American Friends Service Committee

AFSC strives for a world in which:
-Every person is valued, respected, and included as an equal.
-All have access to basic resources such as water, food, and shelter.
-Governments and institutions are fair and accountable.
-Economic development provides jobs with dignity and promotes community well-being.
-Conflicts are addressed without force or coercion, in ways that promote healing and reconciliation.

As a peace organization, AFSC seeks not only to address urgent needs, but to help change the conditions that lead to violence and injustice. We bring concerns from remote locations around the globe to key policy centers in the U.S. and at the United Nations, leveraging our connections to great effect while maintaining a small footprint.

We provide services to people in need – from offering legal services and know your rights trainings to immigrants to responding to people in prison reporting human rights violations or seeking resources to transform their lives.

We also train activists and connect movements for social change. That includes providing opportunities for youth to develop their leadership skills, helping Muslims and allies develop strategies to stop Islamophobia, and supporting communities in the U.S. in ending local collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

And we build bridges for peaceful international relations, including helping facilitate humanitarian engagement in North Korea and Myanmar and working with communities in in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean to build sustainable livelihoods.

AFSC offers resources, training, and inspiration to help people lay foundations for peace with justice wherever they are. We listen carefully to the communities where we work, speak truth to power, create spaces for healing and reconciliation, and work to address racism and discrimination, militarism, and other root causes of violence. We work in 17 countries and 31 U.S. cities, and we often serve as a convener, bringing community members, grassroots activists, and policymakers together to make connections, learn from one another, and find common ground.

In 2019, our program accomplishments included:

ADVOCATING FOR IMMIGRANT RIGHTS:
-Provided legal services and Know Your Rights trainings to more than 10,000 immigrants across the U.S.
-Mobilized tens of thousands of people in a successful campaign to shut down the largest detention center for migrant children in the U.S.
-Responded to migrant caravans traveling through Central America to the U.S by providing humanitarian aid, monitoring for human rights violations, and advocating for more humane U.S. immigration policies.
-Supported community organizing and advocacy efforts in multiple states, which led to successful policy changes, including ending collaboration between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and local law enforcement.

BUILDING PEACE WITH JUSTICE
-Brought nearly 600 global south leaders and community members together for Dialogue and Exchange programs where they could exchange ideas and collectively solve problems.
-Coordinated a speaking tour and public education campaigns in the U.S. to build support for ending the blockade on Gaza.
-Promoted opportunities for diplomatic engagement between the U.S. and North Korea, including coordinating meetings between members of the Korea Peace Network and key government officials as well as drafting legislation calling for a formal end to the Korean War.

MAKING WAY FOR YOUTH-LED SOCIAL CHANGE
-Engaged more than 17,000 youth in the U.S. and around the world in trainings, anti-racism organizing, and peacebuilding activities.

CALLING FOR JUST ECONOMIES
-Organized and supported successful advocacy efforts to eliminate barriers to food assistance and employment for formerly incarcerated people in West Virginia.
-Supported people in Burundi in learning and using vocational skills to support themselves and their families--while developing conflict transformation skills to resolve issues peacefully.
-Researched companies complicit in human rights violations and made that information available to investors and the public.

PROMOTING HEALING IN THE JUSTICE SYSTEM
-Responded to 3,400 letters from people in prison.
-Brought programming to 336 individuals who are currently and formerly incarcerated.
-Advocated for better justice system and prison policies in 11 states. For example, we helped lead successful advocacy efforts to abolish the death penalty in New Hampshire and limit solitary confinement in New Jersey.

CREATING INCLUSIVE COMMUNITIES
-Provided resources to more than 21,000 people on bystander intervention and other responses to harassment of immigrants, Muslims, and other targeted communities.
-Trained hundreds of people in the U.S. to understand counter Islamophobia, including challenging a problematic federally funded program known as "Countering Violent Extremism."