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Community DC Robyn Lingo 826DC · Community D.C.

0:02
Speaker 1: Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community d C.
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Speaker 1: I'm your host Dennis Glasgow. This morning, we welcome to
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Speaker 1: the show for the first time Robin Lingo, who is
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Speaker 1: the executive director for eight two six d C, a
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Speaker 1: nonprofit that provides free writing and publishing programs from student
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Speaker 1: ages six to eighteen in Washington, d C to build
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Speaker 1: their writing skills and their confidence. Over the next thirty minutes,
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Speaker 1: we'll talk about what A two six d C is,
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Speaker 1: what they offer, and how you and your chock can
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Speaker 1: participate in one of their many cool programs. And we
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Speaker 1: should also mention that you can buy the finished books
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Speaker 1: by the children in the magic shop as you enter
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Speaker 1: A two six d C. Here's my conversation with Robin.
0:37
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
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Speaker 1: Good morning, Robin, goodr Well, it's great to have you
0:41
Speaker 1: board first time on the show in Community DC, and
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Speaker 1: I am stoked to have you aboard. And you know,
0:46
Speaker 1: when I found out about having you on the program
0:49
Speaker 1: and A two six DC, I didn't know a lot
0:51
Speaker 1: about it. And I think there's some of our listeners
0:53
Speaker 1: that do know about it, but there's a lot that
0:54
Speaker 1: probably don't. And that's why you're here to educate us
0:57
Speaker 1: over the next thirty minutes. So tell us just about
0:59
Speaker 1: the origin of A two six DC and what it
1:02
Speaker 1: is when it started, and then we'll get into what
1:05
Speaker 1: it is now and all the cool things that you're
1:06
Speaker 1: doing right now, which is really incredible. But what's the
1:08
Speaker 1: origin story? Yeah?
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Speaker 2: Great, So, HWO six d C is a youth writing
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Speaker 2: program and we've been around in DC for fifteen years,
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Speaker 2: but we actually belonged to a national network that was
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Speaker 2: started by the author Dave Edgars and his friend and
1:25
Speaker 2: educator Nina by Campbell, and they started the first A
1:29
Speaker 2: two six in San Francisco, and they wanted to open
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Speaker 2: a youth writing program and place for young people in
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Speaker 2: the Mission neighborhood in San Francisco to get homework help.
1:41
Speaker 2: But the only space they could find was a space
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Speaker 2: that was zoned for commercial use on Valencia Street, and
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Speaker 2: so they opened a whimsical pirate shop in the front
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Speaker 2: that the young people entered through to the back where
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Speaker 2: you get a magical space for imagination, create fun and
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Speaker 2: learning in an individualized support setting. And so that became
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Speaker 2: the first eight two six Valencia because that is their address.
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Speaker 2: And then there have been chapters that have sprung up
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Speaker 2: across the country since then. And we've been here in
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Speaker 2: d C for fifteen years and are in the Columbia
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Speaker 2: Heights neighborhood, and all the eight to six chapters all
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Speaker 2: have a whimsical fund the storefront that is an area
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Speaker 2: for the community to engage with us and also for
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Speaker 2: our young people to get to enter into a space
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Speaker 2: that is joyful, imaginative and opens their mind to the
2:38
Speaker 2: world of possibility and dreaming. And our space in DC
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Speaker 2: is a magic shop that the students enter into and
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Speaker 2: then you enter into our writing lab.
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Speaker 1: I love that. I was wonderful, you know when I
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Speaker 1: was on the website a little bit earlier, and I'm
2:51
Speaker 1: looking at it now. Young people have important things to say,
2:53
Speaker 1: and I think you and I would be on the
2:55
Speaker 1: same page. And I have a twenty three year old daughter.
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Speaker 1: And one of the things that I noticed, you know,
2:59
Speaker 1: with generation, they didn't read and write as much as
3:03
Speaker 1: I did. And I'm you know, I'm from the original
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Speaker 1: generation X. So we did a lot of that because
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Speaker 1: there was no internet and you had books, and there
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Speaker 1: was more reading and writing back then, so that this
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Speaker 1: program exactually exists for young people, I think is just fascinating.
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Speaker 1: So what I'd like to ask you first about is
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Speaker 1: the mission and vision of it and.
