a PDF of our 2012 Annual Report

GIRLS WRITE NOW
15TH ANNIVERSARY REPORT
Mentoring the Next Generation of Women Writers
Letter from
Executive Director
DEAR FRIENDS,
Our 15th anniversary is an extraordinary coming-of-age story. As
most of the women involved in our work have noted from their own
experiences, it is around the age of 15 when girls start to see the power
of their own creative and intellectual abilities. And it is also at that age
when the right mentor can help them harness and share that power.
Over the last 15 years, Girls Write Now has built an enterprise around
the basic goal of supporting and nurturing these relationships. Our
unique commitment is to girls from underserved communities who
might otherwise miss the opportunity to realize their own greatness.
In this report, you will find several stories that attest to the difference
that Girls Write Now can make in the lives of teen girls, along with an
overview of the programs and activities behind these stories.
As Girls Write Now the organization reaches the age of 15, we have
emerged as a leader in the arts education community, and we now
find ourselves on the cusp of a whole new set of possibilities. Like our
girls, with your help, we are seizing this moment. No recent initiative
better captures Girls Write Now’s potential for growth than our new
Digital Mentoring Program. In 2012, we pioneered a curriculum that
utilized our best practices of customized teaching along with new
digital tools necessary for 21st century writers in school and on the job.
As part of the MacArthur-sponsored Hive Digital Learning Network,
and through our work with Parsons The New School for Design, we
have forged important bridges – between academia and activism, and
between literature and technology – that can guide the way for a new
community of writers and educators.
Looking back on the first 15 years of Girls Write Now, we are proud of
how far we’ve come. From our beginnings on a kitchen table in Brooklyn,
with a budget of $0, we are now a staff of nine operating with more
than $700,000. As New York’s first and only writing and mentoring
organization for girls, we’ve served 5,000 young women. Our girls have
won hundreds of Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. We’ve twice received
distinction from the White House as one of the nation’s top after-school
arts and cultural programs. Youth, I.N.C. gave us the Innovators Award
for being one of the most enterprising organizations serving New York
City youth. And 100% of our seniors have gone on to college.
Just as our mentors make it possible for our girls to succeed in school
and beyond, your support allows Girls Write Now to thrive and to move
boldly into the next phase of our journey. Thank you.
Warm regards,
Maya Nussbaum
Founder & Executive Director
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Girls
Write Now
The Girls Write Now mission is to provide guidance, support, and
opportunities for at-risk and underserved girls from New York City’s
public high schools to develop their creative, independent voices,
explore careers in professional writing, and learn how to make healthy
school, career, and life choices. Girls Write Now holds the unique
distinction of being the first organization in the United States with a
writing and mentoring program model for girls. To date, Girls Write
Now has worked with nearly 5,000 girls throughout the five boroughs.
ORGANIZATIONAL
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
With a 15-year history, Girls Write Now has
been recognized locally and nationally:
• The organization was distinguished twice
by the White House as one of the top
after-school arts and cultural organizations
in the nation.
• Our programs have been featured in the
New York Times, Business Insider, the Wall
Street Journal, and on NBC Nightly News.
• We’ve been awarded grants from prestigious
funders, including National Endowment
for the Arts, Ford Foundation, The New York
Women’s Foundation, Amazon, EILEEN
FISHER, and Random House.
WHY WE MATTER
Our girls are growing up in a time when
educational inequalities and gender disparities
prevail. The opportunities Girls Write Now
provides to high school girls matter.
Education: 40% of New York City high school
students fail to graduate on time. (New York
State Education Department)
Writing: Only 27% of seniors nationally
have proficient writing skills. (National Center
for Education Statistics)
Mentoring: One in five American youths
do not have caring adults in their lives.
(America’s Promise Alliance)
• Founder and Executive Director Maya
Nussbaum was named one of the top 40
feminists under 40 by The Feminist Press,
a Local Hero by Metro New York, and an
Education Hero by the New York Times.
Arts & Culture: Less than 12% of the Nobel
Prizes in Literature have been awarded
to women, and only 14% of top-grossing
U.S. films were written by women. (Rutgers
Institute for Women’s Leadership and
Women’s Media Center)
• Our annual anthology has received the
Outstanding Book of the Year award by the
Independent Publisher Book Awards and has
earned honors from the International Book
Awards and the New York Book Festival.
Careers: Women’s voices are underrepresented across sectors – from politics,
to business, to the arts – despite the fact that
women earn over 50% of bachelor and
graduate degrees. (U.S. Census Bureau)
• GreatNonprofits and Time Out New York
named Girls Write Now as one of the best
places to volunteer.
By providing writing programs and
personalized mentorship to young women,
Girls Write Now is breaking through
barriers, cultivating the writers of tomorrow,
and demonstrating that girls’ voices and
contributions can shape the world.
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Grade Level
4%
38%
Freshmen
Seniors
29%
Sophomores
29%
Juniors
POPULATION
During the 2012–13 year, our flagship
Mentoring Program and pilot Digital
Mentoring Program served 75 girls, and our
Girls College Bound Program served 200
girls, all aged 13–19 and from public schools
throughout New York City. These girls
live in low-income neighborhoods, attend
underresourced or overcrowded schools,
and are considered high-need, according to
the Citizens’ Committee for Children of New
York, their school rankings, and information
on their Girls Write Now applications. Without
Girls Write Now, many of them would lack
the educational opportunities that make for
a competitive advantage when it comes to
college and future employment.
