826LA 2020 Annual Report

S T U D EN T W RI T I N G S & FEAT U RES

Table of Contents

My Peach Tree by Skilar W.

4

Unused Land by LaTricia G.

8

3

Time Traveling with Vince

11

2019-2020 at a Glance

5

My Community Hero by Ana M.

11

Growing Up in a Changing World

6

Programs

9

I Am—A Collective Class Memoir by by 10th graders from Miguel Contreras Learning Complex

Tutoring

10 12

The Negative Impact of Globalization on Water Pollution by Sawyer S.

14

Field Trips Workshops

14

Memories by Brandon R.

15

Writers’ Rooms

16

Message to the World by Soledad G.

16

In-Schools

20

Ana Tenorio

18

College Access

22

19

Volunteering

32

Events

35

Gardens Began to Spring Up in My Mind: T Sarmina on How Students are Making South LA Greener

Time Travel Mart

36

I Am by Sam J.

20

Treasurer’s Report

39

Jaylyn H.

21

What’s Next?

40

Kenia O.

23

Help Us Grow

42

Growing 826LA Through Space & Time

24

Supporters

44

The Sun Was Trying to Tell Me Something

28

Volunteers

46

Sheila Fallah

34

Staff

50

Mac Barnett

38

Board

51

Dear Future Self by Janeth C.

41

0

2007

8 ,7 7 0

9 , 2 63

1 ,8 0 7

1, 2 4 3

4,000

2,000

8 ,6 1 4

3 , 6 26

6,000

8 , 2 37

5 ,1 2 1

8,000

8, 1 6 0

10,000

9 , 0 87

9 , 5 87

1 0 ,1 05

12,000

9 , 9 55

Letter from the Executive Director

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

S T UDEN T S S ERV ED (2007– 2019)

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

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Letter from the Executive Director Imagine 826LA as a 15-year-old human being, for a moment, instead of a 15-year-old organization. We’ve learned so much in our first decade and a half of life that sometimes we forget we don’t know everything. We’ve grown from a clumsy toddler into a full-sized person who could easily be mistaken for an adult. We have big dreams about what the future holds, whether it’s a quinceañera, a sweet sixteen, college, or a first job. But as our parents might be quick to remind us, we don’t know everything. We are awkward. Some of our parts seem to have grown faster than others. We are itching to explore the world and make an impact, but scared of leaving the nest.

It makes a kind of poetic sense that 826LA turned 15 in 2020, of all years. There we were, documenting our accomplishments (check out the timeline that starts on p. 24) and planning a future in which we could serve more students, more deeply.

And those accomplishments are significant: We’ve supported more than 100,000 students since opening our doors, worked with more than 18,000 volunteers, and produced close to 900 publications by student authors.

Then cases of COVID-19 began to rise, forcing us to close our centers and relaunch our programs virtually in the space of six weeks. (See “Growing Up in a Changing World” for more on our response to COVID-19.)

In late May, the streets of Los Angeles and other cities across the country were flooded with protesters demanding justice for George Floyd and other Black individuals who were killed because of racism and police violence. We felt an urgent need to grow up quickly.

specific actions we are taking.) We are proud of the many ways we helped students find their voices, improve their writing, and apply for college this year, and pivoted our programs for the digital sphere. But we’ve done so in a troubled world, and we bear the bad habits of that world. If our 15th Anniversary celebration is not quite celebratory, well, that’s as it should be. We are older and wiser than we were in 2005. And we still have so much growing to do. Thank you for joining us on the journey.

We asked ourselves difficult questions: What were our values and priorities? What did our students, volunteers, and staff need that we weren’t providing? As an organization with a mission to serve students living in poverty, were we unwittingly perpetuating anti-Black bias and other tenets of a capitalistic, white supremacist society?

Growing up is a humbling experience. We don’t have all the answers yet, but we are committed to finding them and holding ourselves accountable to you, our beloved 826LA community. (See “What’s Next?” for

Sincerely,

3

Joel Arquillos Executive Director 826LA

I have seen this peach tree

grow since I was in elementary

school. I have seen this peach tree in

the springtime and in the fall. It has the most

peaches in the summer. The peaches are small,

like gumballs, but yellowish. Reddish little flowers

grow around it and the brown leaves are like a

crown on the peach. Sometimes the peaches catch my attention when I’m going to school. When the peach is not fully ready it looks like a hard green apple.... When the peach is ready, the color is a dark yellow color, but if there’s any hint of green on it, it needs more time to grow on the tree.

B Y S K ILAR W. IN A S LON G AS HOPE G ROW S B Y M AN UAL ARTS HIG H SCH OOL W R I T E RS ’ ROOM S TUD EN TS 4

2019-2020 at a Glance

6,289

911

10,449

170

94

S TUDENTS S UPPORTED

VOL U NTE E R S

T O TA L H O U RS V O L U N T EERED

ED U CAT O RS S U PPO RT ED

PU B LICAT IO N S

GROWING UP IN A CHANGING WORLD Recognize institutional failures that discriminate against people of color and...fix these systems…. Have a culture of inclusion in workplaces, schools, gyms, anywhere and everywhere!

BY K A S H MA L A N .

I N VI VA T I M E S B Y J O U R N A L I S M WO R KS H O P S T U D E N T S

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COVID-19 In mid-March of 2020, 826LA made the difficult decision to close our writing centers to prevent the spread of COVID-19. While simultaneously trying to ensure the safety and livelihoods of our staff, we asked ourselves: How can we best support students right now?

In direct response to the needs our stakeholders expressed over the course of hundreds of calls and emails to students, families, and volunteers, 826LA provided 204 at-home learning kits and began to rebuild our programs with the needs of families, teachers, and students in mind. Thanks to the diligent and innovative efforts of our staff and volunteers, we soon had a full slate of programming, which continues to evolve.

Educational justice is racial justice In late May, a nation already strained by COVID-19 watched as Minneapolis police officers killed George Floyd, sparking mass protests around the world, including in Los Angeles. Floyd’s murder was the latest in a string of police killings of Black people that, in the space of a year, included Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor, Eric Reason, Atatiana Jefferson, and Dominique Clayton. The racially motivated civilian killings of Ahmaud Arbery and Nina Pop also led to calls for action.

826LA’s mission to amplify student voices is not partisan, but neither is it apolitical. If we believe that young people deserve a high-quality education regardless of socioeconomic status, we must also advocate for basic needs like food, shelter, and safety, because when those needs go unmet, education can’t even begin. The denial of these needs intersects with race, ethnicity, and systemic oppression; educational justice is racial justice. We have witnessed the ways in which police violence creates fear and threatens hope among young people of color, and we are consistently moved by their bravery in speaking up for their rights.

In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., “A riot is the language of the unheard.” Our goal is to ensure that young people of color in Los Angeles are heard. Stories of racism and police violence are all too common in our student publications. We shared several of these pieces of student writing on our blog and social media in June and will continue to do so. Our staff also put together an anti-racist resource guide in English and Spanish, which they shared with 826LA families and on our Virtual Hub. But these small steps were just a beginning. Cultural biases and systemic oppression that developed over hundreds of years can’t be undone by a blog post, a diversity committee, or a single committed organization. The hard work of dismantling white supremacy and the structures that serve it requires humility: we are embarking on a journey we will definitely not finish. Even the idea that we could finish it—that we could check “end racism” off our list and reap the rewards of a job well done—is itself a product of capitalism and white supremacist culture.

What we must do instead is make anti-racism part of our organizational culture and embed it into everything we do. It means paying BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) to educate our staff and volunteers. It means rethinking the language we use in fundraising materials. It means making our organizational practices more transparent and democratic. It means inviting more BIPOC to join our board. It means reaching out to schools with larger Black, not just Latinx, populations. It means all of these things, but it is not just these things. It is everything.

Childhood is inherently hopeful: When kids have their whole lives ahead of them, they’re likely to imagine moon visits, farms full of animals, and oceans teeming with mer-people. Oppression and loss wring dreams from human beings and leave them dried up and exhausted. If dismantling systemic racism in the midst of a pandemic seems like a tall order, it is. But we look to our students for inspiration.

Our adult selves may need to do the critical thinking and difficult work of repairing wrongs. But our inner children will remind us that change and growth are possible.

• T UTORI NG: Volunteers provided one-on-one homework help, four days a week, to help students navigate academic challenges of all kinds.

• WORKSHOPS: We offered both webinars and live workshops on topics ranging from environmental journalism to zine making.

• IN- SCHOOLS PROJ E C TS: Schools were closed, but our partnerships remained strong. 826LA supported 60 9th graders at Roosevelt High School with the annual Ethnic Studies Book Project; published essays about environmental justice by 45 students at Manual Arts; and hosted virtual visits from Nickelodeon and other authors in our Writers in the Writers’ Room series. Volunteers from Paramount Pictures worked with 20 students at Helen Bernstein High School to write about the forces that have shaped their identities.

• COLLEGE ACCESS: 826LA helped 67 college-bound seniors earn money for college via the Scholarship Project and collaborated with college counselors to host personal statement trainings for juniors.

• V IRTUAL HUB: We created an online gateway to student writing, video content, webinars, writing prompts, resources, and more.

• WRI TI NG PROMP TS: We launched a searchable, sortable database of writing prompts for students of all ages. Write a letter to Bigfoot or an ode to your favorite snack! 826LA continued to support teachers via a weekly newsletter packed with prompts, including ways to “take writing off the page” and “reimagine our city.”

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Unused Land B Y L ATR I C I A G . , FROM TH E SUN WA S T RY I N G T O T E L L M E S O M E T H I N G

Plots of land sit unused, fenced with steel to ward off the outside world. Businesses are foreclosed, bought by the bank, and then waste away for years. Trash builds up, and the plots become dumping sites for the rest of the neighborhood. And it increases pollution!

No one wants to buy the land because of the neighborhood it’s in, or because it’s too busy, or it’s right next to the freeway. This unused land, however, could solve the problem for homeless people, or become a safe house for runaway adolescents, or be transformed into a community garden.

Los Angeles has one of the largest homeless communities in the nation. Four thousand people live on Skid Row because there isn’t enough room in the shelters. One third of our homeless have a mental illness, and without help they just get worse. If we could build shelters to house and help the homeless, this problem could be solved.