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Speaker 2: What are those Yeah, So our mission is to ensure
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Speaker 2: that every young person in DC has a lasting and
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Speaker 2: positive relationship with writing that really catalyzes their ability to
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Speaker 2: move into the future of their choosing. I mean, writing,
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Speaker 2: like you said, is so many things. It is critical thinking,
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Speaker 2: it is creation, it is summarizing, it is sharing your
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Speaker 2: mind with the world. And it's such an important skill
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Speaker 2: for young people to be able to have, to be
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Speaker 2: able to move through the world as somebody who knows
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Speaker 2: the importance of their own voice, who knows that they
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Speaker 2: have something that people want to listen to and hear
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Speaker 2: and absorb, and that you also have this skill that
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Speaker 2: is so critical to all of the ways that we
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Speaker 2: move through our lives as professional adults.
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Speaker 3: Writing is such a key professional skill, but.
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Speaker 2: It's also such a core to I think of writing
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Speaker 2: as core to our humanity, Like how do you want
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Speaker 2: to share your mind with the world?
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Speaker 3: And I want to make.
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Speaker 2: Sure that every young person in our city has that
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Speaker 2: skill and that power and that they know that their
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Speaker 2: voice matters. And so we think of writing as such
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Speaker 2: an important tool to all of those outcomes. I would
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Speaker 2: just lastly say that I think, especially in this particular
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Speaker 2: moment we're living in and very much in our local
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Speaker 2: community here in the Washington, DC area, there is so
4:54
Speaker 2: much change happening and a lot of uncertainty. And writing
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Speaker 2: is also healing. Writing is reflection and space to process
5:05
Speaker 2: and understand yourself and the world.
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Speaker 3: And so we want to be making a.
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Speaker 2: Space for young people to have the full power of writing,
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Speaker 2: and we do think of that as just so core
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Speaker 2: to our mission and making sure that young people, all
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Speaker 2: young people have equitable access to writing education.
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Speaker 1: Well, I love that, and well said, So before we
5:27
Speaker 1: get into programs and we're going to talk about servial
5:29
Speaker 1: that you offer, which is very cool, I want to
5:31
Speaker 1: talk about criteria because I think we've got everybody's attention.
5:33
Speaker 1: How cool this is when it comes to criteria as
5:36
Speaker 1: far as ages and how they reach out to you
5:38
Speaker 1: and start a program. How does it all work?
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Speaker 3: Yeah? Great.
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Speaker 2: So we work with students kindergarten through twelfth grade and
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Speaker 2: really that whole span, and we also do.
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Speaker 3: Our work both in and outside of schools.
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Speaker 2: So we run imaginative, fun, joyful writing programs that young
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Speaker 2: people can access at our space in Columbia Heights through
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Speaker 2: our after school programming and through open writing workshops that
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Speaker 2: are open to anybody who is interested in coming in
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Speaker 2: and having that opportunity. And then we also partner deeply
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Speaker 2: with schools and teachers so that our student centered writing
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Speaker 2: that starts really from a place of helping young people
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Speaker 2: love writing and enjoy it and see it as part
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Speaker 2: of their right and their ability to communicate with the world.
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Speaker 2: We bring that directly into schools by partnering with teachers,
6:30
Speaker 2: so we run some creative writing classes and journalism classes
6:35
Speaker 2: at various schools across the city, as well as providing
6:39
Speaker 2: just individualized or extra writing support in a classroom for
6:42
Speaker 2: a teacher, and do a lot of partnering also with
6:45
Speaker 2: schools around helping young people important and important moments in
6:51
Speaker 2: their life, like when they're applying to high school or
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Speaker 2: college and having some extra individualized support for those writing applications.
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Speaker 1: It's a good segue, and I realize that young people
7:02
Speaker 1: are always good at feedback, especially when they're doing something
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Speaker 1: that you know is cool and I know it's cool,
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Speaker 1: but maybe they don't know it or can't express it.
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Speaker 1: I imagine when you hear from educators and parents and families
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Speaker 1: or just people that are watching these kids do these
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Speaker 1: incredible things, the feedback must be extraordinary about how it's
7:20
Speaker 1: changing everybody's life. And maybe the kid might not know it,
7:23
Speaker 1: but some wonderful things are wrapping. Can you talk about feedback?
7:27
Speaker 3: Yeah?
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Speaker 2: So, I mean I actually thought you were going to
7:30
Speaker 2: go a different way about that question about feedback.
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Speaker 3: So I'm going to tell you two different.