100%
graduation and
acceptance rate
into college
qualify as
high-need
Geography
15%
28%
Diversity
90%
Bronx
Manhattan
32%
Black
8%
Caucasian
24%
Asian
27%
9%
5%
Staten Island
Biracial
Latino
31%
21%
Queens
Brooklyn
21%
of girls are not born
in the United States
All demographic statistics are from mentoring and
digital programs.
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Writers
in Training
Over the course of our 15-year history, Girls Write Now has
developed a curriculum that addresses the emotional, creative, and
educational development of teenage girls. Our mentoring programs
include weekly one-to-one mentoring sessions, monthly group writing
workshops, public presentations, and digital exploration.
Every year, Girls Write Now embraces a theme for our programs
and activities. During the 2012–13 year, our curriculum revolved
around “New Worlds,” a theme celebrating the diversity of our
intergenerational community and the creative, fearless ways we
stretched our understanding of the world and ourselves.
1
school year
75
girls
21
workshops
MENTORING
At the heart of Girls Write Now’s mission is
our Mentoring Program, which began in 1998.
Each year, we match aspiring teen writers
with professional women writers who serve
as their mentors. The pairs meet weekly
in libraries, bookstores, and coffee shops
throughout the city. In these sessions, lasting
from one to three hours, our mentees write
and revise with their mentors and receive
feedback, guidance, and support.
For the 2012–13 year, a record number of
167 girls applied to the Mentoring Program.
After a multi-step application process, Girls
Write Now selected 75 high school girls from
neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs.
This was a 17% increase over the previous
year and demonstrates not only our growing
reach, but an increase in the need for our
services as well. Mentors were also carefully
chosen through in-depth interviews and
background checks.
Paralleling the academic year, our mentoring
programs started in September with
orientation and training sessions for mentors
and mentees, which included providing them
with comprehensive handbooks to guide
them throughout the year. In October, we
matched the girls with their mentors through
a pairing process that took into account
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compatibility, writing interests, geographical
proximity, and individual needs. Our
passionate and committed mentors worked
one-to-one with their mentees from October
through June as the girls built portfolios of
work in different genres. To each session, our
mentors brought expertise from their jobs
as journalists, playwrights, editors, poets,
bloggers, and novelists, as they worked with
mentees to edit and sharpen their writing.
Many mentees began the program with
a love of writing and sought the opportunity
for artistic expression. But they lacked the
skill and confidence to pursue their interests
beyond the classroom or the pages of
a personal diary. With Girls Write Now’s
customized approach to writing, mentees
created new and polished pieces in a safe,
supportive environment. For most pairs,
what began as a mentor/mentee relationship
blossomed into a deep and meaningful bond
likely to last a lifetime.
95% of the girls reported that they always
feel comfortable sharing their writing with
their mentor.
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readings
200
volunteers
RETENTION
RATES
Mentees
99%
99%
Mentors
WORKSHOPS
READINGS
Weekly meetings with mentors are
supplemented by monthly workshops,
which round out our writing curriculum
through a collaborative and intergenerational
learning approach. At these workshops,
mentors and mentees work alongside one
another, learning about different genres
from experts in the field, penning new pieces,
and engaging in lively group discussions.
Girls leave the workshops educated and
inspired, armed with drafts of their writing
that are then discussed and reworked in
the weekly mentoring sessions.
In today’s world, writers need more than
just knowledge of the craft and the ability
to write. They must be able to present their
work publicly. Girls Write Now developed
our annual CHAPTERS Reading Series to
teach girls public speaking skills, build their
confidence, and further a sense of ownership
of their work.
From October 2012 to May 2013, Girls Write
Now offered six writing workshops to build
the mentees’ knowledge and ability in the craft
of writing. Workshop topics were: Narrative
Poetry, Historical Fiction, Family Memoir,
Travel Writing, Site-specific Playwriting, and
Fan Fiction. Seventy-five pairs of mentors and
mentees gathered at the Girls Write Now office
to spend full days exploring these genres. For
example, the Travel Writing Workshop taught
girls how to write travel reviews that bring a
locale to life, and the Playwriting Workshop
focused on how to create compelling dialogue.
Each workshop included a craft talk by a
high-profile author, writing exercises, resource
guides, excerpts from literary works, and
take-home books. Engaging guest speakers
allowed the girls to learn from some of the
most accomplished women in the industry. For
example, critically-acclaimed historical fiction
author Zetta Elliott (Ship of Souls) shared her
wisdom on recreating history. Magazine editor
Heidi Mitchell talked about her experience
working in the travel writing industry, and
featured guest author Patricia Bosworth
(Jane Fonda: The Private Life of a Public
Woman) spoke about her memoir, in which
she explores her relationship with her father.
Every girl in our Mentoring Program performs
her original work at one of our four readings.
It’s anxiety-producing for some and an
exhilarating experience for others. For
most, it’s their first time reading in public.
To prepare them for the big moment, staff
and mentors build in performance training
throughout the year.
During 2012–13, Girls Write Now’s CHAPTERS
readings were held at Scholastic’s auditorium
in SoHo, a centrally located, state-of-the-art
facility. At each of the four readings, the
girls performed their poems, essays, and
short stories in front of a diverse audience
of 250 youth, families, and supporters. When
a mentor collaborated on a piece, the pair
shared the stage. All readings were emceed
by an active or alumna pair, and all featured
a high-profile keynote speaker.
CRAFT TALK
SPEAKERS
Workshops
Jessica Blank
Patricia Bosworth
Zetta Elliott
Hillary Jordan
Dorothea Lasky
Racheline Maltese
Lauren Mechling
Heidi Mitchell
Susan Morse
Camille Rankine
Erika Sheffer
Readings
Gayle Forman
Marcia Ann Gillespie
Adele Griffin
Sonia Manzano
It takes a community to produce the
CHAPTERS Reading Series, and we are
grateful for the support of our publishing
and media sponsors: Open Road Integrated
Media, Penguin Group, Random House
Children’s Books, and Writers House.
