WGAw members are invited to mentor at-risk youth or teens in the following Los Angeles-based programs:
The Young Storytellers Foundation (YSF) www.youngstorytellers.com YSF matches writers with 4th or 5th grade students, for a 7-week workshop in the essentials of storytelling. Students create individual 5-to-7-page condensed screenplays performed as a staged reading by Screen Actors Guild (SAG) volunteers, during a culminating event called "The Big Show." Commitment - weekly 1-hour (during the school day) for 7-weeks.
WriteGirl www.writegirl.org Writer Girl partners professional women writers from diverse professional writing fields to promote self-expression through creative writing for teen girls ages 14-18. Commitment - weekly one-on-one meetings, monthly mid-Saturday workshops, and attendance at your mentees' public readings required. September - June.
Writers Give Back www.writersgiveback.org WRITERS GIVE BACK empowers its members to use their free time constructively. By providing them access to a wide variety of charitable organizations, we're not just building a community of artists who want to get ahead, we're also encouraging others to do the same. Our goal is to establish a permanent network of philanthropists, advertisers, non-profits and progressive individuals--not just writers, but actors and musicians, too, through our affiliated websites Actors Give Back and Musicians Give Back.
826LA www.826la.org 826LA is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.
Story Detectives www.storydetectives.com Story Detectives is a brand new children’s mentorship program in Santa Monica, CA that encourages children to investigate the comedy and drama happening in their own lives, and then with the guidance of professional writers, helps them turn that comedy and drama into written monologues to be performed on the stage by professional actors. If interested, please contact Emily Skelton at 757-869-0552.
Create Now www.createnow.org Create Now! has a mission to change the lives of high-risk and at-risk youth through creative arts mentoring, resources and opportunities. They serve youth who have been abused, neglected, abandoned, orphaned, are left homeless, runaways, foster children, teen parents, victims of domestic violence, children of prisoners, substance abusers, gang members or incarcerated. Create Now! has four main program areas, music, art, cultural excursions and literacy. Create Now! is actively looking for volunteers interested in donating their time, for a day or several weeks, to work with troubled youth on programs including screenwriting workshops, film appreciation, scene writing and storytelling. If you are interested, please contact Jill Gurr at 213-484-8500.
The Wonder of Reading www.wonderofreading.org ...recruits Reading Partners for public school students, grades 1-5, who read below grade level. Commitment - one-time 3-hour training plus 1-hour per week during the school day, for an academic year.