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Speaker 1: Things, please do yeah, go ahead.
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Speaker 2: One is that so I think one of the pieces
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Speaker 2: that is coolest about our work is that young people
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Speaker 2: don't just write and we put it on a shelf.
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Speaker 3: We publish young people's work.
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Speaker 2: So in most of our programs, the work that young
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Speaker 2: people do in getting a chance to create poems, short stories, essays, letters,
7:55
Speaker 2: we put that into books that we publish and we
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Speaker 2: send out into the world. I'll talk more at the
8:01
Speaker 2: end about the way I love that, yeah, some of
8:05
Speaker 2: our cool books.
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Speaker 4: So I think in terms of how students can see
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Speaker 4: the impact of our work that the fact that you
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Speaker 4: leave our program as a published author is something that
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Speaker 4: young people can take with them into that life of possibility.
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Speaker 2: It is knowing that you have accomplished something that you
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Speaker 2: have left a lasting story, impression words for the world
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Speaker 2: to encounter and learn from. And you know, you can't
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Speaker 2: take that sense of agency and voice and power away
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Speaker 2: from students once they know that they are in a
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Speaker 2: published book. And we also create lots of opportunities for
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Speaker 2: young people to read their work in public settings as well,
8:47
Speaker 2: so that they can also see what happens when you
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Speaker 2: read your poem, you read your essay in front of
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Speaker 2: an audience, and people absorb it and react to it
8:56
Speaker 2: and come and talk to you.
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Speaker 3: But you know, there are so many academic outcomes of
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Speaker 3: our work as well.
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Speaker 2: Young people really grow in all of their key literacy
9:05
Speaker 2: skills in terms of their writing knowledge and ability in
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Speaker 2: just content in appropriate, how you answer prompt in the
9:17
Speaker 2: right way, your fluency, your vocabulary, all the core sort of.
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Speaker 3: Academic parts of writing.
9:23
Speaker 2: As the twin component to literacy is reading. I think
9:27
Speaker 2: when we talk about literacy sometimes we think most about reading,
9:30
Speaker 2: but writing is equally important. We need to be able
9:35
Speaker 2: to read and absorb, and we need to be able
9:37
Speaker 2: to write and share out our opinion and thoughts about that.
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Speaker 2: It also has really important impacts in terms of increasing
9:46
Speaker 2: students own motivation and engagement in their own learning. I
9:50
Speaker 2: think anytime we provide opportunities for young people to see
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Speaker 2: learning and skill building as really connected to what they
10:00
Speaker 2: want to do in the world and what they want
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Speaker 2: to move into and their aspirations and goals, it becomes
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Speaker 2: so much more tangible. And then there's this like fire
10:09
Speaker 2: that you can't you can't extinguish. And then lastly, that
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Speaker 2: piece really around social emotional healing. You know, the last
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Speaker 2: five ten years have been a lot and a lot
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Speaker 2: for young people and writing is a healing process. Writing
10:23
Speaker 2: is processing. Writing is getting a chance to, you know,
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Speaker 2: take what you have experienced and put it on the
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Speaker 2: page so that you can you know, leave it behind,
10:35
Speaker 2: so that you can take it into a different level
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Speaker 2: of resiliency and power.
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Speaker 3: Healing.
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Speaker 2: Writing just provides such an important part of the healing process,
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Speaker 2: and so we really see that in the impacts that
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Speaker 2: students have from our spaces and our writing programs. Lastly,
10:53
Speaker 2: I just I will say, because we are a writing organization,
10:57
Speaker 2: we know that writing is not a one and done
11:00
Speaker 2: and experience. So when you said feedback, what are the
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Speaker 2: things that is core to our work is editing and
11:06
Speaker 2: we edit and work with students to edit their own work.
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Speaker 3: And I think that's such a key.
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Speaker 2: Part of our work as well, is like knowing that
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Speaker 2: really refining and working on something takes time, and it
11:18
Speaker 2: takes feedback from others. It takes you putting something down
11:23
Speaker 2: on paper, walking away, coming back looking at it again,
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Speaker 2: thinking about how could I make my point in a
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Speaker 2: more succinct or clear way, or is there some piece
11:34
Speaker 2: of this description that could be clear with different vocabulary.
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Speaker 3: And we do that editing and revision process in.