78% of the girls said that they felt
comfortable reading their stories in front
of an audience after their time in the Girls
Write Now programs.
83% of the girls said that they enjoyed
writing in different genres versus 29%
who responded favorably at the start of
the programs.
5
DIGITAL TRAINING
Writing no longer happens only on the
page. In an increasingly digital age, writers
are creating and publishing work online,
using a variety of software programs and
interactive media to present their work.
In the 2011–12 year, Girls Write Now piloted
a digital program to train and mentor girls
in this emerging field. The program was
designed in partnership with Parsons The
New School of Design, with support from the
Hive Digital Media Learning Fund in The New
York Community Trust, an initiative funded
by the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation. Through this program, our girls
gained essential writing skills and knowledge
of new digital platforms. They experimented
in ways previously unimagined, with semester
themes of Digital Remixing, Narrative Video
Gaming, and E-publishing.
During the 2012–13 year, we completed the
implementation of this pilot program, testing
and adapting the curriculum and model.
Mirroring our writing program, the digital
program was structured around mentor/
mentee pairs who met weekly throughout the
year at a lab at The New School, where they
worked with digital equipment fundamental
to the process.
In monthly workshops, known as “dorkshops,”
20 girls learned how to use applications such
as InDesign, Pencil, Google Hangout, and
WordPress as they built portfolios of digital
work. Girls designed interactive games, created
animations, recorded and edited audio, and
published e-zines. All dorkshops included
writing and technical exercises, hands-on
practice with new interactive tools, and training
from skilled facilitators. At the conclusion
of the program, mentees showcased their
narrative games and collaborative e-zine at
our first-ever digital exhibition to an audience
of 50 youth visiting Parsons.
Taught by Girls Write Now’s staff and
graduate students from Parsons The New
School for Design, the program goes to
scale in the 2013–14 year.
95% of the girls in both of the mentoring
programs reported that they now know
about new online forms of writing because
of their participation in Girls Write Now.
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Girls Write Now, I
“ Before
thought of writing as a solitary
hobby, like Thoreau working
alone in the woods. But it was
quite the contrary when I
joined the program. It was very
collaborative, and I found that
Whitney and I were bouncing
ideas off of each other.
”
Shannon Daniels, 17 years old, mentee
7
In the
Spotlight
Girls Write Now encourages young women to not only learn the
craft of writing, but to put their work out into the world. Girls create
portfolios, submit their writing to competitions, present their work
at public events, and publish in our annual anthology. For many of
the girls, seeing their name in print affirms their identity as a writer.
PORTFOLIOS
PUBLIC VOICES
Portfolio development is an important
component of our mentoring programs
because it allows girls to document their
progress and showcase their work to
prospective colleges. Girls emerge from
our programs with a well-rounded portfolio
of drafts in six different genres, as well as
polished pieces for our CHAPTERS Reading
Series, annual anthology, and submission
to the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.
Through a range of partnerships with poetry
organizations, Scholastic, and Book Riot, Girls
Write Now helps young women reach out to
the world with their writing.
In November 2012, we redesigned our
website to include a secure portal for girls
to upload their portfolios and critique their
peers’ work. The mentees reviewed these
portfolios throughout the year with their
mentors, via volunteer Pair Support Chairs,
at Portfolio Check-In Days, and during yearend exit interviews.
Also at the end of the year, each girl wrote
a personal statement assessing her progress.
Growth and transformation were frequent
themes as the girls recognized the value our
programs had on their personal development.
Chandanie Devi Hiralal, a 2012 first-year
mentee, wrote the following in her end-of-year
review: “Girls Write Now has shown me that
there are so many ways to apply my writing in
new and different genres. I’ve also learned to
be fearless and bold with my writing.”
93% of the girls said that they were proud of
their writing portfolio at the end of the year,
versus 45% at the beginning of the year.
8
Each year, we appoint Poetry Ambassadors
to represent the mentees in venues around
New York City. In 2012, Girls Write Now
was selected by Lincoln Center as the only
Manhattan-based nonprofit to participate
in their first-ever Poet-Linc Poetry Slam.
Seven mentees competed, and Girls Write
Now placed in the top three of the final round.
Our Ambassadors also participated in Poets
Out Loud at Fordham University, a workshop
and reading series that brings together awardwinning poets and promising teen writers.
All girls in our programs are required to enter
the national Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
contest. Working closely with their mentors,
girls choose their best work for submission
– whether it’s a poem, personal essay, video
game, short story, or an entire portfolio. In
December 2012, mentees submitted 115 pieces
of writing, 12 video games, and 15 writing
portfolios. Forty-four percent of our mentees
received a total of 40 Scholastic awards and
honorable mentions.
In 2013, select mentor/mentee pairs were
featured as Rioters in Residence on Book
Riot’s website. Through this partnership with
Book Riot, a site dedicated to writers writing
about books, our mentors and mentees
published pieces about how reading has
shaped their lives. Book Riot published 17-yearold Samantha Young Chan’s reflections on
why she loves fantasy fiction and 16-year-old
75
portfolios
227
essays
173
poems
40
awards
1
anthology
Nishat Anjum’s blog post about the lyrical
prose of Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand
Splendid Suns. In her opening, Nishat wrote
about the importance of having a mentor and
a supportive community, saying, “I think that
people truly grow into themselves once they
meet someone who believes in them.”
100% of the girls agreed with the statement
that they have the ability to be a great writer.