Most people don’t know how many troubled teens are in Los Angeles. About one in every five run away, for reasons including an unstable home, abusive parents, the foster system, or violent life.

Many of these runaways die from drug abuse, gang-related violence, or starvation. Unused buildings could house and stabilize these troubled teens. Classes and workshops could teach them the skills needed to develop into capable adults. These children need to be taken care of. We can give them the chance to live their lives instead of survive them!

The people in my neighborhood can barely afford to go to the grocery store every month, yet they have many mouths to feed.

Sometimes my own family can’t afford to go to the store to buy food, or pay for the gas to get there. This is why we need a community garden with fresh vegetables and fruit for half the regular store price.

Produce grown in the community and sold to the community would circulate money back into the community and bring back business. We would have volunteers from the local schools, middle and high school kids who have to complete community service hours to graduate. The garden could also be a daycare center for kids ages two and up. There are many ways a community garden could be profitable and unite the neighborhood at the same time.

There is much need for unused land in Los Angeles and numerous ways to fully utilize the land to its fullest potential. We, as the people of this city, need to do something with the land to solve some of our city’s problems.

8

KO DY H. , 826LA STU DE NT

9

PROGRAMS

Try changing the world.

You will be thrilled.

T O TA L H O UR S V O L UN T E E R E D: 5, 904

V O L U N T EE R S : 439

S T U D EN T S S UP P O RT E D: 210

TUTORING

For most of the year, our centers buzzed with the familiar sounds of After-School Tutoring (or AST, our program for younger students) and Tuesday and Thursday Night Tutoring (or TNT, our program for teens): laughter, chairs sliding across the floor, demands for snacks, encouraging words from volunteers.

The fall semester closed with release parties celebrating the publication of four chapbooks: A Chance to Rewind Time and Make a Difference in Echo Park, and I Still Remember to This Day and Can’t and Will Not be Ignored in Mar Vista.

Then, a few months into 2020, things got very quiet at our centers. But as tables and chairs sat empty, staff members were busy at home, calling families to make sure students had what they needed to resume their education. Our Programs Team assembled and distributed more than 200 at-home learning packets; directed families to information about unemployment and internet access via a bilingual resource hub; and soon resumed one-on-one homework help via a virtual version of our Tutoring program.

Many students and sibling groups grow up in AST and TNT, and it’s our deepest honor to see the people they become. In August 2019, 130 young writers and activists from around the world gathered in San Juan, Puerto Rico, for the 2nd Annual International Congress of Youth Voices. Here, teenagers connect to amplify their voices, explore leadership paths, and collaborate with leaders to learn how to make an impact in their communities. 826LA Tutoring students Gabriela and Ashla, along with Manual Arts Writers’ Room student Tania, were chosen to participate as delegates.

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Time Traveling with Vince

My Community Hero

BY A N A M. F R O M I S T I L L R E M E M BE R T O T H I S D AY

BY A S T S T U D E N T S I N M A R VI S TA

We’re lucky to have seen Vince time-travel over many years. He joined 826LA’s Echo Park Tutoring program in 2013 when he was ten years old. There, he met lifelong friends, cultivated his appreciation for reading and writing, and developed a passion for social justice.

“Growing up, I really liked reading and [at] 826LA, I learned that I can grow to love reading even more through writing— something I would not have been exposed to in school,” Vince said.

Many 826LA students return as interns, volunteers, and even staff—even after they’ve graduated high school and gone on to new adventures. Vince first took on a leadership role as a member of our Youth Advisory Board. Then he started picking up shifts at the Time Travel Mart, where he greeted customers and told them about the organization behind the Mammoth Chunks and Robot Milk.

As Vince explained, “I wanted to stick with 826LA as long as I could because I basically grew up with 826LA.”

Do you want to know who is the best teacher ever? My 1st grade teacher, Ms. Daniels. Ms. Daniels is very kind and nice to me and to other students.

When it was the day before Halloween, Ms. Daniels told my class we were going to pick seeds out of a pumpkin. It was fun. We all took turns picking seeds because there was only one pumpkin for the whole class.

One day when some students were painting, Ms. Daniels was showing me and my friend, Hadassah, pictures of her cats. She has two cats, they are both gray. One of them was a little bit bigger. Even though I don’t want a cat, I still think they look cute and fluffy.

These are the special moments that I had with my 1st grade teacher, Ms. Daniels. And the reasons that make her my hero and the reasons that make her the best teacher ever.

11

T O TA L H O UR S V O L UN T E E R E D: 1, 323

V O L U N T EE R S : 140

S T U D EN T S S UP P O RT E D: 2, 605

FIELD TRIPS

I am Los Angeles and chaos I am the best Call of Duty player….

I am my mother and father I am the spirits of the ones I’ve lost I am the welcome mat before you walk in I want to see you succeed B Y 1 0 TH G R A DE R S FRO M MI G U EL CO N T RERA S L EA RN I N G CO MPL EX FROM “ I AM — A COL L E C T I VE C L A S S M E M O I R ”

12

Field Trips have historically reached the most students and been the source of some of our most creative stories (anyone who talks about “group think” like it’s a bad thing has not witnessed a Storytelling & Bookmaking field trip, which continued to be our most popular menu item and the birthplace of heroes like Banana Man and Linda Tacobeard).

Other Field Trips in high demand were STEM, in which students built models of inventions to solve world problems, and Choose Your Own Adventure, which invited them to consider all possible outcomes for each branch of outlandish stories.

Our Field Trips program was the hardest to replicate during COVID, but our staff is as creative as a group of tenth-grade poets.

To continue supporting educators, they shared writing prompts via a new Educators’ Newsletter and a searchable database on 826LA’s new Virtual Hub. Volunteers read Field Trip books aloud on YouTube, and “Librarian Barnacle”—a bushy-browed, bespectacled character—read from new and classic kids’ books.

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T O TA L H O UR S V O L UN T E E R E D: 2, 558

V O L U N T EE R S : 209

S T U D EN T S S UP P O RT E D: 682

WORKSHOPS

This over-production of intensive goods disproportionally hurts the poor because they take the hit of unfair labor and waste in the natural resources they need.

The waste created from textile factories contaminates the rivers that thousands of people use for energy, irrigation, and a drinking source.

B Y SAW Y E R S. FROM “ TH E N E G AT I VE I M PA C T O F G L O BA L I ZAT I O N O N WAT E R P O L L U T I O N�

I N V I VA TI M ES

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Memories

BY BRA N D O N R. , F R O M M E M O RY L A N E : WH AT L A H A S T O O F F ER, A PA RT N E R S H I P BE T WE E N H E L E N BE R N S T EIN HIGH S C H O O L , PA R A M O U N T P I C T U R E S , A N D 8 2 6 LA Life nowadays seems to be getting repetitive. You get up in the morning, go about your day, and then go to sleep. However there’s a catch, as when you go about your day you have to do so while staying at home. It is good to remember that there was a time where life was not like this. Where life was filled with interesting moments, with laughter, with joy, and yet also with sadness and anger. But life was filled with something. We all have that memory that we are attached to, and while we are at home we can reminisce about it. Here is one memory that I am attached to.

I stepped out of the train. It was a cool, cloudy day. Spring was here. I was eight years old at the time, so my mother was accompanying me. It was one of the many trips we would take since we liked to travel the city a lot. The park entrance read “Exposition Rose Garden” with a big red rose next to it. Beyond the sign, my mother and I could see bushes filled with many colorful flowers. We entered the front gate and saw a big water fountain. It was built of white stones with an elegant design carved into it. My mother really loves flowers, so we spent about twenty minutes looking at each and every flower. My mother took lots of close up pictures of the flowers.

She was in a really happy mood, and so was I. We kept walking around the park more, and then we saw an ice cream man with his cart. I love ice cream, so knowing that, my mom decided to ask the man for two chocolate cone ice creams. I was already happy, but now that I was eating ice cream I was even more happy. We both went to where the water fountain was and we sat on a bench facing it. For about five minutes we just sat there, peacefully eating our ice cream.

At this moment I realized how much my mom means to me and how much I really love her. We could sit in silence just eating ice cream, looking at the water fountain but yet it was as if there was no silence between us. We enjoyed each other’s time. After we were done with the ice cream we took pictures together in front of the water fountain. With that, it was starting to get late. So we headed out to the train station which was about a two minute walk. And with that, the simple but yet so meaningful day we had was coming to an end.

At the moment I hadn’t really thought much about that day. It was just a day at the park after all. But that memory has stuck with me after all these years. We never know when life can take a drastic turn and make the simple moments that we would take for granted become a moment that we wish for. What we are living through right now will pass someday, and it will become yet another memory.

Appreciate the memory. Appreciate life.

The 20 types of workshops offered in 2019-2020 included classics like Barnacle’s Bookworms (a weekend reading club) and Journalism, plus new approaches to storytelling such as Writing for Plants and a hugely popular Fortnite workshop at the Hammer Museum.

After COVID-19 hit, Workshops relaunched in dual form. 826LA hosted Zoom-based workshops, pairing up local students with volunteers. This was the form in which Journalism students got to meet Los Angeles Times reporter Rosanna Xia as they researched environmental justice issues. Rossmery Zayas of Communities for a Better Environment spoke at the release party for the resulting digital newspaper, Viva Times. We also created webinars, which we shared on YouTube for, well, an infinite number of participants. These video workshops included Principal for a Day, Caption This!, and A Time Capsule from 2076. Intrigued? They’re still available on 826LA’s YouTube channel. Finally, our new Teen Reading Circle gave students a forum to discuss media and think critically about the role it plays in their lives.

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T O TA L H O UR S V O L UN T E E R E D: 606

V O L U N T EE R S : 108

S T U D EN T S S UP P O RT E D: 1, 419

WRITERS’ ROOMS

¿Cómo es que no entienden que para vivir se necesita amar?

At night I cry myself to sleep wishing the hate would stop Just seeing people always trying to be at the top B Y SOL E D A D G .

FROM “ M ESSAG E T O T H E WO R L D ” I N T I M E T O H E A L

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826LA’s Writers’ Rooms are classroom-sized versions of our writing centers on the campuses of Manual Arts High School in South LA and Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights. They are places where students and teachers can seek support with creative and expository writing; they are warm and bright and encourage individuality.