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Speaker 2: Partnership with students, where we're asking questions, we're probing, or
11:47
Speaker 2: have volunteers who come in and help us do some
11:50
Speaker 2: copy editing with students, but it's really centered around not
11:54
Speaker 2: correcting students' work, but leading them through a journey of
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Speaker 2: how you revise and improve over time.
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Speaker 1: Well, I want to talk a little bit more about
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Speaker 1: all the programs, because you have some amazing things going on.
12:06
Speaker 1: But one of the things that really caught me is
12:08
Speaker 1: you were going through that explanation about feedback and everything.
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Speaker 1: And I've talked to psychologists and I've also read about
12:13
Speaker 1: this from my family and also just in general that
12:16
Speaker 1: just when you simply journal for kids, that can't kind
12:19
Speaker 1: of get things out and maybe talk to their parents
12:21
Speaker 1: or a guardian or even their friends. Writing something down
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Speaker 1: about your feelings, good, bad, or indifferent is absolute paramount
12:29
Speaker 1: for mental.
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Speaker 3: Health, right absolutely.
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Speaker 2: And I think you know, like I said in this moment,
12:35
Speaker 2: for our local community, we are so honored to create
12:38
Speaker 2: this space for young people to just have a space
12:41
Speaker 2: that they get to come and be their full authentic self,
12:45
Speaker 2: exactly who they are, and have that chance to journal
12:49
Speaker 2: to create new worlds. I talk a lot about like
12:53
Speaker 2: especially for our well, I was gonna say especially for
12:56
Speaker 2: our younger students, but it's true for our high school
12:58
Speaker 2: students too.
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Speaker 3: There's so much sort of.
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Speaker 2: Writing about new worlds with fictional realities, and you know
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Speaker 2: there's dragons and space and outer space.
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Speaker 3: And other things that are.
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Speaker 2: Outside of their current reality. But give them a chance
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Speaker 2: to process this world in a different way, in a
13:25
Speaker 2: way in which creativity and imagination are part of the
13:28
Speaker 2: healing process.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And you know,
13:30
Speaker 1: the other takeaway that I would probably have that you
13:32
Speaker 1: know you could elaborate on from all your experiences and
13:35
Speaker 1: professionalism about what you do is that you know, everybody
13:38
Speaker 1: who's been a kid before, when you're in a group,
13:40
Speaker 1: some people might think that something like this is nerdy
13:43
Speaker 1: or dumb or stupid, and you get to go to
13:45
Speaker 1: your place and actually, you know, kind of explore who
13:48
Speaker 1: you are without any kind of judgment from your peer group,
13:51
Speaker 1: which is also paramount hard to do, but it's another
13:54
Speaker 1: wonderful thing that you offer up when you're a kid
13:56
Speaker 1: and you know there's a lot of peer pressure out there, right.
14:00
Speaker 2: And actually, so you know, as I said, in terms
14:03
Speaker 2: of our programs, we run our after school Writing Lab,
14:06
Speaker 2: which is at our space in Columbia Hates. But we also,
14:09
Speaker 2: as I was tinking about, a push into classrooms in
14:11
Speaker 2: schools and so last school year for our program called
14:15
Speaker 2: our Young Author's Book Project, which is one of our
14:18
Speaker 2: longest engagements with a class or a school that results
14:22
Speaker 2: in a professionally bound published book. We worked with the
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Speaker 2: entire tenth grade of Phelps High School on young people
14:32
Speaker 2: writing narrative poetry around the theme the Life I Choose,
14:36
Speaker 2: and young people first got a chance to think about
14:39
Speaker 2: what are those critical decisions, moments, events.
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Speaker 3: In my life that have shaped who I am and
14:46
Speaker 3: who I want to be?
14:47
Speaker 2: And then they learned over the course of a whole
14:50
Speaker 2: school year about narrative poetry, looked at mentor techts had
14:54
Speaker 2: a chance to look at music and hip hop and
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Speaker 2: old and new poems and think about the different ways
15:02
Speaker 2: that people used structure and stanza and verse and words
15:08
Speaker 2: to convey their life. And then they all wrote their own.
15:11
Speaker 2: And the reason I'm bringing up this project and program
15:14
Speaker 2: is because I think it goes to what you were
15:16
Speaker 2: saying of, Like, you might not think that every tenth
15:19
Speaker 2: grader was going to be excited about narrative.
15:21
Speaker 3: Poetry, but I can't buy you.
