About Us
The Little Rock Friends Meeting traces its origins to a group that began meeting in Little Rock in 1953. The group requested preparatory status with Dallas in 1959, and officially reached monthly Meeting status in 1981. Throughout its early decades the group met various places including rooms in churches. In 1995 the Meeting bought a historic house on Markham Street which has served as the Meeting House since that time. Read more about the history of Quakers in Arkansas.
As of December 2022:
David Schoen and Amanda Moore, Co-clerks
Tommy Trussell, Treasurer
Kelly Morrissey, Recording Clerk
As of December 2022:
David Schoen and Amanda Moore, Co-clerks
Tommy Trussell, Treasurer
Kelly Morrissey, Recording Clerk
Donations
See the Donations page for more information.
Our Meeting Supports
The following resources and organizations have been actively supported by the Meeting and/or by Friends who attend our meeting.
Regional / National / International Organizations We Support
Friends General Conference: FGC is an association of regional Quaker communities in the U.S. and Canada working together to nurture a vital Quaker faith, and provide services and resources for individual Friends, meetings, and people interested in the Quaker way.
South Central Yearly Meeting: Affiliated Friends Meetings in Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.
Arkansas-Oklahoma Quarterly Meeting: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Caddo Area Friends Meeting, a 4-state Preparatory Meeting under our care; meets three times a year.
Friends Journal and QuakerSpeak: publications of the Friends Publishing Corporation. The Corporation was founded by incorporating previous publications with a long history. The Corporation exists “for the purpose of promoting religious concerns of the Religious Society of Friends and the education and information of its members and others by means of the written or spoken word, including the publication of a magazine or magazines, pamphlets or other writings.”
American Friends Service Committee: Guided by the Quaker belief in the divine light of each person, AFSC works with people of all faiths and backgrounds to challenge unjust systems and promote lasting peace across the world.
Friends Committee on National Legislation: The Friends Committee on National Legislation is a national, nonpartisan Quaker organization that lobbies Congress and the administration to advance peace, justice, and environmental stewardship. Founded in 1943 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), FCNL fields an expert team of lobbyists on Capitol Hill and works with a grassroots network of tens of thousands of people across the country to advance policies and priorities established by our governing General Committee.
FWCC: The Friends World Committee for Consultation encourages fellowship and understanding among all the branches of the Religious Society of Friends. The Committee brings Quakers together in multiple ways to celebrate God in our lives, to gather the Quaker voice, build networks to address issues of our time, and to unite Friends within our diversity.
Right Sharing of World Resources: Right Sharing of World Resources (RSWR) is an independent Quaker not-for-profit organization sharing the abundance of God’s love by working for equity through partnerships around the world. RSWR gives grants to groups of marginalized women in Guatemala, Kenya, Sierra Leone, and India to fund individual micro-enterprise projects. Right Sharing’s work is grounded in a sense of stewardship for the world’s material, human, and spiritual resources.
Friends Place on Capitol Hill: (Was formerly known as the William Penn House.) Friends Place is a Quaker guest house and learning center that offers affordable group lodging, gathering space, and civic engagement programming just blocks from the nation’s Capitol.
Quaker Earthcare Witness: Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW) is a network of Friends (Quakers) in North America working on Earthcare concerns. We work to inspire Spirit-led action toward ecological sustainability and environmental justice. QEW has grown out of a strong leading among Friends that our future depends on a spiritual transformation in our relationships with each other and the natural world. For over 30 years, we have helped Friends integrate Earthcare into their daily lives.
Friends Peace Teams: Friends Peace Teams is a Spirit-led organization working to develop long-term relationships with communities in conflict around the world to create programs for peace building, healing and reconciliation. Quakers from several North American Yearly Meetings established Friends Peace Teams in 1993. After witnessing the suffering in Bosnia and Herzegovina, they wanted to make every Friends Meeting and Church a center of peace and reach out to people suffering from war and violence everywhere.
Ramallah Friends School: Guided by Quaker principles and values, enriched by being in Palestine, and strengthened by collaboration within the school community and with external partnerships, Ramallah Friends School (RFS) offers children and youth an academically rigorous, balanced, engaging and inclusive learning environment of the highest quality standard, every day.
Prisoner Visitation and Support: Prisoner Visitation and Support (PVS) is a volunteer visitation program for people incarcerated in federal and military prisons throughout the United States. Our mission is to provide prisoners with regular, face to face contact from the world outside of prison to help them cope with prison life, encourage personal growth, and prepare for successful reentry into society. Our priority is to visit those prisoners who: do not ordinarily receive visits from family and friends, want or need visits, are in solitary confinement, are on death row, or are serving long sentences.
South Central Yearly Meeting: Affiliated Friends Meetings in Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.
Arkansas-Oklahoma Quarterly Meeting: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Caddo Area Friends Meeting, a 4-state Preparatory Meeting under our care; meets three times a year.
Friends Journal and QuakerSpeak: publications of the Friends Publishing Corporation. The Corporation was founded by incorporating previous publications with a long history. The Corporation exists “for the purpose of promoting religious concerns of the Religious Society of Friends and the education and information of its members and others by means of the written or spoken word, including the publication of a magazine or magazines, pamphlets or other writings.”
American Friends Service Committee: Guided by the Quaker belief in the divine light of each person, AFSC works with people of all faiths and backgrounds to challenge unjust systems and promote lasting peace across the world.
Friends Committee on National Legislation: The Friends Committee on National Legislation is a national, nonpartisan Quaker organization that lobbies Congress and the administration to advance peace, justice, and environmental stewardship. Founded in 1943 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), FCNL fields an expert team of lobbyists on Capitol Hill and works with a grassroots network of tens of thousands of people across the country to advance policies and priorities established by our governing General Committee.
FWCC: The Friends World Committee for Consultation encourages fellowship and understanding among all the branches of the Religious Society of Friends. The Committee brings Quakers together in multiple ways to celebrate God in our lives, to gather the Quaker voice, build networks to address issues of our time, and to unite Friends within our diversity.
Right Sharing of World Resources: Right Sharing of World Resources (RSWR) is an independent Quaker not-for-profit organization sharing the abundance of God’s love by working for equity through partnerships around the world. RSWR gives grants to groups of marginalized women in Guatemala, Kenya, Sierra Leone, and India to fund individual micro-enterprise projects. Right Sharing’s work is grounded in a sense of stewardship for the world’s material, human, and spiritual resources.
Friends Place on Capitol Hill: (Was formerly known as the William Penn House.) Friends Place is a Quaker guest house and learning center that offers affordable group lodging, gathering space, and civic engagement programming just blocks from the nation’s Capitol.
Quaker Earthcare Witness: Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW) is a network of Friends (Quakers) in North America working on Earthcare concerns. We work to inspire Spirit-led action toward ecological sustainability and environmental justice. QEW has grown out of a strong leading among Friends that our future depends on a spiritual transformation in our relationships with each other and the natural world. For over 30 years, we have helped Friends integrate Earthcare into their daily lives.
Friends Peace Teams: Friends Peace Teams is a Spirit-led organization working to develop long-term relationships with communities in conflict around the world to create programs for peace building, healing and reconciliation. Quakers from several North American Yearly Meetings established Friends Peace Teams in 1993. After witnessing the suffering in Bosnia and Herzegovina, they wanted to make every Friends Meeting and Church a center of peace and reach out to people suffering from war and violence everywhere.
Ramallah Friends School: Guided by Quaker principles and values, enriched by being in Palestine, and strengthened by collaboration within the school community and with external partnerships, Ramallah Friends School (RFS) offers children and youth an academically rigorous, balanced, engaging and inclusive learning environment of the highest quality standard, every day.
Prisoner Visitation and Support: Prisoner Visitation and Support (PVS) is a volunteer visitation program for people incarcerated in federal and military prisons throughout the United States. Our mission is to provide prisoners with regular, face to face contact from the world outside of prison to help them cope with prison life, encourage personal growth, and prepare for successful reentry into society. Our priority is to visit those prisoners who: do not ordinarily receive visits from family and friends, want or need visits, are in solitary confinement, are on death row, or are serving long sentences.
Local Ministries and Organizations We Support
The Carillon: A regularly-issued publication supported as an outreach of the Little Rock Friends Meeting. (The Meeting is currently discerning a path forward after the publication's editor has retired.)
Capitol View/Stifft Station Neighborhood Association: An organization bringing together the residents and businesses in the vicinity of the Little Rock Friends Meeting.
The Watershed: The Watershed assists people in Little Rock. Watershed believes in helping people help themselves, building on their gifts and strengths to address their greatest needs. Our mission statement is of "feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, housing the homeless, cheering the fallen, providing jobs for the jobless, administering to those in crisis and encouraging economic development and self-sufficiency."
Arkansas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty: Local organization whose mission is to educate influencers with the goal of eliminating the practice of killing people convicted of crimes.
Our House: Since 1987, Our House has provided a pathway out of homelessness for families and individuals in central Arkansas. Over the past three decades, the contributions of thousands of dedicated people from all parts of the community have built Our House into a program that is having a lasting impact on hundreds of lives each year. Our House works equally with parents and children to help whole families build the skills, resources, and confidence to break the cycle of poverty and achieve their highest goals in life.
Arkansas Coalition for Peace and Justice: The Arkansas Coalition for Peace and Justice (ACPJ) is a coalition of individuals and organizations who work to promote peaceful and just relationships through education, dialogue, and action. We envision a culture and society of peace and nonviolence, social justice, and environmental stewardship. Organized in the early 2000’s, ACPJ has historic ties to the original Arkansas Peace Center, dating back to the 1980’s.
