William Penn House

From October 13-16, a dozen high-school age Friends and a dozen DC area students involved in AFSC’s “Help Increase the Peace Program” (HIPP) will participate in William Penn House’s “I Have a Dream…” Youth Seminar. Participants will build community; learn about lobbying and nonviolence; explore issues of racism, civil rights and democracy; and take guided tours of the National Mall and through one of D.C.’s most historically- and culturally-rich African-American neighborhoods.

William Penn House invites Friends Meetings from across the country to support one or two young Friends in attending, and suggests asking participants to report back both on their experience and follow-up ideas. We also ask participants for a contribution of $50 to help cover program costs, lodging, meals and materials.

Teachers of Peace

The William Penn House’s upcoming seminar, Teachers of Peace: Educating for Peace and Social Change helps teachers help their students create a more just and peaceful society. If you teach middle through high school-aged students, please join us in Washington D.C. from November 2-5, for what promises to be a rich learning opportunity.

By participating, you will build a network of supportive colleagues; create your own peace lesson, unit or course; learn about Multi-Track Diplomacy, a framework for understanding and engaging in peacemaking; gain inspiration from peacemakers from a variety of “tracks;” and deepen your understanding of the spiritual aspects of teaching peace.

Participation will count toward continuing education requirements for licensure renewal in most school systems, and you will receive a certificate for 20 contact hours. William Penn House asks for a contribution of $50 to $250 to help cover program costs, lodging, meals, and materials. We also have resources available to support the participation of all, so please don’t let a lack of funds stand in your way.

“What a positive, upbeat atmosphere! I greatly enjoyed meeting folks from the Workcamps, other countries, and here for Amnesty International, as well as helpful staff. My 10 year old niece’s birthday trip to the Smithsonian was enriched by staying here and meeting diverse and friendly folks. Peace’s blessings! Mary Fran Hughes-McIntyre”

2005 was a memorable year for William Penn House. We completed the merger of Washington Quaker Workcamps into the corporate structure of William Penn House. This revitalized ministry has not only expanded our programs to young people but has also increased the number of groups staying at the House. We also added a new staff member to develop and coordinate programs offered by the House.

Working with teachers, we further refined our “Teachers of Peace” seminars. The October seminar was attended by Friends of all 4 traditions in addition to teachers who were not Friends. Through the Workcamping program, we increased our outreach to Young Friends and Quaker schools. The service learning opportunities offered by the Workcamping program has developed a broad base of support among people of various faith traditions.

We have continued our improvements to the House through painting, some construction and the overall improvements to the facility’s atmosphere. Since much of the work is performed by staff, it progresses slowly but each step is appreciated by staff and guests. One of the key improvements has been to the Cory Conference Room with new lighting, electrical wiring, tin ceiling repairs and repainted walls.

We were blessed with two generous bequests. Through this new addition to our reserves, we have been able to accelerate our improvements to the House and to afford the upfront costs of expanding the seminar and Workcamping programs. As always, we were gratified by the donations from monthly meetings, yearly meetings and individuals.

Because of these gifts, we continue our presence on Capitol Hill by offering affordable lodging to those lobbying Congress, for those here to protest policies and to provide safe and comfortable hospitality to visitors from the US and abroad.

Our collaboration with Friends Committee on National Legislation continues to be an important relationship. We co-sponsor the FCNL Young Adult Lobby Weekend and provide hospitality to FCNL committee members and Young Adults who attend the FCNL annual session. We are deepening our relationship with American Friends Service Committee by jointly developing programs for youth. Our relationship with area monthly meetings continues to enrich and enliven our community. We host a monthly potluck and dialogue which is attended by friends from up to 5 monthly meetings each 1^st Sunday. Our presenters are from local meetings or Quaker organizations who share their leadings and interests with our Quaker community.

The William Penn House internship program attracts the best and the brightest of our young Friends. In addition to the service that they provide the House, we see this internship as an opportunity to expose these Friends to the broader world of Quakers and to other groups who seek a better world. Each intern receives room and board, health insurance and a stipend. We encourage their participation in opportunities that are offered to expand and enrich their lives. We see this program as a ministry to our youth and to the future of a vital Quaker faith.

Our interns provide the organizational needs for two of our long term relationships: The Emerson Congressional Hunger Fellows and the University of Washington-Bothell. The Hunger Fellows are here twice a year as they are trained to help reduce hunger among Americans. The Bothell students attend a week long seminar on the relationship of government, NGOs and foreign embassies. This is a program for credit.

