WritersCorps

WritersCorps is an American artists-in-service organization that hires professional writers to teach creative writing to youth. It grew from a national service model in the WPA tradition and is now an alliance of separately-run organizations in three cities.

WritersCorps was born out of discussions between the National Endowment for the Arts and AmeriCorps with the goal of furthering 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.

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 on the Arts, respectively.

The organizations lead writing workshops, produce youth events, and create books of youth work, including two national anthologies published by HarperCollins: Paint Me Like I Am and Tell the World.

Since its inception in 1994, San Francisco WritersCorps has helped over 20,000 young people from neighborhoods throughout San Francisco improve their literacy and increase their desire to learn. WritersCorps is a joint project of the San Francisco Arts Commission and San Francisco Public Library.

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