Our 20th Year: A Strong and Vibrant Community
/The Evolution of WriteGirl: Season 20 Update
WriteGirl Season 2020-2021 was a season like no other, a season where we came together in the face of unprecedented adversity. We will forever remember it as a turning point for WriteGirl: the season our teens, mentors and supporters rose to a series of challenges never before seen in our time—only to emerge stronger, more authentic and more resilient than ever.
Our 20th Anniversary Season began in the summer of 2020 with uncertainty, anxiety and more than a little sadness, with all in-person programming suspended indefinitely. Teen girls need support and community and guidance in the very best of times—and the pandemic and social justice uprisings only exacerbated these needs. Our teens have been expected to show up at a computer screen instead of a classroom; they’ve had to comprehend hybrid models and complex educational approaches; they’ve been asked to put plans on hold, yet told to plan ahead, despite there being no end in sight. They’ve cared for family members. They’ve lost loved ones. They’ve been isolated, misunderstood and ignored.
We’ve always viewed WriteGirl as an oasis—a place where teens can express their emotions and ideas, find inspiration and surround themselves with supportive peers and mentors. Sensing that they needed this oasis more than ever, we asked this important question:
What more can we do to make WriteGirl the go-to warm, supportive, inclusive oasis for our diverse population of teen writers?
We started by listening—and we continue to keep our hearts open to these fierce, intrepid, beautiful and courageous voices.
Mentees: The beating heart of WriteGirl
Our focus has always been our teen mentees, and we feel it is especially important to check in with them in open, intimate and honest forums. This past season, we held several “Talk & Write” listening sessions to give all of our mentees and alums a supportive environment to share their thoughts and perspectives on what they are experiencing at home, school and in their life overall. We also held our annual Mentee Roundtable discussion with a diverse group of teens representing a variety of personalities, dispositions and opinions and we continue to let their voices guide us.
From the Mentee Roundtable:
“I love having a community of girls and non-binary folks to unite for the love of writing.”
— Victoria, age 16
“WriteGirl is the only time we can write freely and creatively that’s not academic. WriteGirl fosters love for creative writing, there’s no pressure, and we are free to write and share as much or as little as we want.”
— Samantha, age 17
We continue to reach out to teens individually with monthly wellness calls to both mentees and alums, as well as through small, online gatherings that help us learn more about what’s happening in their lives, and what more they might need from the WriteGirl community.
Mentors: A focus on diversity and inclusion
Summer 2020 was an unprecedented season for the country—and for WriteGirl. The tragic murder of George Floyd and the expansion of the Black Lives Matter movement brought racial injustice to a necessary boiling point, compelling lawmakers and community leaders to assess existing operations for signs of institutional, structural, interpersonal and internalized racism. Public, private and nonprofit organizations also took a hard look at their practices, and although equity and inclusivity have always been cornerstones of our philosophy, we, too, seized the opportunity for self-reflection and growth.
We began by conducting a series of heart-to-heart conversations with a cross-section of new and experienced mentors from a variety of backgrounds, with the goal of identifying blindspots and areas where we could do more to foster inclusion across the organization. This initial group would ultimately become our brand-new Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access (IDEA) Committee, coordinated by WriteGirl alum Amaya McGinnis with guidance from WriteGirl Curriculum Director Kirsten Giles. The IDEA Committee continues to meet regularly with each other and with leadership, and has created a number of initiatives since its inception—some of which you’ll see in this update.
Meet Amaya McGinnis:
Amaya McGinnis, Writegirl alum and idea committee coordinator
“I was so excited when Kirsten and Keren offered me the position of IDEA Coordinator. Between my lived experiences and all that I learned while studying gender studies at UCLA, I wanted to do work that uplifted those who are Black, brown, queer, low-income, undocumented and differently-abled. I knew as a WriteGirl alum the impact their work has on young people, and I knew the organization would be a perfect place for me to learn, grow, and make a difference. I want teens to have safe spaces to express themselves and feel seen and respected, and I’m happy I can be a part of a community of people who advocate for that very thing every day; the work here has taught me how to live with more kindness, patience and compassion. I know that I have gotten invaluable experience during my time as the IDEA Coordinator and that I can be proud of the work that I do.”