In 2019-2020, students at both schools focused on personal statement writing in the fall and mixed things up in the spring. Students at Manual Arts High School sowed the seeds of environmental justice with a zine that complemented the work of student group Chicas Verdes (see p 19).

Students at Roosevelt High School worked with 826LA to write and publish two books of essays and poems—La Vida es un Regalo Sagrado and Time to Heal—by 9th grade Ethnic Studies students.

After studying forms of oppression and their school’s prominent role in the Chicano Movement, students worked with volunteers to write about their own life experiences through the lens of justice. This year, students focused not just on trauma in their writing, but on healing from it.

The Writers’ Room at Roosevelt High School also hosted two visits from local writers. In January, students in Ms. Mendoza’s English Language Development class got to meet Richard Villegas, who advised them: “The ability to tell and write your own story will further your career,” he said. “There’s a lot of money out there for your stories. The sooner you learn to write or act or direct, the better. Latinx art is going to explode in the next few years. I’m excited for you. And for me, too.”

Roosevelt High School students got a virtual visit with several writers on Nickelodeon’s The Casagrandes series in the spring.

Cartoonist, TV writer, and recent Pulitzer Prize nominee Lalo Alcaraz said dryly: “Writing is a good job. That’s why they don’t want us to have ‘em. My mom always said ‘You should be the guy who draws snow around the windows of Jack In The Box at Christmastime.’ But growing up on the border and feeling angry and bitter all the time and having a sense of injustice made me a political cartoonist.”

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Ana Tenorio

W H EN A N D H O W D I D YO U F I RS T G ET I N VO LV E D WIT H 826LA? I helped spearhead the foundation of 826LA’s satellite site at Manual Arts High School in my community of South Los Angeles through the AmeriCorps VISTA program. We established a presence at the school, built rapport with the administration, staff and students, and garnered a lot of support from the community.

In celebration of 826LA’s 15th Anniversary in 2020, we interviewed people who’ve grown with us and helped us grow.

H O W H A S 8 2 6 L A I MPA CT ED YO U R L I F E? 826LA’s compassionate, nurturing, whimsical, and imaginative approach to writing and education molded a lot of my guiding principles/values as an educator. My students’ emotional wellbeing is my primary focus.

During her year of service with the AmeriCorps VISTA program, Ana Tenorio helped start what has grown into our Writers’ Room at Manual Arts High School. Today, Ana is a 9th grade English teacher who brings 826LA’s creative spirit into her classroom.

I F YO U CO U L D T RAV EL I N T I ME T O 2 0 0 5 , T HE Y E AR O F 8 2 6 L A’ S F O U N D I N G , W H AT ’ S O N E T H IN G (O R PERS O N !) YO U W O U L D BRI N G BA CK W I T H Y O U? The leopard-print velvet tote bag I made from fabric my mom and I bought in the garment district. Everyone at school wanted to buy a tote from me, but I didn’t have the entrepreneurial spirit.

WRITERS’ ROOMS

W H AT I S YO U R FAV O RI T E T H I N G T O W RI TE ? ( E S S AY S , EMA I L S , N O V EL S , G RO CERY L I S T S , D & D C AMPAIGN S , A N D L EG A L BRI EFS A RE A L L L EG I T A N S WE R S !)

I like to write personal essays that explore how different factors shape my identity (race, gender, and socioeconomic status are some of the major topics I explore in my writing).

W H AT W O U L D YO U L I K E T O S EE FO R 8 2 6LA S T U D EN T S 1 5 YEA RS F RO M N O W ?

I hope 826LA students continue to discover the power in their voices and share their stories/experiences. I hope they continue to build their self-confidence. I hope they read and write relentlessly and fervently. I hope they continue to feel the safety of home within 826LA’s walls.

W H AT W ERE YO U L I K E A S A 1 5 - YEA R- O L D? I wore oversized hoodies and wished to be inconspicuous at all times.

My heart raced when I was called on in class. While my students don’t believe this, it is true. This story is always a great opportunity to talk about maturation, evolution, and growth mindset.

I F YO U CO U L D TA K E J U S T O N E T I ME T RAV E L MART PRO D U CT T O A D ES ERT I S L A N D , W H AT WO ULD Y O U CH O O S E A N D W H Y? The Barbarian Repellent. My mom used it in her kitchen for years thinking it really repelled ants. I don’t know how the novelty product worked, but it did. She swore by it.

W H Y I S W RI T I N G I MPO RTA N T ?

Through our writing, we make sense of who we are and the world we live in. Through our writing, we communicate these ideas and build an understanding for one another. I think writing is the cornerstone of tolerance and empathy.

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“Gardens Began to Spring Up in My Mind”: T Sarmina on How Students are Making South LA Greener On May 21, 2020, students from Manual Arts High School gathered online to celebrate the release of As Long as Hope Grows, the product of a long collaboration between the 826LA Writers’ Room, the student environmental group Chicas Verdes, and Ms. Applebaum’s chemistry classes.

Over the course of several weeks, students wrote essays around the theme of environmental justice, with a focus on their local South LA community. The completion of the zine was especially laudable given that LAUSD schools closed two months before.

At the event, Ms. Applebaum described how the work of Chicas Verdes continued. The group partnered with the American Heart Association LA and Caulipower to safely distribute hundreds of produce boxes weekly. “The need is there and I’m happy to say that a lot of students in this [Zoom] room have been there passing out food to their community members,” Ms. Applebaum said.

Student Isaac A., who started a garden since Safer-at-Home orders began and helped with food distribution, read from his piece, “Cultivating L.A.”: “‘I have a dream,’ said Martin Luther King Jr., as he dreamt about equality. We have a dream for the future. A place where we don’t have to worry about water quality, green space, global warming, and food access. The students in Chicas Verdes are trying to make that vision come true.”

Although our Manual Arts Writers’ Room Manager T Sarmina has since left 826LA to begin graduate school, they answered a few questions about how it all came together.

H O W D I D T H I S PRO J ECT CO ME A BO U T ?

T Sarmina: In 2017-2018, chemistry teacher Bari Applebaum became the staff advisor of [a project initiated by student Jennifer Funes in 2015]. As a child, Bari had learned to plant, grow, and maintain a garden…. She guided Chicas Verdes to take on their next endeavor: #plantitforward. That year the gates to Manual Arts’ garden were reopened. Chicas Verdes and Applebaum’s classes began to revitalize the garden and greenhouse located on campus. Since then, students have organized farmer’s markets for the community and given away thousands of pounds of free produce to students and their families.

In May 2018, 826LA came into Ms. Applebaum’s classes to help create food justice zines. Two years later, fruit trees grow strong in front of the main building of Manual Arts and around the South Central community. Over thirty students are now part of Chicas Verdes. This truly shows us how quality education can move beyond the walls of a classroom; lessons can be found underneath our feet, in the places we call home. This zine shows us the undercurrent that moves young people towards justice and action.

W H AT D I D YO U L EA RN FRO M YO U R S T U D E N T S AN D T H EI R W RI T I N G D U RI N G T H I S PRO J ECT ?

TS: I was so excited to learn about the green spaces and gardens students already have at home. As we wrote together, I had students recall the details of their garden, identify the plants, and describe them. It created a beautiful landscape in my mind; I could see passion fruit vines curling in the fences of the neighborhood.

In class, one student shared about her grandmother’s garden in Compton; the garden is in a big lot and has been there since the late 1970s when her grandmother migrated to Los Angeles from Mexico.

It’s there that this student learned to plant and grow vegetables as a tiny child.

Gardens began to spring up in my mind map of South Central.

Some students shared that they exchanged vegetables, herbs, avocados, and citrus with their neighbors. Despite living in a food desert, students and families have created solutions for generations.

W H AT CH A L L EN G ES D I D YO U EN CO U N T ER ? FO LLO WU P T O O N E O F T H E O BV I O U S A N S W ERS : HO W DID YO U TA K E T H E PRO J ECT O N L I N E A F T ER S CHO O LS CL O S ED ?

TS: The writing process is always a challenge; I’m always grateful for the volunteers that are part of our book projects. Their enthusiasm and presence always instills more energy in the classroom.

In an effort to get students excited about the eventual release of their book, even while school is closed, Ms. Applebaum and I held a virtual book reveal featuring eight narratives that encapsulate the themes of the book.

Over the course of a few weeks, I joined their bi-weekly office hours and held a sort of editorial board session with the students that were present. Sometimes there were as many as nine students, sometimes only two. We talked about the publication process and students voted on the title: As Long as Hope Grows inspired by Isaac’s narrative. There were four titles students could choose from. Two had the word “hope” in them and those were the top choices among students. It made me realize the magnitude of hope at a time like this.

Our students and these stories help us recover our sense of hope.

T O TA L H O U RS V OL UN T E E R E D: 246

V O L U N T EERS : 5 1

IN-SCHOOLS

S T U D EN T S S U PPO RT E D: 1, 053

I Am B Y SA M J .

FROM T I M E T O H E A L , R O O S E VE LT H I G H S C H O O L ETH N I C S T U D I E S BO O K I am Los Angeles, music and all creativity from the Sixth Street bridge to the Silver Moon Market on Fourth and Matthews I am the graffiti on the walls and the skateboards carving up the pavement with each turn and flip-trick they perform From the corridos my dad used to play, to the Elton John albums that would gather dust on the shelf I am the smell of salt in the ocean and the savory taste of pan dulce from the bakery From Boyle Heights to the Pacific Coast Highway I am the Metro that travels from Soto to Chinatown from X-Lanes to the Little Tokyo plaza.

I am LEGOÂŽ Thanos and I need to balance the universe.

Fun isn’t something one considers when balancing the universe, but this does put a smile on my face

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As part of our mission to support educators as well as students, 826LA sends trained volunteers to high schools around Los Angeles to support teacher-driven writing projects and lead our own curriculum.

Jaylyn H.

H O W H A S 8 2 6 L A I MPA CT ED YO U R L I FE? 826LA has changed my life tremendously. It all started when I met my favorite mentor, LaTesha. Since meeting LaTesha, she has not only taught me how to improve my writing skills, but she has also been that extra support in my life. From time to time, she asks me, “Jaylyn, are you good? Do you need anything?” I know that if I ever needed anything, that she would take care of me. Through the amazing program at 826LA, I know that I have formed a lifelong relationship with LaTesha, and I am forever grateful for it. If I had never met LaTesha, not only would I have not gotten that extra motivation that I needed to stay on the right track during my senior year of high school, but I would not be where I am today.

