OUTREACH PROGRAMS
FEATURED Literary engagements
It’s Lit! Exploring Our Individual Voices
A free-write session that encourages participants to explore multiple story ideas and even begin one! We discuss the importance of telling our own stories and the essential, undeniable power of the individual voice. We all have a story to tell, the world is ready to hear it!
It’s Your Party! A Celebration of Form
A customized workshop centered on a specific literary/writing form. Engagements encourage writers to create work across desired literary form or genre, including but not limited to poetry, prose, flash fiction, memoir, drama, and more.
The Recipe: Elements of Fiction Writing
A customized workshop that explores the main ingredients of a successful story (setting, dialogue, character development, dramatic conflict, etc.). Activities include reading short stories, novel/story excerpts, defining and discussing literary terms, and writing short prose to apply literary elements to our own writing.
The Writer’s Feast: A Cure to Writer’s Block
We curate the space and time to empower your inner-writer! We discuss writing habits, techniques, and strategies to improve your writing, unblock story and character development, and revive your relationship to your writing practice.
A free-write session that encourages participants to explore multiple story ideas and even begin one! We discuss the importance of telling our own stories and the essential, undeniable power of the individual voice. We all have a story to tell, the world is ready to hear it!
It’s Your Party! A Celebration of Form
A customized workshop centered on a specific literary/writing form. Engagements encourage writers to create work across desired literary form or genre, including but not limited to poetry, prose, flash fiction, memoir, drama, and more.
The Recipe: Elements of Fiction Writing
A customized workshop that explores the main ingredients of a successful story (setting, dialogue, character development, dramatic conflict, etc.). Activities include reading short stories, novel/story excerpts, defining and discussing literary terms, and writing short prose to apply literary elements to our own writing.
The Writer’s Feast: A Cure to Writer’s Block
We curate the space and time to empower your inner-writer! We discuss writing habits, techniques, and strategies to improve your writing, unblock story and character development, and revive your relationship to your writing practice.
Raise Your Voice: The Power of Protest Literature
We explore and discuss the passionate, socially-conscious literature of protest written by powerful, women warrior writers and poets. The prose and poetry presented represents the brilliant, challenging responses of our elder and ancestor black women and women of color writers and poets as they worked, witnessed, and wrote through moments of our greatest civil and social unrest.
At Our Grandmothers' Feet: Our Lives and How We Live Them
Part-lecture, part-creative writing workshop, this workshop presents the life and work of our ancestor black women and women of color writers and poets whose literary offerings paved the way for us all. Discussion also includes discovering the parallels and divergences reflected in the lives of our ancestors and our lives in contemporary times. We explore how the intersection of biography, history, and literary techniques create moving, fundamentally-sound prose that inspires and provides structure for our writing today.
My Authentic Self & The Three W’s
In this discussion based literary engagement we encourage participates to think critically about who they are, who they claim to be and who they want to be; and how these (3) ideas help to form our identity, personality and character as a person. We will read and discuss quotes/excerpts by Black women and Women of Color writers that focus on the theme of “identity”; Ending with a three W’s inspired free-write.
We explore and discuss the passionate, socially-conscious literature of protest written by powerful, women warrior writers and poets. The prose and poetry presented represents the brilliant, challenging responses of our elder and ancestor black women and women of color writers and poets as they worked, witnessed, and wrote through moments of our greatest civil and social unrest.
At Our Grandmothers' Feet: Our Lives and How We Live Them
Part-lecture, part-creative writing workshop, this workshop presents the life and work of our ancestor black women and women of color writers and poets whose literary offerings paved the way for us all. Discussion also includes discovering the parallels and divergences reflected in the lives of our ancestors and our lives in contemporary times. We explore how the intersection of biography, history, and literary techniques create moving, fundamentally-sound prose that inspires and provides structure for our writing today.
My Authentic Self & The Three W’s
In this discussion based literary engagement we encourage participates to think critically about who they are, who they claim to be and who they want to be; and how these (3) ideas help to form our identity, personality and character as a person. We will read and discuss quotes/excerpts by Black women and Women of Color writers that focus on the theme of “identity”; Ending with a three W’s inspired free-write.
Extended Youth Writing Engagements
A Future, Imagined: Journeys to Success
An introductory workshop for young women transitioning out of foster care. Writing sessions focus on acknowledging our past without being defined by it, exploring our personal narratives to imagine successful futures, and identifying the tools, resources, and goals that will bring those successful futures to fruition.
Writing for Healing: Feeling and Free-Writing
Creative writing and expression program for foster care, group homes, and alternative education providers. Program inspires open expression, creative and positive thinking, and most importantly healing through writing.
A Future, Imagined: Journeys to Success
An introductory workshop for young women transitioning out of foster care. Writing sessions focus on acknowledging our past without being defined by it, exploring our personal narratives to imagine successful futures, and identifying the tools, resources, and goals that will bring those successful futures to fruition.
Writing for Healing: Feeling and Free-Writing
Creative writing and expression program for foster care, group homes, and alternative education providers. Program inspires open expression, creative and positive thinking, and most importantly healing through writing.
Partnerships
We partner and maintain affiliations with a number of community-based organizations and service-providers. Some of our partners include: Milwaukee Academy Treatment Center, ReDefiners World Languages, Inc., A Kid's Place, Hillsborough County Public Libraries, Keep St. Pete Lit, Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American History Museum, SpeakTank Poetry Slam and Workshop, GirlTalk!, Town and Country High School, West University, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and more!
We partner and maintain affiliations with a number of community-based organizations and service-providers. Some of our partners include: Milwaukee Academy Treatment Center, ReDefiners World Languages, Inc., A Kid's Place, Hillsborough County Public Libraries, Keep St. Pete Lit, Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American History Museum, SpeakTank Poetry Slam and Workshop, GirlTalk!, Town and Country High School, West University, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and more!