247 W. 37th StreetSuite 1000New York, NY10018
United States
Share
Organization Information
Mission Statement
For 20 years, Girls Write Now has been a leader in the arts education space as the first writing and mentoring organization for girls. We match teen girls with women professional writers and media makers as their personal mentors. Our mentees -- over 95% girls of color and 90% high need -- publish in outlets such as The New York Times, Newsweek, and BuzzFeed, perform at Lincoln Center and the United Nations, and earn hundreds of Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. 100% of Girls Write Now seniors go on to college. Girls Write Now has been distinguished three times by the White House as one of the nation's top youth programs and twice by the Nonprofit Excellence Awards as one of New York’s top ten nonprofits.
Description
The Girls Write Now program consists of three primary components: one-on-one mentoring sessions, monthly group workshops, and special events.
One-on-one Mentoring Sessions: At the start of the GWN school year, each participant (mentee) is assigned to a professional woman writer (mentor). Each mentor/mentee pair communicates one-to-one at least once a week by telephone, e-mail and/or in person. To spur creativity and writing, activities have included free book readings, plays, films, museum visits, and informal writing/editing sessions at coffee shops.
Group Writing Workshops: GWN organizes monthly group workshops that are led by mentors on a rotating basis. Each workshop focuses on a specific writing genre or theme not routinely found in the classroom. Capitalizing on their particular field of expertise, mentors have presented workshops on fiction, poetry, playwriting, screenwriting, memoir writing, journalism, and more. Themes span from social justice to race, gender, and religion. Throughout the workshop, mentees and mentors participate in a series of writing exercises, variously conducted in a solo, one-on-one, and small group format. There are also full group discussions and critiques.
Special Events: We sponsor a college and career seminar, a selection of group field trips, and a spring reading series featuring original works by our mentees and mentors.