In celebration of 826LA’s 15th Anniversary in 2020, we interviewed people who’ve grown with us and helped us grow. Jaylyn H. is a Venice High School alumnus who looked to 826LA for college access support. He is now a student at Southern University and A&M College, a HBCU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He talked with 826LA about mentorship and the importance of writing a strong email.

W HE N AN D HOW DID Y OU F I R ST G E T I NVOLVE D W I T H 8 2 6 L A? (I HEAR YOU G OT Y OU R SI B L I NG S I NVO LV ED , TOO!) I first heard about 826LA back in 2017 when the program was introduced to me through my high school, Venice High School. At the time, my classmates and I were creating a class novel through the writing program. I thought it was cool to have my work published with my name on it. It made me feel accomplished. Later in my senior year of high school, I was also able to utilize 826LA to get guidance with completing my college applications through the help of LaTesha [826LA’s In-Schools Program Manager]. She was able to help me with editing my college essays, completing college applications, and even attended some of my scholarship award ceremonies.

W H O W O U L D W I N I N A BAT T L E O F W I T S : A CAV EPERS O N O R A RO BO T I C CAV EPERS ON ?

I believe that a caveperson would win a battle of wits. A caveperson is a human being that can outsmart a robot or an “AI.” W H Y I S W RI T I N G I MPO RTA N T ?

Typically I do NOT enjoy writing. However, if I had to choose my favorite form of writing, I would choose emails. Writing emails is a skill I picked up at a young age, and I am grateful for knowing how to do so, for I learned it would be very useful later on in life. Whenever I am writing an email, it makes me feel professional. I was taught that the way you format and present yourself in the body of an email says a lot about you as a person. Therefore, I do my best to make as few errors as possible. All in all, I enjoy writing emails to friends, family, when applying for a scholarship, or whatever the case may be. It makes me feel warm on the inside to know that I took my time to write a message to someone that I feel most proud of.

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T O TA L H O UR S V O L UN T E E R E D: 906

V O L U N T E E R S : 154

S T U D EN T S S UP P O RT E D: 320

COLLEGE ACCESS

“Helping young people do more, be more, become what they want to be, I think that’s why I keep coming back.”

STE P H W H I TE FOUR- Y EAR P ER S O N A L S TAT E M E N T WE E KE N D VO L U N T E E R

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Kenia O. As a 9th grader, Manual Arts High School student Kenia O. was published in 826LA’s 2017 chapbook, Rhythm Runs Through Our Veins.

Three years later, she attended our 10th Annual Great Los Angeles Personal Statement Weekend as a senior, ready to work toward her dreams.

“I came to an event where I’m getting one-to-one conversations with volunteers who actually care for my future,” she said.

After five hours of working with her tutor, she emerged with a completed essay and drafts of several more. A few months later, she was accepted into UCLA, her first-choice school.

In fall of 2019, 826LA celebrated the 10th Annual Great Los Angeles Personal Statement Weekend by pairing more than 250 students with volunteers who were specially trained to help them brainstorm, write, and revise their college application essays.

Personal essays are the one part of the application where students get to show who they are beyond grades and test scores. They’re a crucial component for the students we serve, many of whom juggle school with jobs and family responsibilities. It’s no wonder that Michelle Obama’s Reach Higher campaign chose to partner with the 826 Network by including personal statement support as part of a nationwide college-access initiative.

The bookend to Personal Statement Weekend is Scholarship Day, at which volunteers help students adapt their essays to apply for handselected scholarship opportunities. March 2020 had other plans, but while we had to cancel our in-person event, 826LA students, staff, and volunteers weren’t easily deterred.

Relaunching as our first of many all-virtual programs, the Scholarship Project, as it came to be known, provided additional project-specific training for volunteers and matched 67 students with tutors who could help them write their way to a college education.

“The remote attention from an 826LA tutor helped me with writing my scholarship essay because if it wasn’t for them, I don’t think I would’ve even applied to the scholarship,” said student Yozabeth N. “With everything going on, I don’t have much time, but they helped me tremendously.”

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jan 11 ,1985

Fresh ‘n Delicious donuts in the Echo Park Time Travel Mart expire

1970S

Zero The Time Travel Mart is declared a time-free zone

2008 Big Bang The Time Travel Mart (a convenience store for time travelers with a subversive mission to financially support writing programs for under-resourced youth in Los Angeles) has been around since the beginning of time, just not continuously. It pops up in different eras depending which dimension/which side of Los Angeles you live on.

1880S

The Mar Vista Time Travel Mart is set in this decade

The Echo Park Time Travel Mart is set in this era

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Growing 826LA Through Time & Space

Writer Dave Eggers and educator Ninve Calegari start 826 Valencia and the Pirate Supply Store in San Francisco

826NYC opens in Brooklyn.

A network is born.

826LA opens in Venice’s SPARC building with Pilar Perez as its first Executive Director

Current 826LA Board President Jodie Evans encourages Dave Eggers to start a Los Angeles chapter. Early partners include literary agent Sally Willcox, screenwriter Melissa Mathison, muralist Judith Baca, and Green Dot Schools founder Steve Barr

Dead Authors reading series begins with Patton Oswalt as our inaugural guest

First 826LA Young Authors’ Book Project (YABP) at Ánimo Inglewood Charter High School, edited and with a foreword by Phil Jackson

J UN E 29, 2 0 0 5

ELL Camp launches! Our first summer program invites English Language Learners to make comic books, write plays, and become restaurant critics.

2006

Responding to a clear public need for Mammoth Chunks and Robot Milk, new Executive Director Mac Barnett plants seeds for the Echo Park Time Travel Mart

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa guest edits the YABP at his alma mater, Roosevelt High School.

The school will become one of 826LA’s closest partners.

Judd Apatow hosts Night of Best Intentions honoring Seth Rogen for “the work he may someday do” to fundraise for 826LA’s Echo Park location

Students work with the band The Submarines to write the album Chickens in Love

City of LA recognizes 826LA for five years of service and dedication

First appearance at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books Students from Garfield High School work with 826LA and Father Greg Boyle to publish Sheep Can’t Fly 826LA students contribute to Thanks and Have Fun Running the Country: Kids’ Letters to President Obama, published by 826 National

2010

First Great Los Angeles Personal Statement Weekend

2007 Salvador Palscencia writes foreword for You Never Forget How to Ride a Bike by students at John Marshall High School

Joel Arquillos becomes Executive Director

2005

Dave Eggers accepts TED Prize and delivers a TED Talk about the power of pairing volunteers and students

2004

Students from John Marshall High School write about what life in LA is really like in this year’s YABP, The Elotes Man Will Soon Be Gone Youth Advisory Board launched

2009

826LA and the Time Travel Mart open in Echo Park

2002

2011

2012

2013

TNT Tutoring launched for middle and high school students

826LA moves from Venice to Mar Vista and opens a second Time Travel Mart

First Scholarship Day helps students write essays to earn money for college

Spike Jonze and Miranda July compete in Everything You Know Is Pong

Students from Miguel Contreras Learning Complex write A Ring of Sunshine Around the Moon

Satellite program begins at Manual Arts High School

First AmeriCorps Summer Associates help run summer programming

Students write a book about Dr. Ellen Ochoa, the first Latina in space

LA writers contribute to a literary map of Los Angeles

Hundreds of supporters participate in Half Half Half Half Half Marathon

Sylvia Mendez, whose anti-school-segregation lawsuit set the precedent for Brown v. Board of Education, writes the foreword for We Are Alive When We Speak for Justice

Bilingual books and Latinx-inspired products come to the Time Travel Mart

Roosevelt High School Ethnic Studies book, This is My Revolution, published (skip to 2029 to see how students reimagined the future!)

2016 Locke High School students write When the Moon is Up, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Rodney King uprising. Hector Tobar writes the foreword.

Jimmy Kimmel hosts the first annual TELL ME A STORY event with Letters Live

2014

Los Angeles Dodgers present Joel Arquillos with a Community Hero Award

Writers’ Room opens at Manual Arts High School. Students write Beyond the Gates and Fences, featuring a foreword by Mayor Eric Garcetti.

2015

826LA commits to serving students from Title I schools

Manual Arts Writers’ Room student Favio Lovos is a Los Angeles Poet Laureate finalist Remodel of Mar Vista Time Travel Mart

Poem Booth in Time Travel Mart allows visitors to dial in and hear student voices

We collaborate with Roosevelt High School on Boyle Heights and Me

Dolores Huerta writes the foreword to Each Little Leaf by students at Ánimo Venice Charter High School

2017

Giving Voices to the Voiceless helps legalization of street vendors in LA

Good Times newspaper by Echo Park Journalism students

Chivas soccer players speak with 826LA students during Sports Week

Barnacle’s Bookworms reading workshop launches

2018

First STEM Field Trips

YABP Through the Same Halls features Manual Arts students’ interviews with community elders, and a foreword by Donald Bakeer

Mokuyobi partners with the Time Travel Mart to design pouches, fanny packs, and patches

2035

2036

As long as there are stories to be told and students who are hungry to write them, our mission will continue. By our 30th anniversary in 2035, our theory of change has been widely proven: 826LA mobilizes volunteers, educators, and community members to deliver writing support, pathways to leadership, and platforms for amplifying student voices.

“I will transform the world by becoming an electrical engineer and I will invent new sources of power that are clean and cheap.”

L U I S B. T H I S I S MY REV O L UT IO N

2040 “There would be no need to build more prisons. Gang violence would decrease because there would be less people in gangs.

We could send more kids to college”

2030 “Kids of color are proud and not ashamed of their skin. Women can stand up and become leaders without being judged.”

2019

S ERG I O A .

T H I S I S MY REV O L UT IO N

M I C H EL L E J .

W E ARE W H AT T H EY E NVI S I O N ED

2045

Second Writers’ Room opens at Roosevelt High School

“I will change my community by fighting back. I will learn more about oppression to help stop it.”

Time Scouts Handbook includes tie-ins to programming

BRI A N V.

