Programs for Families, Youth, & First Day School
We want our young people to have a home in our yearly meeting and a sense of having internalized shared values - around a nonviolent approach to conflict, around decency, around authenticity - regardless of whether they remain Friends as adults. We want our young people to be grounded in Friends’ history, faith and practice, and have a language to describe them. We want them to have experience being guided by the Spirit, both as individuals and in community. We want them to have experience of their own gifts and leadings that they can step into as adults. And we want them to do all of these things in a community that cherishes them and their families at all stages of life.
Programs for Family and Youth in New York Yearly Meeting
- Quaker Family Meetups—opportuntiies for families to share about Quaker parenting.
- First Day School, families, and youth—resources for families and meetings.
- The Youth Program at Powell House, the yearly meeting's conference center in Old Chatham, New York.
- Junior Yearly Meeting at Summer Sessions, a week-long gathering every summer on Lake George.
- Youth Institutes—workshops designed to help meetings meet the needs of our youth.
- Youth Programs at Spring and Fall Sessions, weekend gatherings held in various locations around the yearly meeting twice a year.
- Youth Programs sponsored by other Quaker bodies—Friends General Conference Gathering, Quaker Youth Pilgrimage, and Youth Service Opportunities Project.
- Quaker schools—schools located in New York Yearly Meeting.
Powell House Youth Program
Link to Powell House website.
Powell House is New York Yearly Meeting's conference center located in Old Chatham, New York. The Powell House Youth Program integrates Quaker values with day-to-day life, good company, and pure fun. Conferences are held throughout the year for youth in grades four through twelve.
Junior Yearly Meeting at NYYM Summer Sessions
Every summer, during the last full week in July, Quakers from across New York and some of the surrounding states meet to worship, explore our faith, and conduct the yearly meeting's business. In the mornings, the youth participate in Junior Yearly Meeting, daily sessions organized by age, led by adult volunteers, and focused on Quaker values and community, personal and group exploration, and fun. Usually, there are six groups comprised of young people going into grades 1–2, 3–4, 5–6, 7–8, 9–10, and 11–12.
Youth Programs at Spring and Fall Sessions
The yearly meeting sponsors youth programs and childare at our weekend-long Spring and Fall Sessions, which take place in April and November in locations that rotate through the regions of the yearly meeting. Click here to see the dates and general locations for the next few Sessions.
These programs are divided by age, with separate programs for senior high students and, depending on the numbers, either children and middle school groups or a combined young Friends group.
Other Quaker Youth Programs
Friends General Conference
Link to FGC Gathering website
Link to FGC Gathering Children & Teens Programs
Link to High School program.
Friends General Conference (FGC) holds an annual gathering over July 4th weekend in a different location in North America and a different theme each year. The Gathering includes a program for 9th–12th grades and a Junior Gathering for youth from birth–8th grade. Friends spend a week living together, creating community through art, discussions, games, work projects, and new and old friendships.
Youth Service Opportunities Project (YSOP)
Link to YSOP website.
YSOP engages youth, college students, and adults in meaningful service experiences through an innovative program that combines an orientation to the issues, hands-on volunteer work, and reflection. While YSOP is a Quaker organization grounded in Quaker values of respect for each individual, simplicity and service, its programs are non-sectarian. YSOP welcomes people of every faith and belief system, including people who don’t ascribe to any faith.
Quaker Religious Education Collaborative (QRED)
Link to QRED.
QRED is a grassroots network of Friends holding a sense of stewardship for life-long Quaker faith formation through religious education.
Quaker Youth Pilgrimage
Friends World Committee for Consultaion–Section of the Americas has for some time sponsored a Quaker Youth Pilgrimage, a travel experience for up to 28 youth (historically, ages 16 to 18). FWCC–Section of the Americas has indefinitely suspended its plans for Youth Pilgrimages 2017 while a Spiritual Leadership Development for Young Friends Discernment Working Group discerns how the Quaker youth experience is growing and changing in our time.
Quaker Schools
Link to Oakwood Friends School
Find other Quaker schools.
New York Yearly meeting has one Quaker school under it's care, Oakwood Friends School in Poughkeepsie, New York. A number of meetings in the yearly meeting also have schools under their care—see the list below.
The "Find other Quaker schools" link above goes to Friends Council on Education, which has a search tool for finding other Quaker schools.
Some Quaker schools within the Yearly Meeting:
- Brooklyn Friends School
- Connecticut Friends School
- Friends Seminary
- Mary McDowell Center for Learning
- Oakwood Friends School
- Friends Academy
- Westbury Friends School
See also:
- Bolivian Quaker Education Fund
- Friends Association for Higher Education
- Friends Council on Education.