Focus Area: Youth Development

Grant Amount: $10,000

Located in Minneapolis. Founded in 2009, 826 MSP helps underserved K-12 youth think creatively, write effectively, and succeed academically with help from volunteer coaches. It offers 5 free writing programs: after-school writing lab, storytelling and bookmaking field trips for 2nd-4th graders, the Writers’ Room satellite space at South High School, annual Young Authors’ Book Project resulting in a professionally published anthology, and creative writing workshops on weekends and in summer.

Grant supports the After-School Writing Lab, which provides homework help, writing sessions, and guest artist presentations and produces a semester-end publication. It will include age-specific cohorts and a focus on writing as a community-building tool. Students practice collaboration via peer editing, explore different kinds of relationships through character development, and learn to plan and manage a larger project by focusing on a larger piece of writing rather than disconnected daily prompts.