The San Francisco Arts Commission, along with local agencies in New York and Washington, DC, is carrying out a national service initiative, the WritersCorp, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Corporation for National and Community Service and the Associated Writing Programs. While all WritersCorps sites serve under-served people, only the San Francisco program focuses exclusively on youth. Created to give urban youth a sense of identity through literary arts, WritersCorps in San Francisco is a multicultural community effort. Local writers are recruited to work 25-40 hours a week for up to 1 year in schools, youth centers, public housing and other venues serving at-risk youth. Corps members receive up to 200 hours of training in teaching literature, arts administration, conflict resolution and service learning. The writers either add a writing component to existing programs or create a writing program that meets the particular needs of the site. Participants learn about different kinds of writing and produce their own fiction and nonfiction, including poetry, prose and performance scripts. Young writers share their work with each other and talk about ideas for new writing projects. Participants stage public readings, make books and submit their work for publication. Jointly, the sites have published 15 books. The San Francisco Arts Commission is working toward decentralizing administration of the WritersCorps and placing the program in the hands of local community organizations.