 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||
 |
||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
What We Do Our award-winning program provides important opportunities for hundreds of young people to explore the world and themselves through literature and to free their imaginations through the study and writing of poetry. Using the book group model, we introduce young people to the rich world of ideas presented to us in books. The books we give them are theirs to keep, helping them to build home libraries. Each weekly book discussion is followed by a poetry writing exercise that encourages the students to further explore the themes they read and discuss. We share their voices with the wider community through published anthologies and public poetry readings. Seeing their words in print is an empowering experience that makes literacy irresistible. We work in collaboration with alternative schools, agencies serving pregnant and parenting teens, and after-school programs. We reach 500-600 young people aged 12-21 each year. They live in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods and attend under-financed schools. They are hungry for opportunities to learn, to grow, and to be their best selves. |
"Book group changed me. I used to be angry, but now I think more before I react. Talking is more effective than fighting and arguing."
— student, Second Chance Alternative High School |