— Amaya McGinnis, WriteGirl IDEA Committee Coordinator
Amaya McGinnis is a recent UCLA graduate majoring in Gender Studies. She loves writing about and analyzing media through an intersectional feminist lens. Her ultimate goal is to work at a media company doing diversity, equity and inclusion work while also continuing to explore her creative outlets of songwriting, screenwriting and personal essays.
We always strive to build a mentor community that reflects the teens we serve, and this past year we have significantly expanded our efforts to recruit even more BIPOC and 2SLGBTQIA+ folks.
New Faces, Diverse Voices, Inclusive Content: Updated workshops and programs reflect the world of our teens
Screenwriter Gina Prince-Bythewood shares her creative writing insights with WriteGirl teens at WriteGirl Welcome Day in November 2020.
We’ve been working with our local writing community to welcome a diverse group of special guests to our workshops, and to encourage our community of mentors and teens to engage with a wide demographic of writers from all walks of life—while also writing freely about their own identities.
This season, we’ve been focusing more than ever on celebrating our differences, working with themes of belonging, identity, gratitude and purpose. Many of our teens struggle with physical, mental and emotional challenges and we continue to offer self-care strategies as a significant part of our programming.
WriteGirl Identity Statement: WriteGirl members are anyone who identifies as woman, girl, non-binary or femme. No matter where you are on your journey and exploration of personal identity, all are welcome here.
Spotlighting Underrepresented Voices
We have been publishing the creative work of teens for the past 20 years, and now we are amplifying their voices even further through a variety of exciting new civic and community partnerships. This past season, WriteGirl writing mentors coached teens through every step of the writing, editing and publishing process, with the specific goal of helping them navigate the challenges and vulnerabilities associated with publishing creative work beyond WriteGirl publications. With the help of WriteGirl mentors, this year, 12 WriteGirl teens were named finalists for the LA Youth Poet Laureate program and WriteGirl mentee Jessica Kim was named the 2021 LA Youth Poet Laureate! Her poem “Ghazal for K” centers on her Korean American identity and perspective.
A Culture of Mentorship: Paving the way for a new generation of youth leaders
Our alums remind us of one of our most ambitious goals at WriteGirl: to help young people shine far beyond their high school and college years. This season, we made an extra effort to involve alums in all of our events, celebrating their voices and giving them the chance to gain new skills as they help co-create the WriteGirl community. For example, our alums now share MC and hosting roles at our events, infusing new energy, insight and a sense of peer-to-peer collaboration to our workshops. From facilitating chats to leading exercises, from managing breakouts to interviewing guests, our alums are taking on key workshop roles and modeling what it looks like to be a leader. This beautiful notion of "passing the torch" illuminates new and fresh voices, creating a formal space for them to be heard and building a community that is not so much top-down as it is horizontally oriented.
WriteGirl also invites high school juniors to participate in our Bold Leaders program, where they can sharpen a wide variety of practical life skills, including public speaking, résumé building, collaboration, business communications and networking.
From WriteGirl Bold Leaders:
“I learned the importance of being proactive in my education, relationships and professional life. I will definitely use these ideas in my own life!”
“I loved the way the meetings relate to not only being a leader in this program, but being a leader in the real world! I’m definitely applying this to my personal life!”
“I am learning to trust myself and my abilities. It's so fun meeting everyone and developing my leadership skills!”
Our culture of mentorship goes beyond our mentees and alums; we even mentor our mentors. Frequent check-ins, mentoring roundtables, reading materials, professional networking opportunities, and updated training packets help our mentors stay current with what’s happening in the world and at WriteGirl. Most importantly, we make an effort to guide our mentors to best support and honor the unique identities of our teens. When weekly pairs are initially matched, our mentors join their mentees in an “identity writing exercise” as soon as they are matched, giving them an opportunity to explore and honor their own experiences as well.
Our goal in all of this is to truly see into the hearts of our mentors—and provide a multiplicity of ways from which they can grow comfortably and fearlessly into powerful mentors while nurturing their own writing careers.