2029

T H I S I S MY REV O LUT IO N

“Our communities will be safer, they’ll be cleaner, and you’ll see more children running around and playing at the parks.”

Sounds of Freedom: Beats on Concrete features a foreword by John Legend

2057

R E I MA G I N AT I O N O F T H E F U TURE F RO M 8 2 6 L A

Former 826LA student invents teleportation, Los Angeles traffic problems solved. Flying cars become obsolete two years before they reach the market.

STU D EN T BRA N D O N M. , TH I S I S MY REV O L U T I O N

826LA relaunches programs in digital form to keep supporting students through the COVID-19 pandemic

Our 15th anniversary!

We’re now allowed to time hop with a licensed time traveler in the vehicle.

2020

Tenth Great Los Angeles Personal Statement Weekend supports 250 students

45004 Wormholes become portable.

Echo Park and Mar Vista conflate.

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The Sun Was Trying to Tell Me Something: 15 Years of Writing by 826LA Students During difficult times, we crave light.

The anthology features excerpts from our annual flagship publication, the Young Authors’ Book Project, and our partnership publication with the Roosevelt High School Ethnic Studies program. It also includes introductory essays by Donald Bakeer, Dolores Huerta, Phil Jackson, Antonio Villaraigosa, Alice Waters, and more.

What is the sun trying to tell us? We think it’s encouraging us to listen. Here are just a few highlights that reflect the depth and breadth of students’ experiences. We admire the vivid words they use to describe the world around them, and the world they are building.

Enter The Sun Was Trying to Tell Me Something, a compendium of student writing from 15 years of 826LA’s work in high schools. Our newest book served as a timely reminder that young people from under-resourced communities also come from traditions of resilience and creativity.

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Booking an Adventure

The Great Taste of Ceviche

B Y W ILLI AM A.

BY O L G A D .

Lennox Library, I read on the metallic plaque outside the building.

The little garden up front gave me a great sense of comfort. Once I entered, I was overcome with warmth, and I never wanted to leave the library’s cozy embrace. It was like waking up on a cold, rainy day and not wanting to leave the cocoon of your bed, made warm by a full night’s rest. The people inside transmitted their contagious desire to grab a book and devour every single page of it. They were all sitting on couches, focused on their selections. It was as if everyone was on the same page, like members of an orchestra playing one of Chopin’s best symphonies, everyone flipping their sheet music to the next part of the song. A silent orchestra.

It had been two years since my last major journey, when I’d taken an airplane all across Mexico to move to the United States. The language barrier greatly impacted my efforts in school, but I took the challenge head-on. At this American high school, I discovered the power of books. Before that, my older brother, Oscar, was the only person from my family to have a strong connection with books.

He had visited these fascinating dimensions decades before I had.

He used books to venture into some distant land, becoming one of Harry’s closest friends at Hogwarts.

I recently traveled back to Mexico to visit my family for the holidays. Oscar is married now. Over our first dinner together, I told him about the books I’d encountered, and how I at one point felt disappointed that he hadn’t shared their magic with me but now understood that I had to make the discovery for myself. A smirk crawled across his face, as if to say I was finally ready, ready to join an ancient secret club to which he had long belonged, and finally he would welcome his younger brother in as well. Of course, there was no actual club initiation. But we continued to discuss some of the books that we read, and it felt amazing. I pictured myself as one of those small leaves on the tree in front of Lennox Library, holding on tight to that moment and never wanting to let go.

My brothers won their soccer game 8–0, so we had a great reason to celebrate! We knew what we had to do, so we got into the truck and went back home. We started looking around the kitchen and making a list of what we needed to make the ceviche. If we missed an ingredient, we knew it wouldn’t taste good. We needed to get tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, cilantro, avocado, lemons, and camarones (shrimp). When my dad came home, he asked what he could do to help, so I gave him the list. We knew that we had picked the right person to get the ingredients because Tecomán, Colima, Mexico, where my dad is from, is all about the seafood. Since he was a kid, he helped my grandma make it. This is a family tradition from my dad’s family. His mom made it with her mom, my dad made it with his mom, and now our family is making it with my dad.

[We went to] a little store that my friend owns with her family called Lupita’s Market. This place has everything in order; there is a small place for fruit, milk, meat, and everything you might need. The store smells okay, but when you get close to the meat, it smells like a weird mixed smell that you can’t even describe because of all the different kinds of meat that are there. My sister and I hate the smell of meat that hasn’t been cooked. It’s still a fresh cut, but when it’s cooked, it smells different: it smells good. The store was loud. You could hear people talking to friends and Mexican music playing. While I was watching everything, I tasted the fresh mint of my gum and saw my dad go around the store. I laughed at him for getting things we never even needed; he’s a crazy shopper.

We took the bags inside so that we could get started on the ceviche.My mom got the vegetables so she could cut them. I got the camarones to peel so that my sister could cut them into small pieces.

My brothers did the lemons [and] we put the camarones in the lemon juice so they could cook fresh and cold. It takes around fifteen to twenty minutes to cook. After that, we put the vegetables together with them. We put them in the freezer so that they could cool faster and we could eat them sooner. It tastes like the first food you have ever tasted. They taste like something out of this world and make your mouth water. That’s what mine had been doing since six in the morning, and it was now around four in the afternoon. It’s great to do this for three reasons: we worked as a family to make it, we all helped each other, and we were all going to eat it together.

30

Afraid of What We Don’t Know B Y A NTHONY L. Mendez v. Westminster is something I should be really grateful for, and I am. The case made a huge impact on making school segregation illegal. This case changed how schools work, and thanks to this, I am able to choose the school I want to go to. But I wouldn’t say it completely got rid of segregation. If you actually look close enough and think about it, you’ll see what I mean. There is not much diversity in schools. Even neighborhoods are segregated.

Remember this: “Separate is never equal.” Los Angeles is such a big city full of diversity. Different people everywhere, but sadly we are all segregated. Some neighborhoods will be better than the others and some schools will be better than the others. Little Tokyo is a Japanese community, Koreatown is a Korean community. The neighborhood I live in, Boyle Heights, is mainly a Latino community.

It’s a Spanish-speaking community, and the only time you use English is when you go to school. There are a whole lot of Mexican businesses everywhere: Mexican restaurants, bakeries, markets, and craft stores that sell special Mexican tools to make food. There are even public events that celebrate Mexican heritage, for example when they celebrate Cinco de Mayo in Mariachi Plaza. I have also been to a white neighborhood, Sherman Oaks. It was nice. It was clean, and there wasn’t graffiti on every corner.

The neighborhood I’m growing up in is pretty messed up.

There’s tagging everywhere, and gangsters act as if they own the streets. Our schools are decent: AC in the classrooms, somewhat clean, twenty-first century technology like computers or projectors, stuff like that, but they have their flaws too. Restrooms are mostly never usable because they are dirty, there is never toilet paper, and no hand soap to wash your hands. Some classes are filled with too many students, so there are not enough books or desks for everyone.

Even at school lunch they talk about being healthy, yet they give away some nasty food. There is some really dry meat with hard breadsticks that could probably break your head open.

I have been to a school in a mostly white neighborhood, and it was huge. They had better meals like fried chicken with mashed potatoes, and their restrooms were actually usable. Their restrooms were always open, and there was always hand soap and toilet paper.

There were even teachers driving around in golf carts.

I think ninety-five percent of students in my school have parents from Latin America. It’s as if we’re put into our own group. Brown people live on one side of the city, black people on the other side, and white people on the other.

Our economy is what creates inequalities. This is what separates us the most. Look at the Dreamers. They are young kids who want to strive to get a higher education, but they can’t because they’re undocumented. You’re not able to obtain jobs if you don’t have a work permit. This can lead to dropouts. What’s the point of going to school if you can’t legally get a job when you graduate? People have to get creative on how they make their money. Some sell food in the streets like hot dogs and tacos. Some sell flowers or oranges at the freeway entrance or exit.

My parents have been here since the 1990s. When they first arrived, my mom was expecting a baby, my older brother. My dad only had the knowledge of a high school student and didn’t know any English. He was basically forced to get a job in construction because he had to make money some way to be able to raise my brother since they had no one to depend on. It wasn’t easy for him to find a job.

This definitely held my parents back and made them get stuck with minimum wage jobs. English is the key to obtaining jobs in the United States. Where and when are they going to learn it if they are always working?

They don’t make much, so I understand why they encourage me to do my best in school, so I won’t have the same experiences they had growing up in Boyle Heights made me feel safe and comfortable because we were all Latinos and shared common things, like language and heritage. If I had kids I would want them to grow up with different people so they could meet people who are different, and therefore they would get out of their comfort zone. It’s good to meet new people and learn new things such as cultures and languages.

Every neighborhood in Los Angeles is like stepping into a new country. They are all unique with their own cultures and different languages. Boyle Heights is like a miniature version of Mexico. Little Tokyo is like a whole different place. Across the LA River from Boyle Heights there are buildings like those you see in Japanese movies with pointy roofs and colorful walls. They have temples instead of churches. They speak Japanese, and their restaurants are different from where I come from. Why go to Japan when I could just go across the bridge? This is what I like about Los Angeles—that every neighborhood is unique.

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“I want to see what these students and young writers are up to 15 years from now. How does their persistence and creativity and playfulness translate to their lives as adults? Who is going to be an artist or a scientist? Who is going to be a skateboarder or a great dad or mom? If every student I work with feels confident to help their own children or nieces and nephews or college roommate with homework, I’d count it as a huge success.”

KATH RY N P I NTO

0

21,768

20,039

2013

22,035

2012

16,665

19,842

5,000

3 ,3 54

10,000

8,798

7 ,807

15,000

14,353

12,560

20,000

19,544

25,000

21,085

23,249

N I N E- Y EAR TUTO R I N G VO L U N T E E R I N E C H O PA R K

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2014

2015

HO UR S V OL UN TE E R E D (2007– 2019)

V OLUNTEERS: 91 1 V OLUNTEERI N G 1 0 1 OR I E NTATI ONS: 1 8 S UPPLEMEN TAL VOL U NTE E R TR A I NI NG S: 1 1 V OLUNTEERS OF C OL OR : 4 0 7 V OLUNTEERS OVE R 5 0 Y E A R S OL D: 1 0 5

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2016

2017

2018

2019

Volunteering 826LA volunteers represent a wide range of ages, ethnicities, and walks of life, from screenwriters and cartoonists to engineers and retired teachers. What they have in common, besides a steadfast belief in our students, is a willingness to step up. When COVID-19 struck, staff made dozens of calls to volunteers just to check in on how they were; the response we heard most frequently was “How can I help?�

And how they helped: by jumping into Google Docs and helping students with their scholarship essays; by tutoring over Zoom; and by making their own workshop videos so students could get the full 826LA experience at home.