ANTHOLOGY
Girls Write Now’s program activities culminate
each year with the publication of our awardwinning annual anthology. For many girls, this
is their first time seeing their writing in print,
and that has a profound effect on their image
of themselves as professional writers.
New Worlds: The Girls Write Now 2013
Anthology includes original work by all 75
mentor and mentee pairs. The poetry, prose,
and essays in this 310-page book explore
the personal relationships, expectations,
and identities of the girls and their mentors.
Funded by Amazon.com, the book also
includes testimonials from alumnae to
highlight our 15th Anniversary.
With praise from notable authors such as Alice
Walker, Jennifer Westfeldt, and Hannah Tinti,
the book was officially released on June 25,
2013 with a launch party at McNally Jackson
Books in New York City. The anthology is
available for purchase on Girls Write Now’s
website, at events, and through Amazon.com.
Walker’s endorsement of the book captures
the spirit of the work within the pages, as well
as the philosophy of Girls Write Now: “To write
from the heart is to illuminate one’s existence
against many kinds of darkness. These young
writers are going deep, feeling hard, selfdefining what has as yet no public face...”
97% of the girls said that it was very
important for young women their age
to be able to share their stories.
really exciting to have my
“ It’s
work published with other
people, see it in a book form, and
see everyone go buy it. It makes
us feel important. It makes me
feel like I’m getting somewhere
as a writer.
”
Najaya Royal, 16 years old, mentee
9
Beyond
Writing
The intensive mentoring relationships and introspective writing
assignments at Girls Write Now often bring to light deeper troubles
experienced by the girls. They may benefit from assistance applying
to college, access to mental health services, or opportunities to
embrace a leadership role within the organization.
COLLEGE READY
High school girls attend our programs
during a particularly stressful time: the
college admissions process. Many of the
girls we work with come from low-income
communities with limited support, and they
are often the first in their families to apply
to or attend college. Girls Write Now offers
college advising to girls who are part of
our mentoring programs as well as college
workshops to other high school teens in our
Girls College Bound Program.
In the summer of 2012, Girls College Bound
conducted three full-day writing workshops
for 46 high school girls from across New
York City. Led by Girls Write Now’s staff and
volunteer writing teachers, the workshops
guided girls through the process of writing a
college essay, and by the end of the sessions,
girls emerged with solid drafts. In partnership
with Macaulay Honors College, our fall Girls
College Bound event offered 100 girls (and
their parents and teachers) guidance in college
essay writing, information on financial aid and
scholarships, and a view of college life from
a panel of Girls Write Now mentee alumnae.
Also in fall 2012, Girls College Bound provided
three more college essay classes at the
Queens Library for 45 high school students.
In our mentoring programs, Girls Write
Now worked one-to-one with approximately
15 mentees weekly on college issues running
the gamut from where to apply to how to
pay. All mentees had year-round access to
our newly formed College Prep Panel, made
up of advisors who were available during
drop-in hours and private appointments, and
via email. By June 2013, 100% of the senior
10
high school girls in our mentoring programs
had been accepted to college and were on
their way to schools such as Barnard College,
Emerson College, Howard University, and
UCLA. Forty-four percent of our seniors
received thousands of dollars in scholarships,
including the Performance Award Scholarship
at Guilford College and the Presidential
Scholarship at Manhattanville College.
89% of the girls said that after having
attended Girls Write Now’s programs, they
knew the steps they needed to take to get
into college.
THERAPY PANEL
Working with teens requires a holistic
approach. We know that girls are less likely
to succeed academically or creatively when
they are facing difficult issues at home or
school. Girls Write Now teens experience
depression, anxiety, eating disorders, selfmutilation, domestic violence, and sexual
issues, among others.
To address their needs, in 2010 we created
a Therapy Panel made up of a dozen pro
bono, licensed mental health professionals.
Members of the Panel are on call throughout
the year to support staff, mentors, and
mentees directly.
During the 2012–13 year, 20% of the girls in
our mentoring programs received therapeutic
support. For the first time, we offered “group
chats” to girls during the mentee mid-year
workshop, introducing the concept of therapy
so girls felt comfortable getting help. The
Therapy Panel worked with select mentees,
providing consultations and other resources.
Panel members also gave presentations at
trainings, instructing mentors on indicators
of mental health problems.
98% of the girls responded favorably to
the statement: When I need help, there is
at least one adult at Girls Write Now I can
turn to for support.
YOUTH BOARD
Founded in 2010, the Youth Board is our
primary platform for girls to demonstrate
leadership skills and gain insight into how
a nonprofit organization runs. In 2012–13,
the Youth Board consisted of 12 current and
past mentees. These young women worked
closely with our program staff to develop
and lead curriculum, organize readings,
support college prep activities, and evaluate
the Digital Media pilot. In 2012, Girls Write
Now restructured the Youth Board by adding
an application and orientation process to
make sure each member worked in an area
of professional interest to her. For example,
three Youth Board members had an active
role in helping to create the writing labs for
our digital media dorkshops.
98% of the girls said that they believe it is
important to give back to the Girls Write
Now community.
mentor Sarah Gaffey
“ My
continues to be a great friend.
Not only did she brainstorm with
me writing ideas for my college
essay, but she went out of her
way to accompany me to my
college interview.
”
Stephanie Nolasco, 27 years old
Web editor for Fox News Magazine
Girls Write Now alum, Class of 2004
11
Meet
the Pairs
Excerpt from
Calloused Hands, Forgotten Words, and
Sweet and Sour Chicken
By mentee Shannon Daniels and mentor Whitney Jacoby
SHANNON:
When she passed, I realized I didn’t have her ability
to take comfort in vacancies.
