Published: March 9, 2024
Dear Friends,
Sandra Schwartz, Clerk of the Woolman Board of Trustees, submits the letter below to Western Friend's "Extra Extra" on behalf of the board. Thank you.
– Phyllis Jewell, Woolman Recording Clerk.
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From the Woolman Board of Trustees:
We have read with interest the letters appearing in Western Friend's "Extra Extra" and in and our local Nevada County, CA press recently relating to the sale of the Woolman property. There are many misconceptions and inaccuracies circulating about this pending sale. We hope we can dispel some of the rumors.
On January 8, 2024, College Park Friends Educational Association d/b/a Woolman at Sierra Friends Center signed an agreement to sell its 230+ acre Nevada County, California property to California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization guided by the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe. The details of the agreement remain confidential but both parties are engaged in the subsequent period of meeting any contingencies during the due diligence period. We have worked to establish trust and feel a sense of joy that we are this far along in the process.
Woolman at Sierra Friends Center formerly operated the John Woolman School, a residential high school founded in the 1960s, which later evolved into the Woolman Semester program in the early 2000s. Both programs had already closed due to financial nonviability when the pandemic struck in 2020. Later in 2020, the Jones Fire burned through the campus, destroying over a third of the buildings and 70 acres of forested land. After being unable to operate for over two years, we launched new programs in 2022 but due to rising costs and changes resulting from the pandemic, the board found it necessary to shut down all programs and to consider how to transfer the property to new owners.
The Board, as stewards of an institution that is beloved by the many people who have lived, worked, taken classes, or sojourned on the land, asked, "What is this moment asking of us?" We wanted to continue the legacy of transformative healing and change that characterized so many people's experience of being at Woolman. We wondered if there was a way for some good to come from our loss. We remembered that CHIRP had approached us in 2020 before the Jones Fire about buying the land. As we sat with this idea and learned more about CHIRP and the Nisenan story we became convinced that CHIRP stewardship of the land we call Woolman would continue educational programming but more importantly it was a step toward the deep transformational healing that needs to be done for all of humanity. While Quakers may not have specifically harmed the Nisenan people, we are beneficiaries of a brutal history that nearly eliminated the First Peoples of this state. Seeking to ethically transition this land back to CHIRP is a small step on a long path needed for being in right relationship with each other. We believe that the land we call Woolman will continue to be sacred, healing and transformational under the stewardship of the descendants of the first people who lived and worked here.
More about CHIRP, the Nisenan story, and the history of Woolman are available on the Woolman website: www.woolman.org.
Finally, to those who have publicly raised concerns about gambling, we point to the recently filed deed restriction that prohibits casiso gaming on the property in perpetuity.
Sincerely yours,
Sandra Schwartz, Clerk of the Board of Trustees
College Park Friends Educational Association dba Woolman at Sierra Friends Center