Through the pandemic period, Friends Center’s nonprofit office space has maintained a vacancy rate of 7–10 percent, which is relatively low compared to most commercial office buildings in Center City Philadelphia. Three new organizations recently leased space at Friends Center: (1) Junior Achievement of Southeastern Pennsylvania, a nonprofit that inspires and prepares young people to succeed in a global economy; (2) Defender Association of Philadelphia, Local 5520 of the UAW, the employee union for public defenders in Philadelphia; (3) Womanist Working Collective, a radical grassroots social action and support collective for Black folks of marginalized gender experience (trans and cis), femmes, and other gender-expansive people.
With these additions, Friends Center has 30 organizations with space on site, including both Quaker organizations and non-Quaker nonprofits whose missions and values align with Quaker testimonies and values.
In addition, events in the shared conference and meeting space at Friends Center have included a convening of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s peace and social justice grantees; a “Sleep Out” fundraiser for Covenant House’s programs for homeless youth; Mural Arts Program of Philadelphia’s all-staff meetings; the program year kickoff for City Year and their associated AmeriCorps partner organizations; and the filming of one scene at a Quaker meeting for an upcoming episode of a new streaming TV series.
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