WHITNEY:
I avoided her room, her scent overwhelming me.
SHANNON:
She was the one who taught me Chinese; who was
I if she wasn’t there?
WHITNEY:
I was surprised by the things I missed. How
I longed to speak Tagalog and learn her recipes.
SHANNON:
And even though nothing beat her cooking,
teaspoons of time and fistfuls of pen on paper were
enough to make something I hadn’t tasted before.
WHITNEY:
Something that carried on our connection. She’s
there every time my mother prepares chicken
adobo or cracks open a crab.
SHANNON:
There’s something in every steaming plate, in the
name of every Chinese bun I can pull out of the
recesses of my mind.
TOGETHER:
We are not alone.
SHANNON:
Every dish has been kneaded, sprinkled, warmed
by someone’s calloused hands.
WHITNEY:
Maybe the world started with a recipe.
TOGETHER:
It will end with one, too.
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SHANNON &
WHITNEY
It was instant. When 17-year-old Shannon
Daniels met Whitney Jacoby through Girls
Write Now in 2011, they knew they would
work well together.
“Shannon and I totally clicked,” said Whitney,
a national accounts manager of digital sales at
Simon & Schuster. “We were both interested in
the same things, like coming-of-age stories.”
The women share several similarities. They are
both half Asian, their grandmothers played an
important role in their childhoods, and they
have a mutual interest in cultural identity.
Paired by Girls Write Now, Whitney has been
mentoring Shannon for the past two years
through weekly meetings at McNally Jackson
Books in SoHo. There, they discuss Shannon’s
poetry and college essays, edit her work, and
bond over stories about their upbringing.
It’s a close relationship that extends beyond
writing. In many ways, Shannon confides in
Whitney as if she were a big sister. “It’s not
just having a mentor. It’s having a friend.
Someone to talk to,” said Shannon, who is a
senior at a high school in Manhattan.
The mentorship is equally valuable to Whitney,
who is watching Shannon mature and grow
in her work. “It’s so rewarding to be a part of
her life,” Whitney said. “She used to not want
to write about personal things as much. She
slowly became more open in her writing.”
At one session, Shannon shared a poem she
wrote called “Scale,” invoking the memory
of her grandparents. She thought the piece
wasn’t very good and was about to abandon
it until Whitney encouraged her to edit. The
finished poem went on to win a National
Gold Medal from the Scholastic Art &
Writing Awards.
Writing, Shannon says, is so important
because it’s a way of expressing a voice,
spreading an idea, and getting people to
listen. It allows her to better understand
herself, her relationships, and the world
around her.
“No one person can tell the world’s stories. But
if you allow everyone to tell his or her story,
then that’s really powerful,” Shannon said.
13
their critiques into her own work. It was a
valuable experience that she couldn’t get
elsewhere and it helped prepare her for
the professional world.
“That’s something I would have to do
eventually in my career – getting feedback
from editors to make my writing stronger,”
Stephanie said.
The mentorship was also a transformative
experience for Sarah, who switched careers
and became a social worker after mentoring
at Girls Write Now.
STEPHANIE & SARAH
It’s been ten years since Stephanie Nolasco
was mentored by Sarah Gaffey through the
Girls Write Now program, but the women still
keep in touch. Today, Stephanie is 27 years
old, working as the web editor for Fox News
Magazine – a career accomplishment she
credits in part to Girls Write Now.
“Girls Write Now provided several workshops
on journalism and it was those moments
when I realized this was the type of writing I
wanted to pursue,” Stephanie said.
Her introduction to journalism through a
Girls Write Now workshop, as well as her
weekly mentoring sessions with Sarah at
local bookstores, helped train Stephanie to
approach writing as a discipline – something
that required practice and rewrites.
Workshops taught Stephanie how to give
feedback to others and how to integrate
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“It was really powerful for me to feel like I
was able to be there for Stephanie at a time
when she needed extra support,” Sarah said.
“The organization and experience helped me
realize I wanted to help youth full time.”
Sarah supported Stephanie during an
especially nerve-racking time – the college
admissions process. When Stephanie’s
mom was unable to accompany her to an
interview at Sarah Lawrence College, Sarah
took the Metro-North train with Stephanie
up to Westchester County for the interview,
offering advice and asking Stephanie practice
questions to ease her stress along the way.
Stephanie went on to attend college at The
New School, but Sarah’s support left an
impression. “It’s a story I continue to share to
this day and if you ask me why Girls Write Now
should live forever, that would be my reason,”
Stephanie said. “I will forever be thankful for
having her in my life.”
Stephanie served as a youth member of the Girls
Write Now Advisory Board from 2008–10. Sarah
joined the Girls Write Now Therapy Panel in fall 2013.
NAJAYA & ANUJA
Najaya Royal waited five years to join Girls
Write Now. Her mom learned about the
program when she was nine years old, and as
soon as she was old enough to apply, Najaya
submitted her application.
“You could tell she really wanted to be part
of the program. She saw it as something
special,” said her mentor Anuja Madar, a
travel writer and program leader at Girls
Write Now since 2007. “She has a lot of
talent, passion, and excitement.”
At Girls Write Now, Najaya found a
community of people who were interested in
not only her writing, but her life as a whole.
She describes the Girls Write Now office,
where she meets Anuja every Friday for their
mentoring sessions, as a welcoming space
that feels like home.
“When I go there, they feel like family. Not all
my friends have people they can talk to about
school and other issues,” Najaya said. “Girls
Write Now cares about me and wants to see
me do good.”
The program encouraged Najaya’s poetry
writing, trained her in journalism, and taught
her the value of editing. She has started using
techniques she learned at Girls Write Now
in her schoolwork, editing her essays more
than once before she submits assignments to
teachers. And she’s noticing results.