From a WriteGirl Mentor:
“My heart is so full of gratitude for the amount of support WriteGirl is committed to providing our girls (and us mentors)!”
– J. Rodriguez, WriteGirl Mentor
College Access: Providing teens with a pathway to college and beyond
A key goal of WriteGirl is to help youth from under-resourced communities gain access to higher education by providing in-depth college entrance guidance to all WriteGirl teens at no cost to participants. Every year, WriteGirl teens and their parents/guardians are guided through the preparatory, application, essay, financial aid, scholarship search and decision-making stages of the college process. Our college team also consults with our teens about choosing a college that best meets their individual and financial needs, with the goal of helping them graduate without incurring excessive student debt.
Since 2001, WriteGirl has guided more than 1,000 girls to enroll in college, maintaining a 19-year, 100% success rate of guiding Core Mentoring Program seniors to graduate from high school and enroll in college. Many attained scholarships and were the first in their families to enter college. Despite enormous hurdles, during our 2020-21 season, WriteGirl provided six college entrance workshops online and ongoing individual guidance to our Class of 2021 high school seniors as they continue to receive news of college acceptances, make final decisions, and compare various financial aid awards and other factors. While some college decisions have been delayed this year, and there are still substantial COVID-related issues and questions surrounding college enrollment, a total of 53 WriteGirl seniors have, so far, been accepted to schools that include Barnard College, Columbia University, Cal State University (Northridge, Merced), Lewis & Clark, Northwestern University, NYU, Occidental College, Pepperdine University, San Francisco State, Santa Monica College, Syracuse University, University of California (Berkeley, LA, San Diego), USC and Yale. We will continue working with each student until final college decisions are made.
Many of our 2021 graduates have received full or partial scholarships, including one student who received a four-year, full-tuition, merit-based Posse Foundation scholarship. Each year, WriteGirl nominates a number of students for this prestigious and competitive scholarship, which recruits future leaders from 10 U.S. cities to attend top universities in 10-person diverse and multicultural “Posses.”
But our guidance extends far beyond college entrance. WriteGirl also provides ongoing support to program alums to help them graduate from college, develop their CV and online presence, secure internships and fellowships, and enter the workforce in their chosen career.
WriteGirl in the Community: Expanding beyond the oasis of our workshops
By partnering with organizations with synergistic goals, WriteGirl connects teens with their community at large, while also making space for members to learn more about the ever-changing environment our teens live in. Here are a few highlights of current and recent partnerships in which our teens and alums have participated in the past year:
9th Judicial Court District (New York State)
Throughout 2021, WriteGirl teens and alums performed their poetry at a number of the 9th Judicial Court’s monthly events, including Black History Month, Women’s History Month, and LGBTQ+ Pride Month, writing custom poems and sharing their voices and perspectives with an audience of judges and judicial system staff.
Municipal Green Building Conference and Expo:
This two-day virtual event on May 21st and May 22nd brought together more than 1,000 leaders and advocates of sustainability and green building, from both the public and private sectors in Southern California. Three WriteGirl alums wrote and performed custom poems for this audience—giving attendees a chance to receive the environmental concerns of young women living in a variety of settings throughout Los Angeles.
The Ofrenda Community Project
In early 2021, WriteGirl partnered with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHMLA) in celebration of their Los Angeles ofrenda, an altar of offerings. The Ofrenda Community Project offered a group of our teens an immersive platform in which to delve into stories of their ancestors, cultures and family traditions. WriteGirl worked with 11 of our 11th grade Bold Leaders, guiding them to complete deeply personal stories, poems and art pieces. Their photos, stories and reflections are currently featured on the NHMLA website.
Ofrenda Community Project: Excerpt from “Silken Red String and Sunshine” by Audrey S., age 16
dragon beard candy: street market royalty
Midnight, and our little enclave of 西安 (shee-AHN) is afire with warm dragon’s breath and the scent of sugar and scorpion skewers. Our eyes gobble new delicacies as puffs of cotton candy float past our heads and sesame permeates the night. The tents are alive and at the center we see two men push and pull at dragon beard candy, 拉 , 拉, 拉 (lah, lah, lah). It tastes sweetly nutty, my mom tells me, and I can only imagine how many gods must sleep on these pillows of candy floss, watching as the blown sugar animals play in these streets.
