QEW Steering Committee

THE QEW STEERING COMMITTEE is the governing body with authority under the QEW Bylaws to make decisions on behalf of the organization. Of the 50 seats on the Steering Committee, half are made up of representatives appointed by affiliated Quaker Yearly Meetings. The rest are at-large members, appointed to serve at the Annual Meeting from a slate prepared by the Nominating Committee.

Officers of the Steering Committee are: Clerk, Assistant Clerk, Recording Clerk, and Treasurer.

The Steering Committee currently meets twice a year, spring and fall, for the primary purpose of allowing Steering Committee members and members of their committees (including some who are not on the Steering Committee itself) to conduct face-to-face business. These gatherings also allow fruitful informal discussions and spirit-lifting programs and activities. The Spring Steering Committee Meeting is held in a permanent central location with good access to public transportation, currently Chicago, Illinois. The Fall Steering Committee Meeting occurs in conjunction with the QEW Annual Meeting & Gathering, which is at different locations around the United States and Canada to heighten awareness of different regional ecological issues and develop relationships with Friends and Friends Meetings in those areas.

Work of the QEW Steering Committee is reported on this website in terms of:

Minutes of spring and fall plenary sessions:

Click here to read the minutes of the 2010 QEW Spring Steering Committee meeting in pdf format.

There are three main groupings within the QEW Steering Committee: 1) Standing Committees (see list at top of page) who oversee organization functions, including Finance, Personnel, Nominating, Publications, Spiritual Nurturance, Outreach, and Continuing Counsel. 2) Special-project committees who oversee QEW-supported projects. There is currently one such committee, the Ann Kriebel/San Luis Committee, which oversees the Finca la Bella Project in Costa Rica, and 3) Working groups and support groups who focus on ecological issues where QEW has agreed corporately that it has a uniqueGroups witness to offer as a spiritually-based organization. These groups include Sustainability: Faith & Practice, the support group for QEW's representative to the United Nations, and the support group for QEW's representative to Friends Committee on National Legislation.

(Other ecological concerns, including energy, agriculture, genetic engineering, climate change, native wisdom, cosmology, etc. are being addressed informally by QEW members.) In between face-to-face meetings, these groups conduct their business by mail, e-mail, conference telephone calls, and other media.