Friends Place offers opportunities for experiential education and civic engagement programs with a focus on how people-power creates justice, peace, a healthy planet, and a stronger democracy.
About Our Programming
Friends Place offers civic education and engagement programs with several options for workshops and guided discussions that can be adapted to the ages and learning objectives of your group. We have worked with students of all ages, recent college graduates, Boy and Girl Scouts troops, Quaker meetings and other faith congregations, faith-based youth groups, intergenerational groups, advocacy organizations, mutual aid organizers, service-learning and alternative break experience leaders, and more. We also are constantly developing new ideas for workshops based on suggestions from groups and are happy to speak with your group leaders to develop a customized workshop for your group. We encourage teachers, chaperones, parents, or organization staff to participate in our programming alongside their students and participants.
Cost: $200-$250
Friends Place charges a flat fee for each block of on-site programming (typically 1-2 hours), with a maximum capacity of 40 people. Financial aid is available on an as needed basis.
We can implement multiple workshops throughout your stay, connect you with other organizations or community partners, and advise the overall planning of your group’s itinerary to ensure that your students have a seamless and meaningful learning experience from beginning to end.
For off-site or remote programming, including for groups larger than 40, please contact staff for planning and pricing.
Civic Engagement Programs
Friends Place’s civic education and engagement programs are grounded in Quaker values and practice. Our programming is immersive, actionable, and always tied to effecting systemic change. We offer:
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FCNL and the Advocacy Process: Learn about FCNL’s work as a Quaker lobbying organization, review the basics of the legislative process, and if engaging in a lobby training or community organizing workshop, identify an issue focus. Highly encouraged for groups who intend to lobby but don’t have a pre-selected policy issue. (45-60 minutes)
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Lobby Training: Learn how to lobby your representatives on an issue you care about using the power of personal stories. Roleplay and debrief FCNL’s lobby visit road map. Highly encouraged for groups who will be lobbying during their time in DC. (60-90 minutes)
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Community Organizing: Learn how to organize a campaign to make change in your community. Practice having one-on-one conversations and identifying strategic goals, targets, and tactics. (60-90 minutes)
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F/friends in Unlikely Places: Engaging With Those Who Disagree: Practice strategic dialogue, listening and speaking skills and explore how we might draw on Quaker tradition and spiritual grounding for the work of building a more just and peaceful democracy by engaging with those who might disagree with us. (60-90 minutes)
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Advocacy and the Arts: Study examples of how art, music, and movement have been used to affect community and policy change and collaborate with your group members on your own song, banner, poem, or other artistic piece. (60 minutes)
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Guided Museum Reflections: Discuss learnings and takeaways from visits to the African American History Museum, Holocaust Museum, National Museum of the American Indian and reflect on strategies for working toward social justice and anti-discrimination in your home communities. Great for Scout troop leaders facilitating opportunities for scouts to earn their Discover the Nation’s Capital patch. (60 minutes)
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Digital Storytelling: Learn how to effectively utilize different media platforms to share stories for advocacy. Participants can select from the following training options: Principles of photography and videography, writing letters to the editor, TV and radio interviews, or graphic design for Instagram. Participants will end the session with a finished sample media product, such as a photo album, video, letter to the editor, recorded interview, or Instagram graphic. (90-120 minutes)
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Careers in Peace, Justice, and Environmental Advocacy: Hear from members of our FCNL Policy and Advocacy Teams as they share stories answering questions about careers in public interest advocacy. Staff will share examples of different kinds of job positions and career paths, and invite students to discern what kind of work they might see themselves embarking on. (60 minutes)
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Budgets as Moral Documents: Learn about the federal budgeting process through a hands-on activity where students design their ideal government budget and discuss advocacy strategies for budgets that address people’s needs. (60-90 minutes)
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Service vs. Justice: Analyze the difference between responding to social problems with a mindset of service vs. justice. Recommended for groups who are planning service-learning activities before, during, or after their visit. (60-90 minutes)
Ready to Get Started?
Contact us to start planning programming for your group. We collaborate with group leaders to customize an experience that matches the learning objectives for your organization, congregation, school, or youth group.
Our Values
Anti-racism, Anti-bias, Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
To remedy past wrongs and build a just and equitable future, FCNL and Friends Place commit to treating anti-racism, anti-bias, justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion (AJEDI) as central pillars of our work. Our AJEDI principles are core to both the content of our programming and the ways in which we implement it. We invite groups to approach our programming with an open, curious mind, to treat fellow participants and staff with respect, to help each other learn and grow through challenge or discomfort. We expect all staff, guests, vendors, and community partners to fulfill our community agreements while they are engaged with us both inside and outside of the building to ensure that we are practicing building the beloved community we seek.
Accessibility
All Friends Place workshops are developed with principles of universal design for learning and trauma-informed practices in mind. We strive to include a mix of small and large group discussions, movement and sensory-based activities, and allow multiple options for students to engage and participate. Please speak with our staff if members of your group require specific accommodation so that we can ensure your accessibility needs are met. We are happy to collaborate and co-facilitate with any support staff of your school or organization as needed.