Upper School Lobbyists Advocate for Environmental Justice Policies

 

During the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) Lobbying Weekend Friends students and the Center for Peace, Equity and Justice collaborated with more than 100 Quakers from across the country who came together to lobby congressional offices for environmental justice policies.

The Institute, which took place November 16-18, 2022, students were able to hear from a number of guest speakers such as Chris Espinosa, House Natural Resources Committee, Anthony Kinslow, CEO and founder of Gemini Energy Solutions and lecturer at Stanford University, LaTricea D. Adams, Founder, CEO and President, Black Millennials for Flint. In addition to plenary sessions, students and CPEJ staff had the opportunity to participate in a variety of breakout workshops. All were designed to equip participants to be effective lobbyists and advocates for a healthier environment. The student lobbyists’ final appointments on Friday, when they met with staff from the offices of Senator Schumer and Senator Gillibrand, were a testament to just how much our students had gained from this training sponsored by the largest Quaker lobbyist organization, Friends Committee on National Legislation.

Over the last four years, Friends Seminary has worked to strengthen this aspect of our civic engagement programming. Whether it be through in-school lobbying workshops and phone banking, Service Committee letter-writing campaigns, the CPEJ-sponsored trips to Albany, or the collaborations with FCNL on Capitol Hill in D.C., Friends Seminary students are finding their voices as lobbyists and using their capacity to call for changes to public policy that would help bring about a world that ought to be. 

Students who participated in the 2022 annual FCNL Lobby Weekend Youth Conference are listed below.

Alexa ’24

Noah ’23

Reza ’24

Aviyah ’24

Elinor ’24

Ammad ’23

Arisa ’24

Louis ’23