Permanent Board Minutes | July 17, 2021

21-68: Secretary’s Report

Noah Merrill, Yearly Meeting Secretary, reported on his view of the vast scope of work that the Yearly Meeting (YM) is undertaking in the coming year. All of the work—ministerial work, financial work, youth work, logistical work—is part of the vision and direction that we have discerned for the YM. We take this vision into Sessions with us knowing that we have much work to do in many vital areas of faithfully stewarding the kingdom of God on earth. There is a lot of work.

What is most ours to do now?

21-69: Sabbatical Planning

Noah Merrill, Yearly Meeting Secretary, presented a plan for the coverage of his proposed sabbatical to be taken between October 2021 and February 2022. More details are in the appended document.

Friends were asked to consider and approve the following plan for coverage of the Secretary’s role during his sabbatical:

The Permanent Board appoints Nia Thomas (Northampton, MA, Friends Meeting) and Sarah Gant (Beacon Hill, MA, Friends Meeting) to temporarily assume and share the responsibilities of the Secretary during his coming sabbatical.

Nia Thomas will serve with the temporary title of Acting Secretary for Programs, with primary responsibility and oversight for program and staff supervision, communications, finances, and development. Sarah Gant will serve as Acting Secretary for Pastoral Care and Governance, with primary responsibility and oversight for care for local meetings and the pastoral needs of Friends, legal matters, policy, and institutional governance.

Both Nia and Sarah will serve as members of Coordinating & Advisory Committee during this period, will meet regularly together for mutual support and coordination, and will participate in meetings of the Permanent Board.

In support of this work, Nia Thomas and Sarah Gant are authorized to be added as additional signers, if needed, for bank accounts of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, effective immediately. To this end, their names should also be added to the bank resolutions minute for fiscal year 2022.

Further details, priorities, and plans will be clarified in the coming months, in consultation with the Yearly Meeting Secretary, Coordinating & Advisory Committee, the Yearly Meeting staff, and other partners as needed.

Friends gratefully approved the names of Sarah Gant and Nia Thomas to serve together in the Secretary’s role during his absence.

21-70: PPC for Finance Committee and Sessions Committee

Bruce Neumann, Presiding Clerk, shared revised Purposes, Procedures, and Composition (PPC) documents for the Finance Committee and the Sessions Committee. These documents are appended.

Friends approved the PPC for the Finance Committee.

The changes to the Sessions Committee (SC) PPC include naming the intention of the committee to reduce barriers to access, emphasizing the role of volunteers in discerning the condition of the body and setting the tone for the next year’s gathering, and naming the Noticing Patterns of Oppression and Faithfulness Working Group as a part of the planning process.

As we consider the revised PPC for SC, a year and a half into the Covid-19 pandemic, it is clear that we are hungry for more connection and for a way to share our gifts. Friends’ concerns about volunteer involvement in the planning for Sessions speaks to our longing to be together in community and to feel that our condition is heard by the wider body of Friends. Those needs must work in tandem with the temporal constraints of planning a gathering for hundreds of Friends. The revised PPC for SC aims to outline ways for Friends to be heard and to make the logistics of planning more feasible for staff and volunteers.

Friends approved forwarding the PPC document for SC to Sessions, understanding the need to continue creating space in event planning for Friends to share their bounty of gifts.

21-71: Challenging White Supremacy Working Group Report

Susan Davies, clerk of the Challenging White Supremacy Working Group (CWS) and the interim Anti-Racism Working Group, reported for the interim group. Their written report is appended.

Included in the report is the following recommendation:

We recommend that the NEYM Permanent Board invite and support a consultation in the fall of 2021, to include a wide range of voices and experiences that have not yet been heard, particularly youth, more BIPOC Friends, and Friends working on anti-racism at the Monthly Meeting level. The fullest range of voices is needed to develop a vision and next steps for anti-racism work in NEYM. This further consultation is a logical outgrowth of our previously stated commitments as a Yearly Meeting (2003, 2016, 2020), our history of past beneficial consultations, and the learning achieved as part of our initial living into those commitments. We envision the consultation would lead to a plan that would come back to Sessions in 2022 for approval by the body. We recommend that this consultation happen via Zoom over two weekends to make it accessible to as many Friends as possible (and to minimize Zoom fatigue).

Friends had the opportunity to share comments and questions.

Friends emphasized the importance of the consultation being a vehicle for enlarging and deepening our antiracism work--it is not an end goal, rather a step in the process. The consultation should be about listening, not necessarily for solution finding, but with spirit open to a path forward if there is a faithful direction that appears.

Many Friends raised concerns about the current framework for antiracism work in the Yearly Meeting. CWS still wants to be laid down, though many members of that group and the interim group anticipate participating in the next steps. The Nominating Committee will take on the shepherding of this work in their role of naming the Friends who do the work of the YM.

Friends approved the proposal for a consultation with a more clear proposal expected in September.

Friends approved laying down CWS with gratitude for their faithful work.

21-72: Nominations

Clerks’ Table Nominating brought one nomination to the Permanent Board (PB):

• Peter Bishop to serve an additional year as recording clerk, now Class of 2022

Internal Nominating brought one nomination to the PB:

• Leslie Manning to serve an additional year as clerk of the PB, now class of 2023

Yearly Meeting Nominating Committee (NC) brought two nominations to the PB:

• Susan Vargo to the NC as an at-large member for one year, class of 2022
• Honor Woodrow to the NC for a three-year term, class of 2024

All four nominations were approved.

21-73: Upcoming Meetings

The Permanent Board will meet on September 25th, November 6th, and December 11th. The Clerk and staff are continually assessing the safety of meeting in person and hope that the November meeting could be a hybrid meeting consisting of some Friends meeting in person with others connecting via Zoom. More information will be available as the calendar progresses and we have a better sense of necessary safety precautions for the Covid-19 pandemic.

21-74: Closing Worship

Friends closed with a period of worship.