For over a decade, Natalie Holbrook has worked for AFSC's Michigan Criminal Justice Program, advocating for people in prisons around the state. She reflects on the highs and lows that came with one recent week in her advocacy work.    

On Nov. 15, I picked my daughter up early from school and drove with her to Roman Village in Detroit for my friend Junito's coming home party. What a joyous day. His huge family filled a social hall at the restaurant. My daughter played balloon toss and hid under tables with Junito's nieces and nephews' small kids.

David Poundstone has been a member of Mountain View Friends Meeting (MVFM) in Denver since 2001.  He was serving as clerk when MVFM became involved in the Metro Denver Sanctuary Coalition.

Last week Mountain View Friends Meeting accepted Ingrid Encalada LaTorre into Sanctuary. These are the reflections of one member of the coaltion, the story of how the Meeting came to welcome Ingrid into their care and protection. To learn more about how your Meeting can welcome immigrants into Sanctuary and offer safety and protection in other ways, join our next Call for Spirited Action on "Sanctuary Everywhere" on January 12th from 8:30 to 9:30 pm ET.

Young people in Guatemala channel their creativity and commitment to peace building into a new music project. 

As a program coordinator for AFSC in Guatemala, one of the most violent countries in the world, I see up close the challenges that young people face in trying to live their everyday lives—extreme poverty, discrimination, and gang violence.

A new toolkit helps communities think about how we invest our taxpayer dollars and what kind of world we want to live in.

In the fall of 2015, a group of young activists unfurled a 20-foot long banner in front of Chicago City Hall.  The paint was still fresh from rushing to finish it the night before, a wall of blue, showing that nearly 40 percent of Chicago's operating budget goes to the Chicago Police Department.   

Since civil war in Syria began five years ago, half the country's population—more than eleven million people—have been displaced or killed. This week, pro-Assad forces, backed by military support from Russia and Iran, retook the city of Aleppo. There were at least 50,000 civilians remaining in the city, and they have been subjected to intense airstrikes and executions. Here's what we're reading to learn more:

I understand why so many of us are lashing out on each other. I understand why the level of trash talking is rising high along with outrage for Trump and the horror show of his election. Having been involved in grassroots social justice efforts for most of my life, I know that when the ability to tangibly impact structural oppression feels so remote, and when that structural oppression is accelerating, many on the Left begin devouring ourselves, turning our efforts that seem to have little impact on structural oppression into critiquing each other and eventually, ourselves.