The protests of May and June and the ongoing Movement for Black Lives also made it clear that 826LA has more work to do in creating anti-racist spaces, which means providing stronger antiracist training to volunteers, and doing more to support our BIPOC volunteers. We created new guidelines to reflect these values, as well as the demands and safety considerations of digital volunteering, and paused Volunteering 101 orientations so we can more carefully consider our recruitment and stewardship of volunteers.

To express our gratitude for all that our volunteers do, we created a Wellness Kit full of self-care tips and inspirational student writing.

Sheila Fallah

W H AT WA S YO U R FAV O RI T E BO O K W H EN Y O U WE R E A CH I L D ?

When I was younger, I really loved the Frog and Toad books. As I got a little older: Julia Baggott’s The Anybodies and Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series, to name a couple.

Sheila Fallah is an 826LA volunteer who first encountered our organization as a student.

We love when stories come full circle!

She answered some of our most pressing questions about writing, volunteering, and the space-time continuum.

W H AT W O U L D YO U L I K E T O S EE F O R 8 2 6LA S T U D EN T S 1 5 YEA RS F RO M N O W ?

I really hope everyone will end up on a path that is both fulfilling and sustainable for their survival and happiness. And I hope everyone has the time and space to be creative in some way, and to give good love to the people in their lives.

HO W D I D YOU FI RST E NC OU NTE R 8 2 6 L A ?

I first started going to 826LA as a kid, actually! This was when 826LA was located in the SPARC building in Venice. My dad would take me to a bunch of their writing workshops, which were so, so fun. One of my favorites was a comic workshop led by illustrator Kazu Kibuishi.

At the end of the workshop, he gave us all copies of this really cool comic anthology called Flight. It’s one of my most prized books that I own to this day. I even took it with me to college!

W H AT W ERE YO U L I K E A S A 1 5 - YEA R- O L D ?

I was really pensive. I thought a lot about the future and who I wanted to be. I also watched a lot of movies. The Truman Show and Harold and Maude were a couple of my favorites. (It wasn’t until a few years later that I realized... the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope ... it is inescapable. Even when our romantic interest is a wacky old woman, she’s still gotta exist to teach some dude about beauty and love. And then she dies! The soundtrack was great though. I still stand by it.)

WHAT I NSPI RED YOU TO R E TU R N TO 8 2 6 L A A S A V O L U NTEER? I guess I just remember 826LA being a really great program. When I was in high school, I saw a flyer about 826LA’s personal statement workshops, which put 826LA back on my radar. Going to the workshops invited a bunch of old memories, and the feedback I got from my volunteer was super helpful and encouraging, which made me appreciate the space all over again. I didn’t have the time or space to volunteer until I moved back home four and a half years later! It’s been great to re-enter the 826LA community and see how it’s grown, and also how it’s stayed the same.

W H AT 8 2 6 L A PRO G RA M O R A CT I V I T Y W OULD Y O U L I K E T O G ET I N V O LV ED W I T H , BU T H AV EN ’T GO T T E N T H E CH A N CE YET ?

I would love to get involved with the creative writing sessions that happen during after-school and evening tutoring! I love writing stories and I love reading ‘em so it sounds like it would be a good time!

I F YO U CO U L D TA K E J U S T O N E T I ME T RAV E L MART PRO D U CT T O A D ES ERT I S L A N D , W H AT W O ULD Y O U CH O O S E A N D W H Y? I would definitely take some wind-up robot pets to help me establish a cool robo-functional home. Something like Caractacus Pott’s house in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang but cooler.

IN 2 0 20, 826LA WI LL C E L E B R ATE OU R 1 5 TH A NNIVERSARY, WHI C H ( A C C OR D I NG TO THE INT E RN ET) I S OUR C RY STA L A NNI VE R SA RY. I F Y O U HA D A CRYSTAL BALL , W H AT W OU L D Y OU A SK I T ?

I definitely wouldn’t ask to see into the future. Do not wanna mess with any of that self-fulfilling prophecy stuff. I think I’d use it to noncreepily peep in on my loved ones who live far away from me.

W H AT S T REN G T H S D O YO U S EE I N 8 2 6 L A S T UDE N T S ?

Everyone I’ve worked with so far has been so bright and had their own way of understanding/doing something! It’s great to see so much individuality, and I hope that everyone will be given to space to function within that individuality like they can at 826LA!

IF Y O U COULD TRAV E L I N TI M E TO 2 0 0 5 , THE Y EA R O F 8 2 6LA’ S FOUNDING , W H AT’ S ONE THI NG ( O R P E R S ON !) YOU WOU L D B R I NG B A C K W I TH Y OU ?

If I knew for sure I wasn’t gonna create a paradox in the space-time continuum (and we’re about to get personal here), I’d probably bring back my mom. I’d also definitely try to say hi to my kid self; give her a hug, tell her she’s beautiful and recommend some cool books/movies/ historical events/people for her to be inspired by.

W H AT S T REN G T H S D O YO U BRI N G T O 8 26LA? Patience. And the approach that there’s always more than one way to do something.

W H O W O U L D W I N I N A BAT T L E O F W I T S : A CAV EPERS O N O R A RO BO T I C CAV EPERS ON ?

No shade on humankind but I’d say robotic caveperson. I guess it depends on the complexity of the robot caveperson’s AI...or whether they have any at all. Were they built by cavemen? Or sent from the future? Wow, this has got me thinking about a lot of stuff. Like what caveman-era steampunk would look like….

W HAT I S YOUR FAVO R I TE TH I NG TO W R I TE ?

I really like to write vignettes, story ideas, journal entries, and long text messages.

W H Y I S W RI T I N G I MPO RTA N T ?

Writing is important because (1) it helps you get outta your head and (2) it’s proof that you exist!!! What would we do without it? I guess we could just tell stories all the time. That would also be cool!

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Events Remember events?

They were one of our specialties.

In 2019, 826LA was gifted with a space at Second Home, a innovative new coworking space in Hollywood, and it quickly proved to be a fruitful partnership, as we co-hosted talks between Judd Apatow and Supreme Court Attorney Neal Katyal, and author-artists Miranda July and Michelle Tea. Second Home was home to Thanks for Giving, our volunteer appreciation event, a night of epic trivia and tamales. We also collaborated with Book Soup to host a reading and talk by Zadie Smith about her new story collection, Grand Union.

Just when we were planning our biggest fundraising event of the year, a star-studded garden party in celebration of our 15th Anniversary, big events became synonymous with contagion. They also became illegal. We’d already titled our party Changing the Story—in honor of the outcome we aspire to for Los Angeles students—but we had no idea how much the story would change.

Reminding ourselves that the most important part of writing is rewriting, we put together a virtual celebration of student voices and invited all our supporters, students, families, and volunteers to watch. Celebrities and longtime supporters lent their talents from home: Judd Apatow, Emily V. Gordon, Tom Hanks, Mindy Kaling, Keegan-Michael Key, Kumail Nanjiani, and Constance Wu. And we raised more than $500,000 to ensure that 826LA can continue to support students, no matter how the story changes.

36

Time Travel Mart

You might think that, as time travelers, we would have seen COVID coming. Well, time is a big place, and sometimes you’re too busy trying to stop Pol Pot to see what’s happening in your own temporal backyard.

The paint was literally not dry on our sparkly new floor in the Echo Park Time Travel Mart, which underwent a mini remodel in 2019, when we had to lock our doors. Thanks to a nifty 1990s invention called the Internet, the Marts marched on. We issued handy TimeStop Kits to make quarantine more interesting. We kept in touch with our intrepid Time Scouts with the launch of the Time Scouts Book Club, an online book club devoted entirely to stories about time travel.

We also continued to explore small ways to make the Time Travel Mart more accessible to the communities we inhabit. That means diversifying our bookshelves, collaborating with more BIPOC artists, and introducing new product lines (stay tuned!). To be frank, much of the past is pretty horrific, and the present is no picnic either. We haven’t stopped Pol Pot yet, but we are doing our best—with support from our communities and our ever-brilliant students—to ensure a bright future.

Mac Barnett W H AT D O ES T H E 8 2 6 L A T I ME T RAV EL MART HAV E IN CO MMO N W I T H A BO O K ?

“We conceived of the store as a book in real space,” says Mac Barnett, one of the store’s originators and the second Executive Director of 826LA. “A book you could fully inhabit.”

Peruse the ancient donuts and the refrigerator full of dinosaur eggs in the 1970s-themed Echo Park Time Travel Mart. Gaze up at the miniature staircase and hot air balloon in the 1880s-themed Mar Vista Time Travel Mart. In both locations, it’s clear you’ve entered another world.

Barnett came to 826LA on the heels of an internship at McSweeney’s, the publishing house started by Dave Eggers before he co-founded the 826 Network.

“I got to 826LA a month or two after it opened, so I did anything they needed me to: grant writing, I came up with programming, I got pulled into volunteering. Anything,” Barnett recalls. At the time, 826LA occupied the second floor of Venice’s SPARC building (fun fact: It was once a jail) and was the only 826 chapter without a whimsical storefront. When Barnett became Executive Director, he decided it was time to expand.

“I thought the stores were crucial to how we engage with the community and how students feel when they come into the place,” he says. “And I thought we should be in Echo Park.”

A N D W H Y T I ME T RAV EL ?

“It seemed to make sense for LA. There are a lot of convenience stores, 7-Elevens, and gas station stores. LA is a city about moving around. So we conceived of a store for people traveling through time rather than space.”

The “we” in question included comedy writer Jon Korn and designer Stefan Bucher (“He agreed to design products on the condition that he could design all the products,” Barnett recalls).

Architect R. Scott Mitchell helped build out the new Echo Park center.