“My grades are going up tremendously,” said
Najaya, who is a junior at a Brooklyn high
school. “I know now the first draft is never
perfect. You have to work to get to that point.”
Recognizing Najaya’s potential, Girls Write
Now provided her with some unique
opportunities she couldn’t get through her
public high school. She performed her poem
“Learning to Forgive” at a poetry slam at
Lincoln Center along with select Poetry
Ambassadors from the Girls Write Now
program, and she received a Peter Jay Sharp
Youth Arts Fellowship after Girls Write Now
nominated her for the award.
Najaya says her dream is to become a music
journalist. For her, writing isn’t just a hobby.
It’s a need.
“If I don’t express myself, then I feel like I
lose who I am. And I don’t want to pretend
to be anybody else,” Najaya said. “That’s
just not me.”
15
15
Years
THEN
25 girls served in mentoring program
Girls write in journals
Entirely volunteer-run organization
Kitchen table work sessions
5 Board members
$0 income
1998
2003
Founded
Nonprofit
status approved;
Board formed
1999
Workshops
begun
16
2005
Moved into
our first office &
workshop space
2004
First grant
received
2006
First annual
anthology
published
NOW
5,000 girls served to date through all programs and activities
Girls create online portfolios
9 full-time staff and 200 active volunteers annually
2,300 square feet of office space leased in midtown Manhattan
14 Board members and 5 Board committees
$700,000 operating budget
2009
2011
Named one of nation’s
top 15 after-school
programs by the
White House
2010
Youth Board
and Therapy
Panel formed
10 poets invited
to the White House for
First Lady’s poetry
celebration
2012
Won
Youth, I.N.C.
Innovators Award
17
By the
Numbers
2012 AUDITED
FINANCIALS
UNRESTRICTED
TEMPORARILY
RESTRICTED
2012
TOTAL
2011
TOTAL
$514,257
$288,010
$802,267
$434,179
$191,752
–
$191,752
$126,327
$4,686
–
$4,686
$3,610
$137
–
$137
$161
$82,825
($82,825)
–
–
$793,657
$205,185
$998,842
$564,277
SUPPORT & REVENUE
Cash Contributions
In-Kind Contributions
Program Service Income
Interest Income
Satisfaction of Program Restrictions
Total Support & Revenue
EXPENSES
Program Services
$518,242
–
$518,242
$400,835
General & Administrative
$69,239
–
$69,239
$56,058
Fundraising
$116,277
–
$116,277
$98,961
$703,758
–
$703,758
$555,854
Increase in Net Assets
$89,899
$205,185
$295,084
$8,413
Beginning Net Assets
$224,838
$32,115
$256,953
$248,540
Ending Net Assets
$314,737
$237,300
$552,037
$256,953
Total Expenses
1%
REVENUE
74%
EXPENSES
Earned
Program
Services
5%
Board Members
6%
Corporate
9%
49%
Foundation
19%
In-Kind
Contributions
18
16%
Government
11%
Individuals
Fundraising
10%
General &
Administrative
BUDGET GROWTH OVER THE YEARS
In the first seven years of the
organization, Girls Write Now did
not have an operating budget and
relied on in-kind donations while
building a robust community of
volunteers. From 2008–12, once
we began fundraising in earnest,
funders embraced our mission.
Our budget increased from
$126,000 to $700,000 – an
extraordinary amount of growth
for a nonprofit organization
during an economic downturn.
19
Our
Supporters
More than 1,000 institutions and individuals supported our work
in 2012 – our largest community of donors to date. We secured an
increased number of grants over $50,000, more multi-year funding
commitments, and new corporate support through innovative
sponsorship initiatives. For the first time, our Holiday Appeal
campaign broke the $100,000 mark thanks to a robust community
of fundraisers. We are grateful to the following key supporters
who funded our mission in 2012 and provided opportunities for
underserved girls to write their way to a better future.
INSTITUTIONS
$100,000+
Hive Digital Media Learning
Fund in The New York
Community Trust
$75,000–$99,999
The Pinkerton Foundation
Youth, I.N.C. (Improving
Non-Profits for Children)
$50,000–$74,999
National Endowment
for the Arts
The New York Women’s
Foundation
$25,000–$49,999
The Catalog for Giving
of New York City
New York City Department
of Cultural Affairs
The Edmond de Rothschild
Foundations
Union Square Awards
$10,000–$24,999
Amazon.com
Assurant Foundation
Brooklyn Community Foundation
The Impact Investing Foundation
The Rona Jaffe Foundation
Amy Morrill Charitable Trust
20
The New York Life Foundation
Nordstrom
Open Road Integrated Media
SJL Attorney Search
$5,000–$9,999
The Bay & Paul Foundations
Colgate-Palmolive Company
The Hyde & Watson Foundation
Patrina Foundation
The Reso Foundation
The South Wind Foundation
Sponsors for Educational
Opportunity
Writers House
$1,000–$4,999
American Express
Charitable Fund
Araks
Baird Foundation
Clifford Family Charitable
Annuity Trust
Crosswicks Foundation
EILEEN FISHER
Ferris Greeney Family
Foundation
Gap Inc.
