Those who can’t make this event, or who live out of the area, can support our work by visiting our donations page here.

Dear friends and supporters,

For the past 12 years, it has been a great pleasure sharing with you the joys and triumphs of the multitude of young writers who have participated in our programs: thousands of poems published in our literary magazines, more than 100 city-wide writing awards, dozens of college scholarships awarded, and the list goes on. But in our current economic climate, creative writing is in jeopardy. Extra-curricular activities for under-served youth have been drastically cut, and arts programs have been hit the hardest. These past few years, the D.C.Creative Writing Workshop has been the only after-school arts activity available for hundreds of young people in Congress Heights, and the one safe space open to children who have been thrown out of other programs and would otherwise be on the streets.

We’re asking for your help. On Thursday, September 20, the D.C. Creative Writing Workshop will be holding a fundraiser from 6-8 pm at the Busboys and Poets 5^thand K Streets location, and we would like you to make a contribution. Our supporters are lovers of self-expression and the written word, advocates for young people who need a second chance—we know you’re not the kind of people who can write huge checks to all your favorite causes. But our program needs whatever you can afford to give.

The D.C. Creative Writing Workshop has an astonishing record of preparing our students for successful lives. One hundred percent of the participants in our Young-Writers-in-Residence program have graduated from high school, compared with a rate of less than 60 percent at their neighborhood school. And the youths who ask for our help applying to college and finding the funds to pay for it have gotten personal assistance from our writers. Our graduates are currently attending colleges like the University of Wisconsin, Trinity University, and the University of North Carolina. In just the past few weeks, we were able to send another three students off to college—kids who had dreamed of higher education, but had no idea how to pursue that goal. We want to be there for those students when they come home on their holiday breaks to describe the wonders of college life to their younger peers. And we want to be there at the start of the following school year for all the little ones who wait outside our door on the first day of school asking when Writing Club begins.

Please help us continue to provide a lifeline for the young people whose voices need to be heard. We’re looking forward to seeing you at the fundraiser on September 20, where we’ll be offering an opportunity to meet our students and see their award-winning work. But if you aren’t able to attend, please consider making a donation on-line by visiting our donations page here.