About
Woolman educates, inspires, and prepares youth and adults to work for peace, justice, and environmental sustainability, and to deepen their personal and spiritual growth.
Woolman’s mission is deeply rooted in this place: our 240-acre campus in the Northern California’s Sierra foothills offers forest, trails, streams, meadows, ponds, an orchard, and organic farm—an extraordinarily rich setting for youth and adults to breathe, learn, create, explore, reflect, express, listen, and work.
Immersed in this environment, Woolman engages youth and adults in a holistic tapestry of diverse and interrelated learning experiences: youth experience joy, belonging, and adventure at our residential summer camp; students and teachers bridge classroom learning with experiential, outdoor education; both youth and adults make art; activists learn and organize; and groups and individuals retreat to Woolman for restoration, celebration, and community.
All Woolman’s programs carry a social justice lens inspired by our organization’s namesake, John Woolman, an 18th century Quaker abolitionist. Woolman’s programs inform and infuse each other, expanding opportunities for growth and creativity.
Mission and Vision
Woolman seeks to both inspire and to prepare individuals to work for peace, justice, and environmental sustainability, and to deepen their personal and spiritual growth.
At Woolman, we envision a future where engaged communities are stewarding a peaceful world, a more equitable society, and a healthy planet.
History
During the years from 2016 through 2021, Woolman weathered two major crises, the COVID-19 pandemic and the devastating 2020 Jones Fire, which burned 19 buildings and 150 acres of forest land on Woolman’s campus.
After an intensive recovery period, Woolman has begun working to achieve its renewed mission, offering these programs and services:
Camp Woolman – inclusive adventures for youth, providing summer camp sessions with backpacking excursions to the High Sierras.
Woolman Outdoor School – bridging the classroom with outdoor learning, hosting school groups for immersive outdoor education programming (both residential and day field trips).
Woolman Arts – cultivating creativity in nature, offering youth and adult arts programs.
Woolman Center for Activism – supporting change makers through workshops and organizing.
Retreats – welcoming spaces to rest, learn, and collaborate, hosting individual and group retreats.
In 1963, College Park Friends Educational Association, Woolman’s parent 501(c)3, created John Woolman School, named for an 18th-century Quaker who advocated for the abolition of slavery and peace between white settlers and indigenous tribes.
The founders purchased a 300-acre cattle ranch in the Sierra Foothills, and in 1963, they opened the first Quaker residential high school west of the Mississippi.
John Woolman School emphasized simplicity, equality, community, and nonviolence in a setting where nature’s magnificence informed the educational experience. The school operated from 1963 until its closure in 2001. Subsequently, a semester program offered high school students with environmental and peace-focused programming until 2016.