Every two years, FCNL asks Friends around the country for help in setting the focus of our advocacy work. Starting now until mid-April, you and your community of Friends can participate in this discernment process to influence the priorities that we at FCNL will advocate for during the next Congress starting in 2023. Join us for our January Quaker Changemaker event to get inspiration from Friends’ experiences bringing Friends together through this process and get ready to engage your community to do the same.
Register to join the conversation on Wednesday, Jan. 26 at 6:30 p.m. EST.
Current Field Committee clerk Deb Hejl and former Policy Committee clerk Alex Stark will discuss the FCNL priorities process with moderator Bobby Trice. Learn what engaging in this process can look like, and then bring this knowledge to your Quaker communities to inform FCNL’s legislative agenda.
Speakers
Deb Hejl
Deb Hejl has been a convinced Friend for over 40 years, and has been an active participant in Friends Meetings in four states. She currently lives in Pennsylvania with her husband Jim, near her two sons and four of her six grandchildren; her daughter lives in California. Deb was a Social Studies teacher in New Jersey and Indiana for 27 years, and taught AP US History, Government, Comparative Religions and in the International Baccalaureate Program. She is a member of Gwynedd Friends Meeting serves on the Peace and Social Action Committee, on the Quaker Life Committee of Gwynedd Friends School and on the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Working Group. Deb represents Philadelphia Yearly Meeting on the General Committee of FCNL and is a member of the Legislative Policy Collaborative for PYM. She is currently the Clerk of the FCNL Field Committee.
Dr. Alex Stark
Dr. Alex Stark is a former clerk of the FCNL policy committee (2018-20). She works as a senior researcher at New America, a think tank in Washington, DC. Dr. Stark was previously a research fellow at Harvard University’s Middle East Initiative and the United States Institute of Peace. She was an FCNL Program Assistant, 2010-2011.
Bobby Trice
Bobby Trice will moderate the event. As FCNL’s Quaker Outreach Coordinator, Bobby cultivates relationships with Friends and other FCNL constituents. He supports Quakers’ spirit-led advocacy on Capitol Hill and around the nation.
A member of Friends Meeting of Washington, Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Bobby carries a concern for drawing connections between Friends’ faith, history, community, and witness in the world and honoring that of God in each of us.