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.

To truly end mass incarceration, we must give every person the chance to come home.

In this political climate, it becomes even more critical for all of us to ask the deepest of questions regarding the world we are working to create.

When you imagine a community with justice, who do you envision being part of that community? The community you dream—is it idealistic instead of realistic? 

Do you think of the people serving sentences in prison for the most complicated and heinous circumstances being welcomed into your neighborhood?

Shan Cretin has been General Secretary – the executive head – of the American Friends Service Committee since September 2010. Before this appointment Shan served as Director of the AFSC’s Pacific Southwest Region for seven years, where she was responsible for programs in Southern California, Hawai’i, Arizona, and New Mexico.  Those programs focus on several key social issues, including immigrants’ rights, prison reform, food security, peace, and demilitarization.

In addition to endorsing A Vision for Black Lives in September, the AFSC Board also endorsed a minute from the Fellowship of Friends of African Descent on state sanctioned violence.

President-elect Donald Trump has suggested he is considering "extreme vetting," a database, or a registry for Muslims or people from predominately Muslim countries. Carl Higbie, a former spokesperson for a pro-Trump super PAC, has cited Japanese internment during World War II as a precedent.

How would a registry work, and what can we do to stop it? Here’s what we're reading to learn more: