The
American Friends Service Committee (
www.afsc.org) is a practical expression of the faith of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Committed to the principles of nonviolence and justice, it seeks in its work and witness to draw on the transforming power of love, human and divine.
We recognize that the leadings of the Spirit and the principles of truth found through Friends' experience and practice are not the exclusive possession of any group. Thus, the AFSC draws into its work people of many faiths and backgrounds who share the values that animate its life and who bring to it a rich variety of experiences and spiritual insights.
This AFSC community works to transform conditions and relationships both in the world and in ourselves, which threaten to overwhelm what is precious in human beings. We nurture the faith that conflicts can be resolved nonviolently, that enmity can be transformed into friendship, strife into cooperation, poverty into well-being, and injustice into dignity and participation. We believe that ultimately goodness can prevail over evil, and oppression in all its many forms can give way.
The
Children’s Crisis Treatment Center’s (
www.cctckids.org) West African Refugee Assistance Program, (Tamaa) was established in 2002 as a trauma-informed, school-and community-based program designed to meet the complex mental health and social services needs of the large growing number of West African refugee children and families resettling in Southwest Philadelphia.
The program’s target population are children and families form Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and more recently the Ivory Coast who have witnessed and experienced traumatic events in their homelands and refugee camps and who are also experiencing difficulties acculturating in Southwest Philadelphia.
The Tamaa program was developed in response to a clearly identified gap in the social and mental health service delivery system. Tamaa consists of school- and community-based components to assist the West African refugee children and families who have resettled in Southwest Philadelphia. The school-based components include the West African Refugee Children’s Trauma- and Grief-Focused Therapy Groups and Teacher Trainings. The community-based components include the West African Refugee Caregiver Education and Support Group, Case Management Services, and Multicultural Community Events. There is also a Tamaa Advisory Board.