El Zócalo: El Zócalo Immigrant Resource Center is a grassroots organization in Central Arkansas whose mission is to promote a dignified life for immigrants in Arkansas by connecting individuals and families with services and fostering community-wide understanding through education. El Zócalo means “town square” in Spanish. We work to create spaces where diverse people come together, help each other, and share in each others’ lives.
Just Communities of Arkansas: JCA's mission is to build inclusive and equitable communities through capacity-building, connection, and collaborative action. JCA envisions an Arkansas where every person is valued, every voice is heard, and everyone has a fair chance to succeed. The organization's roots sprang from the National Conference of Christians and Jews, but is now an independent organization.
Interfaith Alliance: Interfaith Alliance celebrates religious freedom by championing individual rights, promoting policies that protect both religion and democracy, and uniting diverse voices to challenge extremism. We promote legislation that protects the boundaries between religion and government, so that politics doesn’t infringe on your faith and matters of faith don’t infringe on your freedom. Our local affiliates mobilize individuals on the grass-roots level to make a difference in their own communities.
Life Quest: LifeQuest of Arkansas is an education and services organization primarily for older Arkansans, supported by a diverse group of individuals, businesses, foundations and congregations. LifeQuest is committed to the principle that its programs and services should be accessible to everyone, so registration and service fees are nominal.
The Little Rock Compassion Center: The Little Rock Compassion Center is an inner-city mission focused on a ministry of hope to those experiencing homelessness, hunger, and those who are displaced and under-resourced in the Little Rock area. We provide a clear message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as well as help for physical needs while helping people transition back into the community and into local churches. Our services are provided to any and all people groups in the inner-city in an open, caring manner, recognizing the God-given human dignity of every individual.
Capitol View/Stifft Station Neighborhood Association: An organization bringing together the residents and businesses in the vicinity of the Little Rock Friends Meeting.
The Watershed: The Watershed assists people in Little Rock. Watershed believes in helping people help themselves, building on their gifts and strengths to address their greatest needs. Our mission statement is of "feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, housing the homeless, cheering the fallen, providing jobs for the jobless, administering to those in crisis and encouraging economic development and self-sufficiency."
Arkansas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty: Local organization whose mission is to educate influencers with the goal of eliminating the practice of killing people convicted of crimes.
Our House: Since 1987, Our House has provided a pathway out of homelessness for families and individuals in central Arkansas. Over the past three decades, the contributions of thousands of dedicated people from all parts of the community have built Our House into a program that is having a lasting impact on hundreds of lives each year. Our House works equally with parents and children to help whole families build the skills, resources, and confidence to break the cycle of poverty and achieve their highest goals in life.
Arkansas Coalition for Peace and Justice: The Arkansas Coalition for Peace and Justice (ACPJ) is a coalition of individuals and organizations who work to promote peaceful and just relationships through education, dialogue, and action. We envision a culture and society of peace and nonviolence, social justice, and environmental stewardship. Organized in the early 2000’s, ACPJ has historic ties to the original Arkansas Peace Center, dating back to the 1980’s.
El Zócalo: El Zócalo Immigrant Resource Center is a grassroots organization in Central Arkansas whose mission is to promote a dignified life for immigrants in Arkansas by connecting individuals and families with services and fostering community-wide understanding through education. El Zócalo means “town square” in Spanish. We work to create spaces where diverse people come together, help each other, and share in each others’ lives.
Just Communities of Arkansas: JCA's mission is to build inclusive and equitable communities through capacity-building, connection, and collaborative action. JCA envisions an Arkansas where every person is valued, every voice is heard, and everyone has a fair chance to succeed. The organization's roots sprang from the National Conference of Christians and Jews, but is now an independent organization.
Interfaith Alliance: Interfaith Alliance celebrates religious freedom by championing individual rights, promoting policies that protect both religion and democracy, and uniting diverse voices to challenge extremism. We promote legislation that protects the boundaries between religion and government, so that politics doesn’t infringe on your faith and matters of faith don’t infringe on your freedom. Our local affiliates mobilize individuals on the grass-roots level to make a difference in their own communities.
Life Quest: LifeQuest of Arkansas is an education and services organization primarily for older Arkansans, supported by a diverse group of individuals, businesses, foundations and congregations. LifeQuest is committed to the principle that its programs and services should be accessible to everyone, so registration and service fees are nominal.
The Little Rock Compassion Center: The Little Rock Compassion Center is an inner-city mission focused on a ministry of hope to those experiencing homelessness, hunger, and those who are displaced and under-resourced in the Little Rock area. We provide a clear message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as well as help for physical needs while helping people transition back into the community and into local churches. Our services are provided to any and all people groups in the inner-city in an open, caring manner, recognizing the God-given human dignity of every individual.