William Penn House participates with the Friends Association for Higher Education and the Friends Council on Education. Our staff is actively involved with Friends General Conference, Baltimore Yearly Meeting and the Friends Meeting of Washington. Staff members visit several yearly meeting sessions each year and numerous monthly meetings. Our Quaker connections are integral to our lives.

2005 Income and Expenses

Income	Expenses
Contributions, Bequests & Grants	Personnel $173,900
WPH $116,575	Building 24,690
WQW 17,100	Household 15,700
Program & Lodging	Program 26,118
WPH $188,200	WQW Expenses 3,640
WQW 12,865	Administrative 18,500
Other Income $10,200	Other 16,650
Total Income $344,940	Total Expenses $279,198
Net Income $63,742

Byron Sandford

Executive Director

As I finish my second year as Director, a day does not go by when I am not thankful for this opportunity I have been given for Quaker service. On a daily basis, we get to play host to people of conscience from throughout the world. They journey to our nation's capital to lobby, protest, celebrate, or, just to vacation. The issues that they speak to with deep dedication range the gamut from saving the forests to ending war.

William Penn House has had a long tradition of serving youth-young Friends in particular. This house is a virtual window onto the world of future generations. As an every day eyewitness to this view, I can tell you that it is an encouraging vision. Young people come to us from all over the nation to study, witness, learn and serve their fellow man. These young people hale from all of the states and territories (even the disenfranchised colony of Washington, DC). They come from all socio-economic backgrounds, yet they have one thing in common, they believe that they can make a difference and make the world a better place to live.

One of our goals as an organization is to be a place where the next generation of leaders - in particular, Quaker leaders - can be nurtured. We see our internship opportunities as one way to meet this goal. Our interns typically are recent college graduates who see William Penn House as a place to test and grow their talents and their spirit. Many have left here to go on to work for Quaker or other non-profit organizations. Each of our interns has been a blessing and has helped the House to change and to adapt to an ever evolving world. In June 2004, at the end of his year-long internship with us, Justin Anderson accepted a staff position at the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL). As Justin left the House, we welcomed Amy Marie Babcock as his replacement. Amy is a graduate of Earlham School of Religion. She served as a pastor in a Quaker Church for two years before joining our intern staff. Also, during the summer and fall, Sarah Klein interned with us as a last co-op work experience to meet graduation requirements for Antioch College. When she left us at Thanksgiving, we welcomed Caroline Kernahan, a graduate of Guilford College. Caroline will be with us until late 2005.

During 2004, Robert Chambers joined our staff as janitor. For several years, William Penn House has hired housekeeping staff from addiction treatment programs. This has had mixed results. All have had the best intentions of staying clean, yet have found it harder than anticipated. And Robert had tried treatment programs before. But now, Robert has become one of our success stories. Having had no previous history of job stability, Robert has now been with William Penn House for over a year and has been clean of drugs for over two years. And, thanks to Robert's dedication, William Penn House is clean as a whistle, too.

In 2004 I believe we made important progress both in the development of William Penn House as a Quaker organization and as a valuable resource to the wider Quaker community. Two major initiatives take center stage in this progression:

Additional program highlights from 2004 included both the youth and inter-generational lobby weekends that we co-sponsored with FCNL; the wonderful graduate level educational seminar on human rights conducted by the University of Washington, our ongoing special relationship with the Emerson Hunger Fellows and the opportunity to host Native Americans participating in the opening ceremonies of the Museum of the American Indian.

As an outreach to our local Quaker community, William Penn House marked its third year of hosting a monthly potluck and dialogue series. On the evening of the 1st First day of each month, 20 to 30 Quakers from DC area Monthly Meetings gather for hospitality and learning. Most importantly, we are getting to know each other as individuals while sharing ministry, leadings and knowledge. All of the speakers have come from the local Quaker community and serve to highlight the vast wealth of knowledge held right here in our midst.

Our progress this past year and our continued high level of activity would not have been possible without the many talents of my Associate Director, Patricia Coffman. Her bookkeeping talents and computer literacy have helped bring our office into the new millennium. Her eye for detail and sense of organization enrich our programs and her long history of living in community has added to the fabric of the community at this House. Her grace and energy are no small part of this year's economic success and the progress that we have made in repainting and refurbishing this historic House.

As we slip into 2005, we at William Penn House are planning for 2006 and William Penn House's 40th anniversary. We hope by the 40th anniversary to accomplish two key labor and cash intensive goals. We hope to have completely repainted the whole House, creating more comfortable surroundings for our guests. We also hope to have upgraded the Cory Conference Room to a state-of-the art seminar space to better serve our program clients. With these kinds of goals, continued expansion of programs and a healthy set of advanced hospitality bookings for months to come, 2005 promises to be a busy, rewarding year.