15:23
Speaker 2: They probably weren't when we first entered the classroom, but
15:27
Speaker 2: every young person had a chance to use that vehicle
15:33
Speaker 2: to explore themselves. And there are beautiful poems from some
15:38
Speaker 2: of the young boys in that class on their basketball games,
15:43
Speaker 2: on the moment that they thought they were going to
15:46
Speaker 2: win a game and they didn't, or their opportunities on
15:51
Speaker 2: the soccer field, where what it meant to work in
15:54
Speaker 2: a team. There's a beautiful piece from a young woman
15:57
Speaker 2: about being on the cheerleading squad. There are pieces about
16:02
Speaker 2: their first experiences on amusement park, like they all found
16:08
Speaker 2: a way to use narrative poetry as something for them.
16:13
Speaker 2: And I was really just moved in that experience over
16:18
Speaker 2: the classroom over the year in the classroom of seeing
16:21
Speaker 2: that that maybe embarrassment or writing is really really shed
16:27
Speaker 2: away as they got to see every one of their
16:29
Speaker 2: peers do it and everyone use it for their own
16:33
Speaker 2: purpose well.
16:35
Speaker 1: And that also goes to thing about young people too,
16:38
Speaker 1: that you know, you're still exploring all your feelings that
16:40
Speaker 1: you have as a young person and going through so
16:43
Speaker 1: many things that you do from the young people you
16:45
Speaker 1: work with right through high school, in middle school and
16:48
Speaker 1: in high school. I mean, we've all been there. It
16:50
Speaker 1: could be a war zone in your head, and that
16:53
Speaker 1: you can articulate that and get your feelings down about
16:55
Speaker 1: all that as you get to watch that must be
16:57
Speaker 1: just paramount to some of these kids once again their
16:59
Speaker 1: mental health, but also exploring all these new things that
17:02
Speaker 1: they've never had been able to do before. Robin.
17:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a remarkable program and I'm so proud
17:08
Speaker 2: of that book.
17:08
Speaker 3: It's called now I See.
17:09
Speaker 2: With Open Eyes, which is a line from one of
17:12
Speaker 2: their poems. And we actually had the process was covered
17:17
Speaker 2: by this local or by a national education media site
17:21
Speaker 2: called K twelve Dive that did a piece looking at
17:24
Speaker 2: how the project really pulled young people from a space
17:29
Speaker 2: of thinking that they weren't writers, or that they didn't
17:33
Speaker 2: they weren't good at it, to this place of really
17:36
Speaker 2: feeling a sense of pride and accomplishment.
17:39
Speaker 3: And also just like.
17:41
Speaker 2: Now I can use writing for everything that I want,
17:44
Speaker 2: and I am so proud of that process. And also
17:48
Speaker 2: I just really highly recommend that book to anybody who
17:51
Speaker 2: wants to have an inside look at what it.
17:54
Speaker 3: Means to be a teenager in our city. It's just
17:56
Speaker 3: each student's.
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Speaker 2: Poem is so unique and distinct and really poignant and moving.
18:02
Speaker 1: That's really wonderful. Now you've hedged on some of your programs,
18:04
Speaker 1: so I'd like you to talk about a few others.
18:06
Speaker 1: But I know you have the in school writing and
18:08
Speaker 1: editing and publishing they've talked about. You do have field Trips,
18:11
Speaker 1: the Young Author Bok project that you had talked about,
18:13
Speaker 1: after school writing labs and writing work days. Can you
18:16
Speaker 1: talk about the others that would just mention anything else
18:18
Speaker 1: you'd like to kind of highlight.
18:20
Speaker 3: So the one other that.
18:22
Speaker 2: You mentioned is our field Trip program, and this is
18:24
Speaker 2: one of my favorites as well. This is a program
18:27
Speaker 2: we do for a whole class comes to our space,
18:30
Speaker 2: our after school writing lab, which is a bright, beautiful, creative,
18:37
Speaker 2: magical space, and they as a class get to learn
18:41
Speaker 2: about the core components of storytelling together and then collaboratively
18:45
Speaker 2: write a story. So they mostly we're talking about elementary
18:48
Speaker 2: school students. They come in and they learn about how
18:52
Speaker 2: every story has characters, every story has a setting, every
18:55
Speaker 2: story has a conflict, and then they collaboratively bring storm
19:00
Speaker 2: what those would be. And you could not imagine the
19:05
Speaker 2: I mean just completely whacky, beautiful things.
