YMCA of the USA
The West Side YMCA5 W. 63rd Street
New YorkNY10023212-875-4123

Program: The National Writers Voice Project Year Started: 1990 Focus: Creative Writing & Humanities Youth Served: 26,000 Ages: 3-18 Budget: N/A YMCAs are being reinvented as cultural organizations, giving a voice to children and youth through the arts and humanities. For the first time in its 150-year history, the arts and humanities have a central place in the goals and mission of the YMCA. This national effort was started at a local Y in 1990 by Jason Shinder, who offered a program based on writing, reading and critical thinking. There are presently 13 local YMCAs offering year-round programs as part of The National Writers Voice Project. They are in Scottsdale, AZ; Oakland, CA; Fairfield, CT; Tampa, FL; Chicago, IL; Lexington, KY; Detroit, MI; Minneapolis, MN; Chesterfield, MO; Billings, MT; Bay Shore, NY; New York, NY; Silver Bay, NY. Based on community needs assessments, the sites offer a wide array of opportunities, including writing workshops that address social themes, family history projects, public readings in which the authors are introduced by children, poetry writing, magazine production and comic book writing. Satellite programs involve many other Ys, too. For example, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, "Poetry Gangs" are being organized with local gang members; in Sheridan, Wyoming, 500 participants attend a summer writing camp. Writers Voice Executive Director Shinder says, "You can do anything through the use of literature."