“He and I lived in that Echo Park space for six months. We spent four to five nights a week there,” Barnett says. “I was 24 years old with no retail or business experience. I was figuring out how to open a fully functional center—everything from building permits to sourcing writing tables for the back. But it was great.”

Despite his limited free time, Barnett found a way to work on his own books. Connecting with students on a daily basis inspired him: “to see what they think is exciting and funny, what they’re mad about.”

Barnett went on to become a full-time children’s book writer, known for The Terrible Two, the Jack books, and Mac B., Kid Spy series, and collaborations with illustrator Jon Klassen.

“The business of children’s books can be strangely divorced from actual kids,” he says. That’s part of why he sees his years with 826LA as formative. “Talking to kids is always so clarifying because the questions they have are often questions that we as adults haven’t answered.”

Writing is an act, he says, that allows both kids and adults to “figure out what you care about and how to express it in a way that makes other people care, too. Communication is fundamental to being a social creature.”

38

Treasurer’s Report

$2,234,171

$2,020,588

T OTA L R E VE NU E

T O TA L EX PEN S ES

CO RPORATE AN D I ND I VI DU A L D ONATI ONS: 4 5 %

PRO G RA MMI N G 7 0 %

FO UN DATI ON AN D C OR P OR ATE G R A NTS: 4 0 %

D EV EL O PMEN T 1 8 %

E V EN TS AN D CONTR A C TS: 6 %

A D MI N 1 2 %

S T ORE SALES: 5%

Please note that these numbers are preliminary and may change slightly once our annual audit is completed.

GO VERN MENT: 4%

39

What’s Next?

The question mark is key. Not just because our students’ needs and resources continue to change, but because we want to pose this question to all our stakeholders in a genuine way. Our goal is to inhabit a space that is neither reactive nor rigid, but responsive.

W H AT D O ES T H I S MEA N I N PRA CT I CA L T E R MS ?

In adapting our current strategic plan for its third, final, and most unusual year, we’ve identified the following objectives: • T U T O RI N G : 826LA will provide six sessions of virtual oneon-one homework help per week, to help at least 60 students navigate all subject areas and types of homework. All sessions will be supported by newly re-trained volunteers.

• W O RK S H O PS : We will continue to offer live, registration-only workshops for our core-demographic students, plus YouTubebased webinars that will be usable by all students and educators.

COVID-19 gave us an opportunity to reaffirm our values and priorities.

No matter the circumstances, 826LA:

• FI EL D T RI PS : 826LA will launch our first virtual field trips, including Storytelling & Bookmaking, Well-Wishing & Poetry Writing, and Choose Your Own Adventure. This will allow us to reach schools, including those with a high population of Black students, that have found the program prohibitive due to the distance of our centers and the cost of chartering school buses.

• remains committed to providing relevant writing support and academic services to those who need it most: students and families in under-resourced communities in Los Angeles. This means understanding the new needs of families and students, and shifting our work accordingly.

• continues to find creative ways to keep students excited about writing and engaged in the learning process while being mindful of what students, families, and educators need, along with their capacities and their access to resources.

• recognizes volunteers as an invaluable part of our community and who provide vital resources. We are committed to providing the guidance, training, and resources they need to remain engaged and to continue supporting students.

• values our financial supporters (individual, corporate, institutional, and store customers) as impactful advocates for education and creativity. We will share organizational developments and student stories as they unfold, while continuing to build an individual and corporate donor pipeline to support future growth.

• is dedicated to ensuring that everyone on staff is healthy and happy and has the support they need to feel successful in their work as 826LA continues to pivot as an organization during this crisis.

• W RI T ERS ’ RO O MS , I N - S CH O O L S , A N D CO LLE GE A CCES S : We will support 350 students in writing personal statements for college through Writers’ Rooms, partnerships, and a multi-session, virtual version of Personal Statement Weekend.

• FU N D RA I S I N G : We will continue to raise funds to support the sustainability and growth of our programs, while adopting practices of community-centric fundraising—a practice that is grounded in racial and economic justice; is supportive of other community-based nonprofits; which values contributions beyond financial support; and which helps educate donors about the systemic issues that we’re inviting them to help solve.

• T I ME T RAV EL MA RT S : 826LA will reopen stores when it’s safe, and continue to foster community beyond the brick and mortar outposts. We will assess existing products and develop new ones in collaboration with community BIPOC artists.

• 8 2 6 L A . O RG A N D PU BL I CAT I O N S : We will build out our Virtual Hub to feature more student writing and resources to support students, volunteers, and educators. The site will double as a digital literary journal, allowing students’ words to reach beyond our centers, and select publications will still find their way to bookshelves. We’ll also be redesigning our site with utility, accessibility, and the centrality of student voices in mind.

Education—our own, and that of our students, volunteers, and donors—is a humbling venture, but it’s always an exciting one. There’s no one we’d rather grow up with than our incredible community.

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Dear Future Self B Y J A NE TH C . , FROM TI M E TO HE A L , R O O S E VE LT H I G H S C H O O L ETH N I C STUD I ES BO O K Dear Future Self, Tell me that all the hard work, sleepless nights, and early mornings paid off. Tell me that all the suffering that I’m going through now has a good outcome. Please tell me I’ve accomplished my dreams of graduating from a four-year university, going on to become a lawyer or a doctor who helps people, and am making my family proud. I hope the dreams you’ve had ever since you were little, to have enough money and travel the world with your family, came alive. Please do not tell me I lost myself and let people change my perspective on what’s wrong or right. Please do not tell me I let my family down. Do not tell me I proved society right when they said Latinos will never get anywhere, that instead I proved them wrong. Tell me that through all the mistakes I have made, I learned from them and was able to remain humble through them.

Tell me that after everything my parents have done for me– waking up early and taking me to the bus; crossing the border so I could have a better life–was all worth it and I’ve made them proud. My family has always been supportive by making sure me and my siblings had everything we needed; school materials, clothes, our favorite foods like waffles and posole. Please tell me I took that support and was able to change people’s lives with it. After everything my parents gave me, I was able to pay them back by taking them out of their minimum wage jobs, and getting them a new house in which they do not have to pay or worry about rent.

Please tell me I was able to change Latino immigrants’ lives so that no other kid with immigrant parents had to go through not having enough money for household essentials like a washer and dryer.

Tell me I changed how society thinks about women and showed them that women don’t need a man to be successful. Please tell me I’ve made a change for my community, where we made a home for the homeless, and had more gardens instead of old vacant lots.

Please tell me you are doing great things not only for you, but your family and the community. Make a great legacy out of our name and our story. Make our name remembered for our hard work and our humility. Show everyone that we did it.

41

Help Us Grow

Individuals When you donate to 826LA, you are helping students from underresourced communities write their own futures. We are grateful for the many ways people show their generosity: by donating time, materials, expertise, and, of course, money. Your financial support goes directly to four focus areas.

• T H E PRES EN T: Core programs for 2,000 students in the 20212022 school year • T H E F U T U RE: The longevity of 826LA and the expansion of Writers’ Rooms: classroom-sized versions of our writing centers on the campuses of high-needs high schools • T RAV EL CO MPA N I O N S : Volunteer recruitment and training • N EW D I MEN S I O N S : Student publications and performances

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Five ways to support 826LA

Corporate Volunteering

V O L U NTEER Volunteer as a tutor, workshop leader, designer, or event helper. If you have a skill, we can put you to work!

Visit 826LA.org/volunteer

826LA loves corporate volunteer groups! Did you know that 92% of human resource executives agree that contributing to a non-profit organization can build an employee’s leadership skills?* Volunteering is also a great team-building activity.

Make a tax-deductible donation at 826LA.org/donate

W H AT D O ES T H E PRO CES S L O O K L I K E? You determine roughly how many volunteers will be participating, and how often. 826LA staff will help you with the next steps, including:

B ECO ME A PARTNER I N TI M E Connect 826LA with your network: friends, family, family foundations Introduce 826LA to the person in charge of corporate responsibility at your place of employment CO M PAN I ES AN D OR G A NI Z ATI ONS Corporate sponsorship is win-win: Students from under-resourced communities get the tools and support they need, and your company makes a positive and visible impact. We thank our highest-level sponsors with a table at Changing the Story, our biggest event of the year, and—the ultimate honor—by featuring them as Employees of the Month at the Time Travel Mart. We are excited to talk with you about other forms of recognition, which we can tailor to your company’s goals: blog posts about our partnership, mentions in our newsletter (which reaches more than 7,000 subscribers), social media posts, and more.

• a customized one-hour volunteer training • a fingerprint-based background check, and the completion of an online application.

• We’ll track hours and sign-ups, and reserve specific days or projects for your group.

H O W MA N Y PEO PL E CA N YO U A CCO MMO DAT E ?

That depends on the project! Regular programs need no more than 5-10 volunteers at one time. Most annual events (virtual or IRL) can use dozens of people.

W H AT I F A BI G G RO U P O F U S WA N T S T O HE LP O UT FO R J U S T O N E D AY? Most of our programs require small groups of volunteers to work one-on-one with students. Check our monthly newsletter for larger, one-day volunteer opportunities. We’ll always do our best to find a fit based on your criteria and goals.

D O W E N EED T O H AV E EX PERI EN CE? D O WE N E E D T O BE W RI T ERS ?

Nope! We will train you and give you all the information you’ll need.

The only requirement is a desire to help students.

To get started or for more information, contact Volunteer Manager Mariesa Arrañaga Kubasek (MariesaKubasek@826LA.org or 213-4133388) or Volunteer Coordinator Jennie Najarro (Jennie@826LA.org or 310-915-0200). * SOUR CE : D E L OITTE , “ 2016 D E L OITTE IM PACT SUR V E Y: BU I L D I N G L E AD E R SH IP SK IL L S TH R OUGH V OL UN TE E R ISM ,” H TTP S : / / W W W 2 .

D E L OITTE .COM /CON TE N T/D AM /D E L OITTE /US/D OCUM E N T S / U S D E L OITTE -IM PACT-SUR V E Y.P D F

Supporters

Emily Acevedo

California State Library

Gina Adler

Cory Calvert

Epheros Aldor

Lauren Cantor

Imraan Ali

Mark Cappelletty

“I’m a person who’s lucky enough to be in a situation where my income exceeds my expenses, so the rational choice is to take what extra I have and invest it in the future, and supporting education is one way to do that. Plus, looking back at my life, I can see that availability of educational resources is a factor that has played a large part in putting me in a situation where I am able to donate, so I think that has inspired me to support 826LA.”