19:12
Speaker 3: That get created in those stories.
19:14
Speaker 2: You know, there's sometimes I was in my office once
19:19
Speaker 2: last school year we had a great story storytelling field trip.
19:23
Speaker 2: Came in and there was a yetti and a unicorn
19:26
Speaker 2: that were on a trek up a mountain and then
19:32
Speaker 2: they met a bear and they weren't sure whether or
19:34
Speaker 2: not the bear was trying to trip them or was
19:37
Speaker 2: trying to help them.
19:38
Speaker 3: There was once we did a big storytelling field trip.
19:42
Speaker 2: Actually at the National Book Festival in collaboration with the
19:45
Speaker 2: Library of Congress earlier this month, and that one we
19:49
Speaker 2: had a big crowd of both young people and student
19:52
Speaker 2: and their parents doing it together, and there were some
19:56
Speaker 2: butterflies that lived in the magical world of butter effect
20:01
Speaker 2: who were trying to fight off a butterfly killer.
20:05
Speaker 3: And you know, it's just it's a beautiful.
20:07
Speaker 2: Way for young people to learn about storytelling from the
20:12
Speaker 2: place of doing. And that's what I love about our
20:15
Speaker 2: work is it's not you know, all of the learning
20:19
Speaker 2: is centered in young people getting a chance to be
20:22
Speaker 2: the author, to be the writer, to be the storyteller themselves,
20:26
Speaker 2: and in our field trips programs, those also result in
20:29
Speaker 2: a published book that we give to every young person
20:32
Speaker 2: in that class.
20:33
Speaker 1: I love that. I wanted to talk to you about staff,
20:36
Speaker 1: about who you work with and how they work with
20:38
Speaker 1: the kids, because I'm sure the parents and educators are
20:40
Speaker 1: saying this is all cool, but you know who's working
20:42
Speaker 1: with them, and what kind of background do they have,
20:45
Speaker 1: and how do they follow up with them and keep
20:47
Speaker 1: an eye on their writings and say this is cool,
20:49
Speaker 1: you can work on this. How does that all work
20:51
Speaker 1: with your staff?
20:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, I'm just really the luckiest to have such
20:58
Speaker 2: a talented and dedicated and creative staff, and our program
21:04
Speaker 2: staff all have a background in writing. Many of them
21:07
Speaker 2: are writers themselves, and they work either through our in
21:13
Speaker 2: school work where they go into a classroom and partner
21:16
Speaker 2: collaboratively with a teacher, where we're really using the teacher
21:21
Speaker 2: as a core partner of ours of what are their
21:23
Speaker 2: goals and objectives for that class, and then creating curriculum
21:26
Speaker 2: together and then bringing additional resource, and so our staff
21:31
Speaker 2: for lots of our in school work are working with
21:34
Speaker 2: the same teacher or librarian or principal or school leader
21:38
Speaker 2: throughout the course of a year. And then in our
21:41
Speaker 2: after school writing lab, we have a wonderful staff member
21:44
Speaker 2: who runs that program who is just done a beautiful
21:48
Speaker 2: job of.
21:49
Speaker 3: Creating community so that we have twenty.
21:53
Speaker 2: Five young people on each day in our space that
21:56
Speaker 2: are joined by our staff, that are joined by adults volunteers,
22:01
Speaker 2: by college student interns, and by students from K through
22:05
Speaker 2: eighth grade. So it's this beautiful multi generational space where
22:09
Speaker 2: everyone is learning from each other and our staff is
22:12
Speaker 2: staying in constant communication with parents and families about how
22:16
Speaker 2: their young pre person is growing and developing. And we
22:19
Speaker 2: get such great feedback from parents about what they've seen
22:23
Speaker 2: the transformation in their students as they've gone through this
22:26
Speaker 2: process in terms of confidence, in terms of skills, in
22:29
Speaker 2: terms of desire to go to school, feeling like adults
22:34
Speaker 2: care about them and that they have a sense of belonging.
22:38
Speaker 2: Our big outcomes that come from all of our work, well.
22:40
Speaker 1: That's pretty huge. And I imagine that when you hear
22:44
Speaker 1: from parents and educators, because we all know we have
22:47
Speaker 1: a lot of you know, two working parent families, or
22:49
Speaker 1: maybe there's a single parent. They're working, and teachers only
22:52
Speaker 1: have so much time in the day, you know, between
22:55
Speaker 1: teaching and grades. When they find out what you guys do,
22:58
Speaker 1: they must be elated that we've got. It's this extra
23:00
Speaker 1: funnel that we can have kids learn to write and
23:04
Speaker 1: do cool things that we just don't have the time
23:06
Speaker 1: for exactly.