Read more of the Ofrenda stories here.
Foothill Transit Authority:
For National Poetry Month, WriteGirl teens were invited to write poems on the theme of “Onward,” with the goal of sharing their work with the community and lifting spirits as we transition out of the pandemic. The poetry and profiles of five WriteGirl teens were featured on the social media channels of the Foothill Transit Authority and can be read here.
Riverdale High School (New York City):
Two WriteGirl alums spoke to the Garcia Family Scholars mentoring pairs, sharing their own mentoring stories and offering tips and inspiration to mentors and mentees on the other side of the country.
Harvard Alumni Global Women’s Education Expo:
In April of 2021, WriteGirl representatives spoke at this well-regarded international conference focused on the advancement of women, sharing information about our educational programs for girls, while also learning about the work of other organizations whose goal is to uplift women and girls from under-resourced communities around the world.
Also in April, WriteGirl staff and alums spoke at the Los Angeles Office of the Securities & Exchange Commission and Fox-TV Women.
ExpandLA:
WriteGirl recently joined “ExpandLA,” a new network focused on collaborating and informing the afterschool landscape in Los Angeles. We are looking forward to learning more and participating in this important community.
FOX Entertainment #TVforAll Campaign:
In honor of Women’s History Month, WriteGirl partnered with FOX Entertainment in the network’s #TVforAll Campaign to “champion diverse voices in entertainment.” WriteGirl mentors worked with teens and alums to develop poems celebrating their diverse backgrounds and experiences. FOX TV selected “Women’s Composition,” written by WriteGirl alum Arielle Davis, to make into a mini-movie featuring Gina Torres (9-1-1: Lone Star) and Jane Krakowski (30 Rock).
Amanda Gorman, Presidential Inaugural Poet
WriteGirl alum Amanda Gorman inspired the country and the world when she took to the stage on January 20th to read her poem at the Presidential Inauguration. We are grateful for the support and partnerships that have developed as a result of her performances. She is a powerful role model for all our teens, and we were delighted to honor her bold voice with a 2021 WriteGirl Bold Ink Award!
2021 WriteGirl Bold Ink Awards
On June 12, 2021, WriteGirl honored four women writers for their fearless writing and powerful voices: Gabriela Garcia, Tembi Locke, Attica Locke and WriteGirl alum Amanda Gorman. This online event and fundraiser spotlights outstanding and inspiring women writers, and this year it was also a celebration of the 20th Anniversary of WriteGirl. Sponsors included Writers House, 3 Arts, Hello Sunshine and the Hyde Family Foundation. Presenters included actor/producer Reese Witherspoon, Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell, and LA Poet Laureate Lynne Thompson.
WriteGirl Teacher Training for Teachers and Youth Leaders
WriteGirl receives requests from teachers and youth organizers around the country to share our approaches, philosophy and curriculum. This past year, we were given the opportunity to present dozens of professional-development workshops to public school teachers. These targeted training sessions guide teachers in helping youth develop writing skills in a variety of genres, with a focus on mental wellbeing for the youth as well as the teachers themselves. To help us expand our program offerings in this area. WriteGirl was accepted to participate in Los Angeles Community Impact (LACI), working with grad students from USC’s Marshall School of Business. We are currently wrapping up the 8-week partnership and look forward to a report from LACI outlining recommendations and potential partners to help us expand our teacher training programs.
Bold Strides in Bold Ink: Deepening our commitment to critically underserved teens
Bold Ink Writers brings creative writing programs to youth who are incarcerated or systems-impacted, young people who have faced — and continue to face — extraordinary adversity. Our goal is to create for these teens, whom we have been serving for more than 15 years, a hopeful learning space emphasizing creativity and the principles of restorative justice. As part of our ongoing commitment to this segment of our community, we recently brought on two new teaching artists/mentors to our staff — experienced teachers of color who are especially attuned to the needs of critically underserved youth.
