Volunteer with us
Thank you for your interest in volunteering with us!
As an all-volunteer group, our work is possible only because of the dedication of volunteers. All first-time volunteers must attend an orientation and training before answering letters. To attend an orientation, please email btopdc@gmail.com to be added to our orientation wait list. Those on the wait list will be notified via email when new orientation times are scheduled.
Returning volunteers should reach out to be briefed on any new workspace rules or if you will need to be re-trained.
We receive very many volunteer training requests. However, our work space is small and we are limited on how many people we can train at one time. While we schedule two new volunteer training sessions a month, it may still be a while before you hear from us. Patience is appreciated.
Read in the Los Angeles Review of Books about the experience of one of our volunteers.
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For health reasons volunteers must wear a mask covering their nose and mouth while in our workspace.
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If you need documentation of community service hours, you must have your arrival and departure times logged each time you volunteer. Ask for an Engaged Volunteer to record the times of your arrival and departure. We cannot certify community service hours if this procedure is not followed. New volunteers who need community service hours must complete orientation.
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Two and a half blocks east of Dupont Circle, Foundry United Methodist Church generously provides space to DC Books to Prisons. The church is located at 1500 16th St NW, Washington DC, 20036.
To get to us via Metro, take the Red Line to Dupont Circle, leave via the south entrance, walk partially around the circle to P Street, and go east 2.5 blocks.
To get to us via the Blue/Orange Line, go to McPherson Square, leave via the White House exit, walk one block west on I Street. Once you get to 16th Street, wait for a northbound bus. When the bus goes through the tunnel, pull the "stop requested" wire and get off at the next stop which is the intersection of P Street and 16th Street NW.
If you travel via Capital Bikeshare, you can dock your bike at station #31201, located at the intersection of P Street NW and 15th Street NW.
If you are driving, please be aware Foundry does not have a parking lot for visitors, so you will need to find street parking.
The church has multiple entrances. Use the one on 16th Street that can be reached by going up either steps or a ramp. Ring the doorbell to be let in, go through the lobby to your left, then go downstairs. At the bottom of the stairs, turn left. We are in room B1, opposite the men's restroom.
Volunteers using wheelchairs or scooters can reach our room by going up the ramp on 16th Street then taking an elevator down to our floor. The accessible route to our room involves heavy doors that are sometimes locked, so we strongly advise that you ask the receptionist to escort you. For more details on disability access, see our page for volunteers with disabilities.
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Foundry closes on all federal holidays and whenever snow causes the federal government to close.
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To ensure the safety of a person with a severe allergy to nuts, the building has gone nut-free. Please do not bring any foods containing nuts into the building.
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Please help us accommodate volunteers who are chemically sensitive to fragrances and other scented products. Thank you for not wearing perfume, cologne, aftershave, scented hand lotion, fragranced hair products, and/or similar products.
“Yet despite these challenges, more volunteers have stepped up. The letters continue to arrive in the church basement, each one a testament to the persistence of literary desire in the face of tightening restrictions. They remind us that reading, at its core, isn’t about cultural capital or carceral control. It’s about maintaining our essential human right to imagine differently, to choose freely, and to find joy in our own way, even within confinement.”
Jackie Snow, Los Angeles Review of Books