About WritersCorps

WritersCorps, a joint project of the San Francisco Arts Commission and San Francisco Public Library, places professional writers in community settings to teach creative writing to youth. Since its inception in 1994, the program has helped over 16,000 young people from neighborhoods throughout San Francisco improve their literacy and increase their desire to learn. WritersCorps publishes award-winning publications and produces local and national events featuring young people. The program is part of a national alliance with sites in the Bronx and Washington, D.C., whose shared vision is to transform and strengthen individuals and communities using the written word.

History

Since 1994, the three WritersCorps sites have helped more than 40,000 people nationwide in some of America’s most economically disadvantaged neighborhoods improve their literacy and self-sufficiency. Through its creative writing education programs, WritersCorps gives voice to young people who have been systematically ignored or disregarded. With its award-winning publications and its popular reading series, WritersCorps has become a national arts and literacy model.

WritersCorps was born out of discussions between Jane Alexander, former chair of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and Eli Siegel, then-director of AmeriCorps. The founders wanted to establish a group of artists to teach creative writing at public schools and social service organizations in order to help underserved youth improve their literacy and communication skills, and to offer creative expression as an alternative to violence, alcohol and drug abuse. They selected San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and Bronx, N.Y. as the three initial sites for WritersCorps because of the deep roots that these cities’ arts agencies had in their communities, and the traditions of community activism among the writers who lived there.

In 1997, WritersCorps transitioned from being a federally funded program to an independent alliance that is supported by a collaboration of public and private partners. DC WritersCorps is a nonprofit organization while San Francisco and the Bronx WritersCorps are projects of the San Francisco Arts Commission and Bronx Council for the Arts, respectively. WritersCorps has developed a national structure administered by these three sites to provide greater cooperation and visibility, while at the same time allowing the independence for each site to respond most effectively to their communities.

Today, hundreds of writers have committed to teach in their communities, inspire youth, and work to create a safe place for young people to discover themselves through writing. WritersCorps teaching artists make lasting connections with their communities and become valued mentors and role models.