23:08
Speaker 2: And actually you're touching on a piece. I was just
23:11
Speaker 2: earlier this morning doing a presentation. We in our after
23:15
Speaker 2: school writing lab. We partner with a local elementary school
23:20
Speaker 2: where we actually have some staff who go and pick
23:24
Speaker 2: up the young people from that elementary school and walk
23:28
Speaker 2: them to our after school program because we know that
23:32
Speaker 2: for so many working parents, three point thirty is not
23:35
Speaker 2: a time that you can move your third grader from
23:38
Speaker 2: school to the after school enrichment programs that they need
23:42
Speaker 2: and deserve and so you know, it caused us extra
23:45
Speaker 2: money to be able to staff that and to ensure
23:48
Speaker 2: that we can provide that safe transportation. But it's important
23:52
Speaker 2: to us that our programs be open to all families
23:55
Speaker 2: and that transportation, even walking transportation in a safe way
24:01
Speaker 2: isn't a barrier for anybody.
24:03
Speaker 1: Well, this is a good segue because we always like
24:05
Speaker 1: to ask about how you're funded and how people can
24:07
Speaker 1: donate and volunteer. I know there's a lot there, so
24:10
Speaker 1: let's dig into it. How does everybody become involved in
24:13
Speaker 1: how are you funded?
24:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we make up more funding through a variety of.
24:20
Speaker 2: Different sources, but over a third of our funding comes
24:23
Speaker 2: from the community, from individuals who care about this work
24:28
Speaker 2: and who want to see a city where there is
24:31
Speaker 2: equitable access to literacy education and where every young person
24:36
Speaker 2: knows the power of their voice.
24:38
Speaker 3: So you can.
24:39
Speaker 2: Find out about our work. Our website is super easy,
24:41
Speaker 2: it's a two six DC dot org and from there
24:45
Speaker 2: there are opportunities to contribute both as a donor and
24:49
Speaker 2: as volunteers. We use volunteers in all of our program
24:52
Speaker 2: and would love to have more people who can come
24:56
Speaker 2: in and be that extra adult for a young person
25:00
Speaker 2: you get to sit with them one on one and
25:02
Speaker 2: read their beautiful words and read their creative stories, and
25:06
Speaker 2: provide feedback and encouragement and help with homework. You can
25:11
Speaker 2: also volunteer in ways that are sometimes easier for those
25:17
Speaker 2: of us with traditional working schedules. We use a lot
25:20
Speaker 2: of adults to be virtual copy editors and to provide
25:24
Speaker 2: feedback that way, and then for events that we have
25:27
Speaker 2: throughout the community. But we really welcome the whole community
25:30
Speaker 2: in because we know that individualized attention is just such
25:34
Speaker 2: a core part of our work and our mission. But
25:38
Speaker 2: you can, we love to have the support of the
25:41
Speaker 2: community to do the work that we do, especially in
25:45
Speaker 2: this moment when resources are tight and things are hard
25:49
Speaker 2: throughout our local economy, like we are working hard to
25:55
Speaker 2: be able to not only continue and maintain our our programs,
26:00
Speaker 2: but to expand it. The demand for our program has
26:03
Speaker 2: been growing exponentially in the last six months. We've had
26:06
Speaker 2: so much outreach from parents, from families, from schools. At
26:10
Speaker 2: the same time that the funding atmosphere is more uncertain
26:17
Speaker 2: yeah and tighter than it's ever been, and so we're
26:20
Speaker 2: just trying hard to make sure that people know about us.
26:23
Speaker 2: You said at the beginning, you haven't heard that much
26:25
Speaker 2: about a two sixty c and I think that's true
26:28
Speaker 2: for so many people. And so it is my personal
26:31
Speaker 2: mission to be our giant microphone wherever I can, because
26:35
Speaker 2: I love our work and I want to invite more
26:37
Speaker 2: people in.
26:38
Speaker 1: Well, you're a great spokesperson for this, and also this
26:41
Speaker 1: is what iheard. Does we're a great megaphone too that
26:43
Speaker 1: we can get the word out there and I think
26:44
Speaker 1: you're going to get a couple of phone calls that
26:46
Speaker 1: people are interested. And I did want to ask you
26:48
Speaker 1: about that, because we'll get the website one more time.
