AFSC
- Oakland
Criminal Justice
AFSC promotes alternatives to incarceration, educates the public about new justice paradigms, and puts a human face on prisoners through story-telling, artwork, and public demonstrations. AFSC's Criminal Justice Program conducts research and evaluation of existing criminal justice policies, develops public education materials, and sponsors art exhibits, publications, and speaking opportunities which help get the word out about prison issues.
Beyond Prisons
Beyond Prisons is a strong indictment of the current prison system, undertaken by two respected experts on behalf of the American Friends Service Committee, that traces the history and features of our penal system, offers strong ethical and moral assessments of it, and lays out a whole new paradigm of criminal justice based on restorative justice and reconciliation. The book puts forward a 12-point plan for immediate changes.
Beyond Prisons, by Laura Magnani of AFSC's Oakland Office and Harmon L. Wray, opens a long-needed national dialogue on our responsibilities as citizens and as a nation to provide remediation rather than mere retributive incarceration, answerable to the common good and the justice of God.
Study guide on Beyond Prisons (Augsburg Fortress) >
Interview with author Laura Magnani (Street Spirit) >
Beyond Prisons at AFSC's online bookstore >
Death Penalty
AFSC's Religious Organizing Against the Death Penalty Project mobilizes people of faith in a drive to abolish the death penalty in California and other US states that still execute. The program helps people learn about their own religion's teachings on the death penalty and provides ideas, resources and common strategies for the struggle against the death penalty by people of faith.
Onefam
Onefam is a community of artists and organizers who believe in building our community family first and nurturing the political, economic, and artistic development of our young people. Facilitating workshops, organizing, and producing hip-hop events, the program lifts up information about key issues related to police brutality, juvenile justice, and other issues and mobilizes people in action.
Asian Pacific Youth
The Asian and Pacific American Community Program works with Asian and Pacific American youth to increase their understanding of the economic, political, and cultural issues that work on their communities. The Asian Pacific Islander (API) Youth Institute brings together Asian and Pacific Islander youth from around the Bay Area to develop their leadership and community organizing skills through a year-round series of trainings that include role playing, involvement in school and community campaigns, rap sessions on identity, cultural exchange, and community theater and arts.
American Indian Youth
Indian communities consider youth involvement imperative to their social and spiritual health. AFSC helps Indian youth find a place in community-wide concerns. Staff share resources, techniques, and organizing skills that make community activities more accessible to youth. The program also helps bring Indian youth together with Indian elders and with youth of different communities, both Indian and non-Indian.
Homeless Organizing
More than 100 homeless vendors earn income by selling Street Spirit, Oakland's homeless newspaper. But the paper's larger accomplishments are giving homeless people a voice through their poetry, art and cartoons, news and feature stories, and providing homeless people and their advocates with an important organizing tool. For many activists, Street Spirit's 30,000 reader distribution provides them the most far-reaching public educational outreach available for homeless rights campaigns.
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