Celebrate #GivingTuesday with Society of Young Inklings! This giving season, you have the opportunity to give youth a meaningful gift that goes far beyond literacy.
Over the past fifteen years, I’ve had the incredible opportunity to work one-on-one with youth on their stories and poems. Through our collaboration, I’ve witnessed these writers developing writing skill and confidence. What makes me most proud, however, is how, through looking at the world through a writer’s eyes, these young people have developed empathy, self-awareness, adaptability, and optimism.
In order to write about conflict, one of my novelists considered the social dynamics in her middle school and wrestled through sticky friendship challenges. Another writer faced down anxiety and a few false starts before finally drafting through and revising a novel, delighting her family and friends with her hard-won confidence at her book launch. A third writer struggles with reading and writing, but has discovered his knack for storytelling. By leaning on his strengths, he’s finding ways to overcome his challenges, and the success is spilling over to many other areas of his life.
Regardless of our circumstances, we all have challenges to process. Writing is one of the most powerful tools for building resilience. Often, in order to achieve those benefits, however, we need an experienced guide.
We’ve identified two key challenges that we aim to tackle with our fundraised dollars.
- Youth in underserved communities with powerful, budding voices may not be aware of their gifts or the resources available to help develop them.
- In order to provide long-term, meaningful mentorships between pros and youth, we need dedicated dollars to support those programs.
#GivingTuesday is a global giving movement that has been built by individuals, families, organizations, businesses and communities in all 50 states and in countries around the world. Millions of people have come together to support and champion the causes they believe in and the communities in which they live.
Society of Young Inklings helps young writers—regardless of their circumstances—find their voices and make their mark on the world.
Every dollar adds to the strength of our collective story. Join us in bringing the power of story to young writers. All gifts are tax-deductible. (Tax ID: 46-2971012)
With our most sincere thanks,
Naomi Kinsman
Executive Director