Hammer Family Charitable
Foundation
Manhattan Borough
President’s Office
New York State Council
on the Arts
Palisade Capital Management
Random House
Ruth Asset Management
Shearman & Sterling, LLP
SWIFT
Thomson Reuters
Write Now Poetry Society
$500–$999
Altruette
Berlin Family Foundation
Jane Austen Society
of North America, New York
Metropolitan Region
Nixon-Marinoni Family
Foundation
Significant Objects
$250–$499
Alloy Entertainment
Brown House Brooklyn
Elsevier
Kramer Capital Management
New York Distilling Company
The Thomas P. Sculco & Cynthia
D. Sculco Foundation
Vicky Dry Cleaning
John Wiley & Sons
Wolas Family Trust
INDIVIDUALS
$10,000+
Sang J. Lee
Kamy Wicoff
$5,000–$9,999
Linda Winston
$1,000–$4,999
Marci Alboher
Stephanie Balaban-Elkin
Carmelina Cartei & Friends
Lisa S. Chai
Lee M. Clifford
Sandra Fathi
Joel Fried
Bryan Koplin
Alice Kramer
Edward P. Krugman &
Ethel Klein
Min Jin Lee
Nancy Long
Mary Elizabeth McGarry
Nancy K. Miller
Maya Nussbaum &
Todd Pulerwitz
Margaret Schmidt
Margaret Waller
$500–$999
Janet Asimov
Carol Blum
Jessica Cantiello
Marjorie Coismain
Celesti Colds Fechter
Hubert Elkins
Anne Feigus
Helen Ghiradella &
Helmut Hirsch
Michael J. Hirschhorn
Sarah Khedouri
Thomas E. McCullough
Claudia Pearson
Ashley Phillips
Nancy Picchi
Steven Pollack
Chelsea Rao
Karen & Charles Schader
Nomi Silverman
Elaine C. Stuart-Shah
Josleen Wilson
$250–$499
Morgan Baden
Libba Bray
Marya Cohn
Susan Coish
Sarah Commito
Casey Cornelius
Jeff Cribbs
Amy Ferris
Sidney Frank
Catherine Hardee
Thomas Hart
Matthea Harvey
Patricia Hirsch
Michelle Laraia
Gay Miller
Natalie Nussbaum &
Alan Tallman
Donald S. Petrey Jr.
Madelyne & George Pope
Hope Pordy
Molly Pulda
Ram & Sam Raju
Annie Schulhof
Michael Scott
Jeffrey Serkes
Sanjay Shah
David Shook
Julia Shullman
Gail Stuart
Robert Stuart
Lila Sullivan
Anne Teall
Elizabeth Useem
Peter Waldor
Jessica Wells-Hasan &
Joseph Hasan
James S. & Kathleen Wicoff
Patricia Yaeger
Victor Zollo
PARTNERSHIPS
& IN-KIND
Algonquin Books
Alliance for Young Artists
& Writers
Altruette
Amazon Publishing
Mary Jo Bang & Bread Loaf
Writers’ Conference/
Middlebury College Press
Da Urban Butterflies
Doubleday
EvalStats, Inc.
Figment
Five Chapters
Goddard Riverside Options
Center: Options College
Counseling
Hachette Book Group
Hadar Foundation
HarperCollins Publishers
Hive Learning Network NYC
John Street Church
largehearted boy
Macaulay Honors College
Macmillan
McNally Jackson Books
The Mentoring Partnership
of New York
New York Women in
Communications, Inc.
The New Yorker
Nicole Miller
Open Road Integrated Media
Parsons The New School
for Design
Poet-Linc
Poetry Society of America
Poets Out Loud at
Fordham University
The Posse Foundation, Inc.
Pretzel Crisps
Project Girl Performance
Collective
Queens Library
Random House
She Writes
Siegel+Gale
Simon & Schuster
SJL Attorney Search
Snippies Giving Back Program
SPARK Movement
Spire Press, Inc.
TCC Group
Tiffany & Co.
Time Inc.
Tinderbox Arts LLC
Ugly Duckling Presse
Unterberg Poetry Center
Urban Word NYC
V-Girls
Vol. 1 Brooklyn
Wave Publishing Co.
John Wiley & Sons
Josleen Wilson
Young to Publishing Group
Youth, I.N.C.
We are grateful to the hundreds of individual donors who supported us in 2012, and we regret
we are unable to list them here due to space constraints.
21
Our
Community
Board of
Directors
VOLUNTEERS
Girls Write Now began as an
entirely volunteer, grassroots
organization. Fifteen years later,
our community of 200 volunteers
works closely with our staff at all
levels of the organization. From
public relations experts to licensed
therapists, our volunteers help
keep the organization running so
that the girls in our programs can
keep the ink flowing.
Fundraising
Committee
Marketing/
Publicity
Committee
Executive
Committee
Therapy
Panel
College
Prep
Panel
STAFF
Maya Nussbaum, Founder & Executive Director
Laura Stenson Wynne, Director of Programs
Tracy Steele, Director of Operations
Michelle Paul, Director of Development
Laura Cheung, Communications Manager
Emily Coppel, Digital Program Manager
Rebecca Haverson, Senior Program Coordinator
Aarti Monteiro, Program Coordinator
Lilia Epstein-Katz, Administrative Coordinator
Special thanks to Meghan McNamara,
Anusha Mehar, Tiff any Stevens, and Jessica
Wells-Hasan.
