Write Around Portland changes lives through the power of storytelling. They hold free creative writing workshops in hospitals, shelters, senior centers, prisons, schools and treatment facilities. They also publish participants’ stories and host public readings in order to celebrate and create access to stories we as a society aren’t hearing elsewhere, and to build empathy and understanding for the experiences of others. Our grant helped expand workshop access to youth who are incarcerated, experiencing homelessness, in alternative learning settings, and/or experiencing mental health crises. The funds were used to train and support volunteers, provide workshop materials and bus tickets for participants, and support readings and the publication of anthologies of these young writers’ works.