26:50
Speaker 1: There is a big blue button donate in the right
26:52
Speaker 1: hand corner of the website, and Robin will give that
26:54
Speaker 1: website one more time if you already haven't googled it.
26:56
Speaker 1: And it's easy to navigate. It's really cool. A lot
26:59
Speaker 1: of information about we talked and more on there. But
27:02
Speaker 1: if there is a small business, a meetium business, or
27:04
Speaker 1: large business, or maybe just a business person says, you
27:07
Speaker 1: know what, Robin, you got on my attention. You're doing
27:09
Speaker 1: some cool things. I want to help out. Can they
27:11
Speaker 1: reach out directly to you? And then so how do
27:13
Speaker 1: they do that?
27:14
Speaker 3: Yes, I would love that. That would be delightful. You
27:17
Speaker 3: can reach me equally easy.
27:20
Speaker 2: My email is Robin Robyn at A two six DC
27:25
Speaker 2: dot org, so it's just my first name, Robin with
27:29
Speaker 2: a Y at a two six DC dot org. There's
27:33
Speaker 2: also an easy email on our website that's just an
27:37
Speaker 2: info account like info at and that will also reach me.
27:41
Speaker 2: We love to have local businesses and corporations involved. We
27:45
Speaker 2: actually run a couple of really fun, whimsical community based
27:50
Speaker 2: fundraising events that we're always looking for partners in the
27:54
Speaker 2: local community.
27:55
Speaker 3: They'll both happen.
27:56
Speaker 2: Later in the sort of early spring and spring of
28:00
Speaker 2: twenty twenty six, but one of them is called Paddlestar Galactica,
28:05
Speaker 2: which is a fun ping pong and pickleball tournament. We
28:10
Speaker 2: love to have local businesses who want to have a
28:13
Speaker 2: team and you get to come out and have a
28:15
Speaker 2: fun day playing ping pong and being competitive. And the
28:19
Speaker 2: twist is the more money your team raises, the more
28:22
Speaker 2: you can buy some cheats so you can ensure that
28:27
Speaker 2: the team you're playing has to play one handed, you
28:31
Speaker 2: can make them be blindfolded, you can.
28:35
Speaker 3: Get some extra points.
28:36
Speaker 2: So it's just a fun way and we love to
28:38
Speaker 2: have corporate sponsors or local businesses that just want to
28:42
Speaker 2: have a paddle Star team.
28:43
Speaker 1: Outstanding Well. Listen, Robin, we only have about a minute left.
28:46
Speaker 1: I've really enjoyed the conversation. I want to get some
28:48
Speaker 1: final thoughts and recap what we talked about. The website
28:51
Speaker 1: one more time, and if there's any socials, we can
28:53
Speaker 1: share that too. But the floor is yours great.
28:56
Speaker 2: So our website is www at SIDC dot org. You
29:02
Speaker 2: can find us on all of the social media platforms
29:07
Speaker 2: at A two six d C is our handle for Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn,
29:15
Speaker 2: and again you can reach me and I always love
29:17
Speaker 2: getting to talk to members of our community about our
29:20
Speaker 2: work and ways that you can get involved. And my
29:22
Speaker 2: email is just Rob Yan at A two six DC
29:26
Speaker 2: dot org. We would love to have you involved in
29:29
Speaker 2: our work.
29:30
Speaker 1: Out Standing Well, Robin, thanks for being on the program
29:33
Speaker 1: and all you and your staff do. It's just wonderful.
29:35
Speaker 1: When I found out about you and what you do,
29:36
Speaker 1: I said, I live in Northwest DC and even though
29:38
Speaker 1: I have a grown child, this is just really cool.
29:41
Speaker 1: It's the extra things that we don't have from our
29:44
Speaker 1: current education system that you do when you fill in
29:46
Speaker 1: those gaps and I imagine educators and parents and guardians
29:49
Speaker 1: are just stoked at all the amazing things that you're
29:52
Speaker 1: offering all our young people out there. So thanks for
29:54
Speaker 1: what you do and I hope we can get you
29:55
Speaker 1: back on the program again. But thanks again for joining
29:57
Speaker 1: us on Community DC.
29:58
Speaker 3: Thank you, thank you,