Our semi-annual Bold Ink Writers Program retreats bring together the entire Bold Ink Writers team, giving us time to review and refine our curriculum and reading materials focused on BIPOC, 2sLGBTQIA+ and systems-impacted voices as well as trauma-informed educational approaches. A recent partnership with the Homeboy Art Academy has offered teaching artists/mentors from both organizations the opportunity to share approaches and collaborate on a curriculum that intertwines art and writing.
We continue to invest time and thought leadership in the Arts for Healing and Justice Network (AHJN), a collaborative of 15 arts organizations in the LA region committed to nurturing the creative lives of systems-impacted youth. Through ongoing contracts with AHJN, our teaching artists/mentors work with youth throughout Los Angeles County. Our history as a founding member of this collaborative continues to inspire and challenge us as we work alongside the Los Angeles County Department of Probation, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, the Los Angeles County Department of Arts & Culture, the Los Angeles County Office of Child Protection and the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health in seeking transformative programming and approaches for at-promise youth, giving them pathways to higher education and fruitful careers.
Rhonda Tankerson, Bold ink writers teaching artist/mentor
Meet Mentor Rhonda Tankerson:
“One of the most meaningful aspects of being a Bold Ink Writers teaching artist is the opportunity to connect with young people who are experiencing extraordinary circumstances, and who show up to our sessions with their humor, insights, creativity and wisdom to share. I love getting to know the writers through their work, as well as when they're just bantering with one another and laughing or sharing inside jokes.”
— Rhonda Nicole, Bold Ink Writers Teaching Artist/Mentor
Rhonda Tankerson (Rhonda Nicole) is an LA-based singer/songwriter who moonlights as the Director of Social Media for the Atlanta-based Authentique Agency. Originally from Dallas, TX, Rhonda's first entertainment industry gig after graduating from Southern Methodist University (SMU) was as a Walt Disney Studios Touchstone screenwriting fellow. She began writing original song lyrics at the age of 12, launched her professional singing career as a performer at Universal Studios Japan in 2001, and released her debut EP, Nuda Veritas, in 2010. In March 2020, she released Radical Ecstasy, a self-produced, soul/dance-centric EP that features 2 new tunes and 2 remixes of songs from Nuda Veritas; and at the end of 2020, Home, a collection of love songs inspired by the year's events. For the past two years, Rhonda has led social media strategy and engagement for the National Museum of African American Music, which opened in Nashville, TN in 2021, and works on a variety of social and digital marketing projects with her agency partners. Rhonda is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the Recording Academy (LA Chapter), and ASCAP.
Leadership is Listening: Supporting our teens with humility and openness
WriteGirl is focused on listening to our teens and their families, mentors, partners and the broader community as we continue to evolve our workshops, communication strategies, staffing and leadership demographics and culture, and mentorship philosophies. We believe listening is the first step to helping teens develop their voices, speak their truths and celebrate the diversity of their experiences.
“I like that we basically got to plan our future and that we got to say how we feel and what we are through the people (characters) that we created.”
– A Bold Ink Writers teen
We prioritize ongoing staff and board training in anti-racism and anti-oppression. We continue to invest in professional development for all staff, focusing on deepening our team’s knowledge of gender issues, neurodiversity, equity, incarceration and more. We are working to enhance relationships between staff and board members, encouraging regular and transparent dialogue between these important stakeholder groups.
Over the past year, a group of WriteGirl alums participated as young leaders within WriteGirl, helping plan and create events and publications, speaking at community events as ambassadors, and helping us shape strategies for future seasons of WriteGirl. Their diverse voices and perspectives bring a powerful new lens through which we view our work, and we look forward to expanding this group and deepening our collaboration.
As exciting as this update is, we look forward to new programs, partners and growth in the year ahead. Thank you to all our long-standing friends and supporters, and welcome to all our new friends. We couldn’t have arrived at this moment without you, our extended WriteGirl Community. We are grateful for all the ways you support our work, our organization and our teens.
As we continue to grow and actively seek new ways to evolve as an organization, as leaders within our communities, as mentors of teen writers, and as deeply caring private citizens, we are committed to advancing and expanding all the ways in which WriteGirl can make a positive impact on the lives of teens, giving young people the power of their own voices to transform their futures—and change the world.