Mentor &
Mentee
Enrollment
Committees
Pair Support
Chairs
Readings
Committee
Memoir
Committee
22
Mentor
Community
Chair
Fiction
Committee
Poetry
Committee
Play/Screen
Writing
Committee
Board
Development
Committee
Youth Board
& Poetry
Ambassadors
Program
Advisory
Committee
Curriculum
Committees
Journalism
Committee
Finance &
Audit
Committee
Wildcard
Committee
Anthology
Committee
BOARD OF
DIRECTORS
Kamy Wicoff, Board Chair
Chelsea Rao, Vice Chair,
Finance/Audit Chair
Nancy K. Miller, Secretary
Justine Lelchuk, Treasurer
Unyi Agba, Fundraising Chair
Sang J. Lee, Board
Development Chair
Gloria Jacobs, Marketing/
Publicity Co-Chair
Ellen Sweet, Marketing/
Publicity Co-Chair
Erica Mui, Corporate
Engagement Chair
Marci Alboher
Sandra Bang
Carol Blum
Lisa S. Chai
Lee M. Clifford
Maya Nussbaum
BOARD COMMITTEES
(Non-Board Members)
Morgan Baden
Samantha Carlin
Anne Feigus
Vicki Jacobs
Mindy Liss
Anuja Madar
Susan Oehrig
Tracy Perez
Julia Monteith Semrai
Madelyne Zollo
PROGRAM ADVISORY
COMMITTEE
Maria T. Romano, Program
Advisory Committee Chair
Julie M. Polk, Curriculum
Co-Chair
Allison Yarrow, Curriculum
Co-Chair
Demetria Irwin, Mentor
Enrollment Chair
Rachel Cohen, Mentee
Enrollment Chair
Heather Smith, Mentor
Community Chair
Erin Baer, Pair Support Co-Chair
Alissa Riccardelli, Pair Support
Co-Chair
Hilary Leichter, Readings
Co-Chair
Ilana Manaster, Readings
Co-Chair
YOUTH BOARD
Christina Butan
Ximena Castillo
Taysha Clark
Rocio Cuevas
Shannon Daniels
Teamaré Gaston
Sussy Liz
Amanda Day McCullough
Ava Nadel
Emely Paulino
Idamaris Perez
Yolandri Vargas
Samantha White
Xiao Hong Zhang
THERAPY PANEL
Kristin Long, Panel Coordinator
Julie May, Panel Coordinator
Betty Bederson
Jason Conover
Barbara Draimin
Judi Evans
Cora Goldfarb
Peggy Horowitz
Judi Levy
Nancy Long
Stephanie Vanden Bos
Eva Young
COLLEGE PREP PANEL
Andrea Gabbidon-Levene,
Co-Chair
Moira A. Taylor, Co-Chair
Marianne Booufall-Tynan,
Macaulay Honors College
Debra Bushford, General
Theological Seminary
FeDiana Camilo, CUNY
Amanda Fousse, CUNY
Welcome Center
Herminia Gomez, CUNY
Welcome Center
Susanna Horng, college
essay writing
Adam B. Leggett, Goddard
Riverside Options Center
Lynn Lurie, college essay writing
Jury Otero, John Jay College
of Criminal Justice, CUNY
Thomas Rabbitt, Sarah
Lawrence College
Mary Roma, college
essay writing
Carol Salmon, New York
University
Erica Silberman, college
essay writing
Kate Trebuss, college
essay writing
Megan Henry, graphic design
Beth Hicks, copy editing
Cheryl Hill, photography
Tom Hunt, videography
Julie Court Jacob, photography
Dea Jenkins, photography
Sarah Negugogor, website
development
Julie M. Polk, voice workshop
leadership
Charis Poon, graphic design
Karla Rodriguez, photography &
videography
Angelica Sgouros, copy editing
David Shuff, video production
Kathleen Sweeney, video
production and direction
Susan Rae Tannenbaum,
photography
Wesley Thompson, photography
Julie Varughese, photography
Alex Yeske, graphic design
PROGRAM
ASSESSMENT
Tiffany DeJaynes, digital
media program research &
assessment
Yusuf Ransome, mentoring
program data analysis
CONSULTANTS
Jenifer Carter, Anthology
Designer
Shea’la Finch, Anthology
Managing Editor
Gabriel Gutiérrez, Bookkeeper
Carla Marin, Dorkshop Facilitator
Hope Pordy, Attorney
Cari Brooke Roberts, Brand
Consultant
Mary Roma, Teaching Artist
Hannah Sheldon-Dean,
Anthology Copy Editor
Erica Silberman, Teaching Artist
Lauren Slowik, Managing
Facilitator
Alan Stricoff, Accountant
Julia Vallera, Digital Media
Arts Consultant
Sarah Wever, Dorkshop
Facilitator
INTERNS
MARKETING &
DIGITAL MEDIA
Aehee Kang Asano, photography
Lauren Balistreri, graphic design
Christina Beard, graphic design
Abigail Chavez, photography
Jen Chu, photography
Gianna Leo Falcon, photography
Susan Glattstein, photography
Ed Gourdine, photography
Lauren Harms, graphic design
Louise Albano-Hurley
Gabrielle Barnes
Monica Carr
Natalia Fadul
Jessica Figueroa
Nora Hennick
Kathyrn Jagai
Josie Orsini
The list above reflects volunteers as of June 2013, when the program activities covered in
this report concluded.
23
Excerpt from
Why I Write
By Brittany Barker and Danielle Green
Mentees, class of 2011 and 2012
When thinking of
the reason I write,
I think of the moment before
my tongue knew my teeth and
how good they’d sound together;
I think of when my silence
used to jail me like prisoner;
of all the times when my own shy
used to sew me and my lips dormant,
all door mat,
all welcome rug,
all opposite of what mother taught me.
Mother is incendiary,
Mother has a tongue that can
set a room ablaze.
I need me a tongue that can earthquake,
shake my metaphor and simile
off the page.
24
247 West 37th Street, Suite 1800
New York, NY 10018
212–336–9330
@girlswritenow
www.girlswritenow.org
[email protected]
Design, Elizabeth Motolese | Copy, Tara Bracco | Editing, Vivian Conan | Advisor, Cari Brooke Roberts