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.
Our Mission
Friends Place on Capitol Hill is a welcoming space that offers hospitality centered in peace, civic education, and justice-based advocacy for learners and leaders of all ages.
Our Vision
We seek a world where every person is empowered and equipped to be a vessel of change, witness, and stewardship in their community and the world.
Our Space
Located in Washington, D.C., just four blocks from the U.S. Capitol, Friends Place is an ideal location for school, church, or community groups bringing young people to Washington D.C., on trips to promote civic engagement.
The historic house, dating to 1917, was extensively repaired and upgraded in 2021 to create a first floor conference space equipped for remote meetings, a second floor meeting room that adjoins a dining room/kitchen area; and seven sleeping rooms that can accommodate up to 40 guests overnight.
Friends Place also offers experiential programs in civic engagement designed for young people to learn and engage in solutions to our country’s structural problems—like racism, militarism, inequity, and injustice—that prevent the full realization of our democracy. Friends Place’s programs are based on the ethical and moral grounding of Quakers (Religious Society of Friends) and are open to all groups.
Friends Place on Capitol Hill is an independent 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit subsidiary of the FCNL Education Fund and affiliated with Friends Committee on National Legislation. These are Quaker nonprofit and nonpartisan organizations working together to advance peace, justice, and environmental stewardship.
Availability
As a Quaker learning center and guesthouse, Friends Place is available for daytime and overnight rentals, which can include a programming component for groups renting the space.
Financials and Reports
Friends Place on Capitol Hill is an independent 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit. It was formerly known as William Penn House. Friends Place is affiliated with the FCNL Education Fund and the Friends Committee on National Legislation, both nonpartisan nonprofit Quaker organizations.
Employer Identification Number: 52‐0846718
For more information on financials, please contact: Aminata Taylor at ataylor [at] fcnl.org
Indigenous Land Acknowledgement
As we bear witness and lobby in solidarity with Native Americans, we specifically honor the people of Nacotchtank, who were decimated as a result of European colonization. Also known as the Anacostans, they lived along the banks of the Anacostia River and in several villages in and around Capitol Hill. By the 1700s, the Nacotchtank had merged with other peoples, including the Pamunkey and Piscataway, who still exist today.
The buildings of FCNL, FCNL Education Fund, and Friends Place on Capitol Hill stand on their ancestral land.