The conference is founded to connect the ideals of the abolition movement with the "Indian Problem," and to identify solutions. Quaker participants see both Black and Native people as living under the "benevolent" guardianship of the state. Meeting annually, the group begins to articulate national strategies for "compensatory social programming" that will "prepare Blacks and Indians for full citizenship by making them self-sufficient."

This movement towards individual and family-based self-sufficiency, which is a strategy that will continue to define much of social work moving forward, completely contradicts the more interdependent and cultural practices maintained by both Black and Native communities.