Since mid-March, Friends Center has operated with reduced hours and staffing as part of efforts to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. The equity partner and tenant organizations with offices on site have largely been working from home during that time. Building operations continued as an essential service, stewarding the property and receiving mail and shipments for tenants.
In July the Friends Child Care Center on site was able to reopen when Philadelphia moved to the “yellow” phase of Pennsyvlvania’s reopening plan, and thus to provide this much-needed service to parents.
Also in July, in the wake of the protests following George Floyd’s murder which included a period when the National Guard was deployed just two blocks away at City Hall, Friends Center placed two official “Black Lives Matter” banners on its east and north exterior fences. Unfortunately, one was removed within a day or two of being mounted. In response, a replacement was purchased and placed in Friends Center’s display window on North Fifteenth Street, where it remains.
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