Report to FCNCL General Committee Annual Meeting October 8, 2022
FCNCL continues to educate ourselves and our participants about the NC General Assembly (NCGA) and to advocate for legislation that promotes Quaker values. 22 volunteers actively participated in our organizational and committee work.
1. 2021 Annual Meeting. Our (virtual) meeting on October 2, 2021, was a success with 32 people attending. Key components of the meeting included:
a. Worship sharing on the query: “Quakers are called to prophetic witness. How does
my faith lead me as I lean into my advocacy for legislation and policies that are more just?”
b. The FCNCL Antiracism and Racial Justice Working Group (AWG) provided a
glossary of key terms in antiracism work and led a glossary exercise. The exercise along with the glossary is available on the FCNCL website for anyone wishing to use it in other settings.
c. Approval of a revised minute on antiracism and racial justice that is posted on the FCNCL website.
d. Approval of a revised and complete set of By-Laws to guide our work.
2. Budget. We formalized a budget, approved a budget for 2022, and created an online folder for Committee Clerks to access budget information.
3. Procedures Manual. A working group is collecting and assembling the processes we have identified to coordinate our work into a Blue Book Procedures Manual to be used by FCNCL officers and committee clerks.
4. Policy Priorities. In 2022 we engaged in our every-other-year process of discerning our Legislative Priorities for the subsequent legislative session. To provide ample opportunity for full participation and discernment we began this process in March by sending requests for recommendations to our General Committee members and to participating Monthly Meetings and Quaker organizations. The Policy Committee and the Executive Committee considered the recommendations we received to discern draft Legislative Policy Priority
recommendations. These were distributed to General Committee members for comments and input before creating the final Legislative Policy Priorities Recommendations which we bring to Annual GC Meeting for approval. Thanks to all who participated in this collaborative process.
5. Action Alerts and related Policy Actions. We issued nine action alerts in 2021 and 2022 on the following topics: three on Medicaid Expansion, two on Criminal Justice Reform, one related to reducing fossil fuels, one on Heirs Property Law, and two on reducing PFAS forever chemicals. We have posted five Fact Sheets with background information on Action Alerts and other resources to support Quaker advocacy. We have also posted comments as an organization during public comment periods on redistricting, changes to rules regulating the activities of poll observers, and support for climate friendly energy policies. Finally, FCNCL sent a letter to Governor Cooper thanking him for his support for Medicaid expansion, and for vetoes of House Bill 398 Repeal of gun permits for pistols, and House Bill 324, the anti-Critical Race Theory bill.
6. Communication. We continue to update our website, and we use Mailchimp to send a newsletter and Action Alerts to more than 200 participants. Newsletters, Action Alerts, Fact Sheets and other resources are readily available on our website fcncl.org. We ask our General Committee members or other participants to share these with others in their Monthly Meeting. We are in the process of revitalizing our Facebook presence after losing the person who had been coordinating this effort.
7. Antiracism Work. The Antiracism Working Group (AWG) formed in 2021 to support FCNCL’s antiracism commitment expressed in its Minute on Antiracism. The focus of the AWG’s work is to develop FCNCL’s understanding and capacity to consider and implement its revised (October 2021) Minute on Antiracism across all its operations. The AWG has pursued the following activities over the past 12 months:
a. The Antiracism Glossary and exercise reviewed by the FCNCL General Committee at its October 2021 Annual Meeting are posted on the FCNCL website’s Antiracism section. These resources are intended as a resource to be shared with and used by local Meetings and other groups as they pursue antiracism work.
b. During the first quarter of 2022 the Antiracism Working Group surveyed all FCNCL committees about their progress in realizing the Minute’s intentions within the scope of their committee’s work. While all committees have made efforts to live into the revised Minute (e.g. by reading the Minute at the beginning of each committee meeting; by posing one of the queries during the course of a discussion, etc.), a key finding is that each committee, depending on the nature of its work, has varying opportunities to implement the Minute and its included queries. We have identified three opportunities to advance our antiracism commitment for all. FCNCL:
- Continued Persistence – Continued discipline using the queries and Minute in all our work.
- Support BIPOC businesses – Publish a resource (FCNCL Procedures Handbook and/or link on the FCNCL website) which will help FCNCL members identify BIPOC businesses/suppliers whenever we need goods or services to support FCNCL activities (e.g. printing services).
- Find and include more BIPOC voices – Identify existing relationships FCNCL members have with BIPOC organizations already pursuing work aligned with FCNCL priorities so that we can strengthen their work and follow their lead (in our priority areas). By identifying and organizing these relationships we believe we can improve opportunities to collaborate and develop needed relationships with BIPOC communities.
8. Lobby Training. The SAE committee led two workshops: April 2021 on “Working for Medicaid Expansion” and January 2022 on “Activating Advocacy.” In January, we presented what we have learned about the NCGA legislative process and identified the current status of the bills we have been supporting (Heirs Property Law and PFAS Forever Chemical restrictions). We broke into two groups for the two bills, provided more detailed information about each of these bills, and prepared participants to effectively meet with legislators by identifying and sharing personal stories related to the bills.
9. Connections with Other Quaker Lobby Organizations. We will send representatives to the annual FCNL meeting (November 16-20, 2022) and we have had a few virtual meetings with other state-level Quaker advocacy organizations.
10. Outreach. This past year FCNCL participated in three yearly meetings in NC: Piedmont Friends Yearly Meeting and Fellowship, North Carolina Yearly Meeting Conservative, and North Carolina Fellowship of Friends. We have also received invitations and participated in programs on FCNCL at Monthly Meetings. We have expanded our membership on the FCNCL General Committee by contacting Clerks at Monthly Meetings who did not have GC representatives.
11. Future Plans. Some of us hope to plan and organize a state-wide FCNCL Lobby/Advocacy Day in Raleigh early in the 2023 Legislative Session (probably March 2023). Let us know if you are willing to help plan, and stay tuned for more information.
12. Invitation to Join Us. We have 32 General Committee members from 17 Meetings, two Quaker organizations and one yearly meeting. We encourage other Yearly Meetings, Monthly Meetings, and other Quaker organizations in NC to name up to three representatives to our General Committee. We also invite anyone with special interests and expertise on any of our policy priorities to team with us to craft policy alerts and/or fact sheets; help our Communications group develop and issue our announcements; send friends to our website to grow our membership; and most importantly — respond to our Alerts and build relationships with your representatives! If interested in how to get more involved, ask any of us or email us at info@fcncl.org.