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American Friends Service Committee was our Challenge the Gap beneficiary for the third quarter of 2013. They shared this report on how AFSC will use the grant they received from FBB. FBB members donated $8,135 to AFSC last quarter.

Thanks to the generous gift from Foundation Beyond Belief, the American Friends Service Committee is able to continue its work for peace, justice, and human dignity through active nonviolence and the transforming power of love. AFSC is a Quaker organization that promotes these principles as a practical expression of faith in action. Drawing on continuing spiritual insights and working with people of many backgrounds, we nurture the seeds of change and respect for human life that transform social relations and systems. Our work includes:

• Livelihood training in Africa, giving those affected by violence and poverty the skills and self-employment to make a sustainable income for living
• Providing innovative teacher training for community schools in Myanmar to help children develop critical thinking skills, tolerance, and respect for the environment
• Annually bringing young people from all over the country to the If I Had a Trillion Dollars Youth Film Festival, where they debut self-made films voicing their ideas about the nation’s budget priorities
• Providing legal representation to hundreds of immigrants for immigration-related cases, including the mentally ill, unaccompanied minors, survivors of domestic violence and other crimes, families seeking to reunify, and those seeking Temporary Protected Status

Only with the support of donors like Foundation Beyond Belief can we continue working toward our vision of a peaceful world where everyone’s rights are respected and everyone’s needs are met. Thank you!

By Sarah Henry

Our current Challenge the Gap beneficiary, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), often takes an active role in leading the charge for immigration reform. AFSC is working to ensure that all immigrants are given appropriate rights and treated humanely, an ideal that fits well with this group’s Quaker roots.

AFSC’s immigration reform goals are founded in compassionate and humane objectives, ones that we believe humanists can ideologically identify with. The AFSC’s basic principles include, among others: protecting the labor rights of all workers, respecting the human and civil rights of immigrants, and making family reunification a top priority.

In order to make their goals the reality for American immigrants, AFSC is working in Washington DC with the US government, as well as working directly with immigrant and refugee communities all over the country. AFSC has written an information packet about their goals and the ways in which they can be achieved, called “A New Path,” which can be downloaded at their website.

You can keep up with AFSC on their website, their Facebook page, and their YouTube channel. Not yet an FBB member? Join our Humanist Giving program now to support this amazing group.

By Brittany Shoots-Reinhard

Current Challenge the Gap beneficiary American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) supports a variety of causes that follow from their values of life, love, non-violence, and tolerance, many of which are also causes that would appeal to Foundation Beyond Belief members, like immigration reform, addressing income inequality, humanitarian crises, and prison reform. Prison reform is one of the longest-lived Quaker causes, dating back to colonial times. Not only does AFSC oppose inhumane treatments, they also work with communities to help released prisoners.

Prison reform is important not only because of the humanist value of compassion, but because of the need to focus on recidivism rates, rather than retribution. There is no evidence that harsher penalties reduce crime (e.g., Smith, Goggin & Gendreau, 2002). In contrast, education is one of the best ways to reduce recidivism (e.g., Contardo & Erisman, 2005). AFSC has also developed an anti-violence mentorship program, Friend of a Friend, to reduce recidivism.

In addition, as AFSC reports, the United States leads the world in population incarcerated (2.4 million people, about 25% of the world’s prisoners). More than 60% of those people are racial minorities, many of them imprisoned for drug-related offenses. And of the women, fully two-thirds are the primary caregiver of their children. This serves to perpetuate racial inequalities in education, income, and voting rights.

What can you do?
It’s not too late to become a Humanist Giving member and donate to AFSC and the rest of the third-quarter beneficiaries.

In addition, AFSC provides a list of activities that groups can do to support humane incarceration, including volunteering to visit prisoners through the Prisoner Visitation and Support organization, support prisoners and their families after their release by helping with meals, transportation, school applications and enrollment, job searches, or even a place to live. Groups can also develop programs to educate prisoners (like our former beneficiary Prison University Project) and respond to AFSC’s calls to action fighting prison privatization, solitary confinement, and the death penalty. Although this list is meant for Quaker congregations, the activities they outline are great opportunities for you and your local humanist group to serve your community. Contact Beyond Belief Network Coordinator Brittany Shoots-Reinhard if your local group is interested in community service opportunities.

It’s time to help us choose our next slate of featured beneficiaries! Because Foundation Beyond Belief is a member-driven organization, and member donations will support the selected beneficiaries, we welcome our members’ comments and preferences to help us make beneficiary selections.

We’re seeking member input to help us choose an encore Education beneficiary, as well as our Human Rights and Challenge the Gap beneficiaries. Click here to take the survey. The survey will be open until August 5. After the jump, keep reading for a look at the nominated charities.