to build up the next leader for her team, Len, inviting him to join the event and lead the group of nine advocates alongside her. Between Sarah, Len, and their delegation members, they were able to collect 416 postcards from members of their community at No Kings Day and hand deliver them to their Senate offices in DC, making sure that their senators heard the voice of their community.
“All the best pieces of FCNL”
Between the sessions diving deep on policy details and the inspiring speeches from members of Congress and passionate advocates, we were networking, visioning, and strategizing how we can transform our advocacy for the long haul, all over delicious meals, late-night sing-alongs and coffee breaks in the hallway. The changemaker weekend honored the F/friends in our national network: their expertise in organizing and the community they have built.
To quote Joey Hartmann Dow— illustrator, Advocacy Team member, and FCNL General Committee member extraordinaire— “It felt like all of the best pieces of FCNL.”