Jakob Allyns

Carol and James Collins Foundation

All Ways Up Foundation

Anne Carroll

Matthew Alsdorf

Cartoon Network

Betsy Anderson

Edward Casey

Annenberg Foundation

Castruccio Family Foundation

Anonymous

Adriana Centeno

Anonymous

Stephanie Cha & Matthew Barbabella

Anonymous

Mia Chambers

Anonymous

Inell & Henry Chase

Anonymous

Christy & Matthew Cherniss

Anonymous

Leslie Chew

Anthony & Jeanne Pritzker Family

Joanna Choi

M AT T CON WAY D O NOR AN D TUTORIN G V OL UN TEER I N M AR V I STA

You might notice a small difference in our list of supporters this year.

Instead of breaking the list out by donation level, it’s alphabetical, and we’ve noted everyone who gave $50 or more. Matt Conway’s explanation of why he donates hints at our reasoning: The decision to give one’s disposable income to a youth writing organization is meaningful regardless of the amount. A $100 donation is a big commitment for some, while others can write a $10,000 check easily.

We’re grateful for all of you.

Foundation Geoffrey Antos Apatow-Mann Family Foundation

Esther Chung City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs

Angela Arnold

Carrie Clifford & Paul Boese

Meiko Takechi & Joel Arquillos

Crystal Cohen

Emily Artiano

Molly Cohen

Benjamin Au

Andrew Cohn

Bad Robot Productions

David Cole

Joseph Bagby

College Track Boyle Heights

Dawn Bailey

Greg Collins

Leslie & Stephen Ballas

Mike Condon

Erin Ballew

Lynn Cooper

Ballmer Group

Sara Crenshaw

Daniele & Philip Barach

Crooked Media

Baskin Family Foundation

Stephen Culver

Jon Beckhardt

Monique Curnen

Danielle Bekhor

Rebecca Dameron

Aimee Bender

Laura Dave

Michelle Berenfeld

Carly & Steve De Castro

Stephen Berger

Katrina Dela Cruz

Fred Beshid

Michael Delaney

Alfred Bie

Ray Delgado

Patricia Bijvoet

Stacy DePue

Lisbeth & Javier Bitar

Chad DePue

Cesar Blanco

Emily Deschanel

Maurice Blanco

Shelby DeWeese

Greg Bloomfield

Elizabeth Dewolf

Jeannine Bogaard

Disney VoluntEARS Community Fund

Barbara & Jay Boland

Eric Drachman

Boulevard Partners

Carmen Dukes

Charles & Kharlene Boxenbaum

David Edwards

Doreen Braverman & Stuart

Eisner Foundation

Braverman-Rudnick

Heather Violet Elwell

Nick Brideau

Epic Games

Kathleen Briscoe

Andrew Esbenshade

The Broad

ETINA

Brookfield Property Partners

Winona Ettrick

Kevin Bruhn

Lando Ettrick

Christopher Bulock

Jodie Evans

Maya Burkenroad

Seamus Fahey

Jessica Burkhart Chasen

Margaret Fetter

Amy Ann & Blake Cadwell

Anne Finestone

California Arts Council Youth Arts

Michelle Finkel & David Presser

Action

Leslie & Vincent Fiorillo

Rachel Mendelsohn

Alejandra Riguero-Meehan

Carole Jo Unter

Lily Fong

Katharine King

Mary Mendelsohn

Rim of Heaven Foundation

USC Bohnett Board

Sesshu Foster

Andrew Kirsh

Sara Mengesha

The Ring Foundation

USC Good Neighbor

Katie Frank

Knowledge Foundation

Brandon Messinger

Robert Wood Johnson

Damian Fraticelli

Susan Ko

William Messori

Douglas Freedman

Christine Ko

Barbara Meyer

Teri Rolley

Peter Georgianni

Jessica Kornberg

Middle Road Foundation

Roosevelt High School

Vasant/Prabha Foundation

Graig Gilkeson

Cathy Kornblith

Donna Middlehurst & Jeffrey

Rose Hills Foundation

Karen van Kirk

Jamie & Scott Ginsburg

Katherine Kousakis

Laura Rosof

Mike Van Konynenburg

Charles Ginsburg

Lilia & Paul Kubasek

Rita Milch

Jennifer Ross

Mira Velimirovic

Peter Glawatz

Samuel Kuglen

Mindel Family Foundation

LaDona Rowings

Vera R. Campbell Foundation

Alexandra Glickman & Gayle

Jordan Kurland

Nell Minow

Isabella Rucker

Clayton Verbinski

Dylan Landis

Stosh Mintek

Thomas Safran

Susan McMillen Villar

Adam Goldberg

Britt Landis

Lani & John Monos

Debi Sambuchi

Vista Investment Group

Goldhirsh Foundation

Lark Ellen Lions Club

Alex Moratorio

David Sartory

Marcia Vogler

Ellen Goldsmith-Vein & Jon

Simone LeBlanc

Adam Muto

Geoffrey Sass

The Walt Disney Company

Doreen Leddy

Nancy E. Barton Foundation

Nina Savelle-Rocklin & David

Margaret Gordon

Andrew Lee

National Endowment for the

Gotham Group

Alexander Lehmann

Mimi Schmir

Amy Waterman

Nancy Graham

Curtis Lelash

Russell Naymark

Beth Schumann

Weingart Foundation

Cathy Grasso

Christopher Lening

Kenny Ng

Norbert Schurer

Nora & Peter Wendel

Green Dot

Suzanne Lerner

Jeff Nguyen

Corinne Schwab

WHH Foundation

Green Foundation

Natalie Levine

Nickelodeon

Ellen Seiden

Sarah Wick

Scott Greenberg

Maren Levinson & Jaime

Norman Raab Foundation

Kieran Shamash

Sally Wilcox

Benjamin Novak

Sheila, Dave, and Sherry Gold

Marilyn Wilker

Mark Folkman

Whittemore

Vein

Barry Gribble

Kimmel

Marquart

Schwartz

Arts

Foundation

Rocklin

Foundation

Campaign Van Grunsven Family Foundation

Foundation Alie Ward

The William C. Bannerman

Griffin Capital

Ben Lewis

Louise Nutt

Nancy & William Gubin

Liberty Hill Foundation

Graham O’Kelly

Eileen & Kevin Shields

Devorah Gurantz

Linda Lichter

Daniel Odell

Silva/Weiss Family

Paul Haddad

Mendy Lipszyc

Meagan Olsen

Beth Hagenlocker

Taino Lopez

Eric Olsen

Joseph Simantob

Writers Blok Inc

The Hammer Museum

Los Angeles County

Patton Oswalt

Josh Singer

YourCause.com

Department of Arts and

Maureen Palacios

Skylight Foundation

Daniela Zaccheo

Culture

Matthew Palevsky

Nicole Small

John Zanetos

Iva-Marie Palmer

Steve Smooke

Amy Ziering

Paramount

Sony Pictures Entertainment

Suzanne Zumbrunnen

Jocelyn Hayes-Simpson & Brad Simpson Jon Healey Timothy Hedrick

Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation

Foundation

Laura Hertzfeld

Carolyn & Louis Lucido

Hannah Parikh

Michael Sopher

Karen Hilsberg

Amy Luftig & Kenneth Viste

Jane Park

Theresa Sotto

Howard Hirsch

Chris Lundberg

Lise Paul

Sarah & Patrick F. Spears

Nicole Holofcener

Tiffany Lyon

Lucas Paul

Drew Spears

Winston Howes

Brick Maier

Phillippe Perebinossoff

Brian Stern

Caryn Hsu

Shalini & Kamini Malhotra

Jim Peters

Lisa Stewart

Matthew Hsu

Leon Mandel

John Peterson

Thomas Stock-Hendel

IBM Charitable Contribution

Mona Mangold

Allyson Pfeifer

Zachary Stoner

Leslie Mann & Judd Apatow

Mark Pillor

Stuart Foundation

International Paper

Kate & Matthew Manos

Pledgeling Foundation

Sugerman Communications

Tracey J.

Manual Arts High School

Louis Provost

Jordana Jaffe

Norman Marck

Kendra Purnell

Ella Tabasky

Adriana Jakobsen

Pat Marfisi

PWC

Nadine S. Tan

Joan Leidy Foundation

Zachary Marine

Isabel Raab

Target

David Johnson-McGoldrick

Raul Martin

Sylvie & Steve Rabineau

Phillip Tate

Marisa & R. Greg Johnston

Mary K. and Daniel M. Kelly

Ajay Rai

Claudia Taylor

Ralph M. Parsons Foundation

Hal Tepfer

Josh Mathews

Anthony Ranchigoda

Allison Thomas

Maurice Amado Foundation

Merete Rasmussen & David

Holly Thomas

Campaign

Ben York Jones Lirona Kadosh Goldstine & Ethan Goldstine

Family Foundation

Group

Mayumi Thrasher

Morse

Wendy Kaplan

Richard Mazess

Karisma Foundation

Matt McCabe

Paula & Joel Rawlins

Terena Thyne & Anders Eisner

Kevin Keenan

Charles McGillvray

Jhoanne Reyes & Carson

Mark Tobin

Saeromi Kim

Ruth McKee & Brian Vaughan

Christina Kim

Rebecca McTavish & Jason

Molly McNearney & James

Woliner

Julie Treinen

Smith Dan Rhoades

Steve Tsuchiyama

Daniel Ricker

Lauren Turner

45

Foundation Robert S. Wilson Jamie Wolf

Volunteers “I feel great and happy after I’m with the students… Writing is important to express what you can’t or don’t want to actually say. To tell all the crazy stories or amazing things going on in your head. To get your voice heard without actually speaking.”

O M A R AN DRADE T U T O RIN G VOLUN TEER I N M AR V I STA

Volunteers tell us in many different ways that they get as much out of their hours with 826LA as students do. Even so, the gift of time means a lot in a busy and demanding world. We’re grateful to everyone who made time to work with 826LA students in 2019-2020.

Tigerlily Biskup Sarah Abelson

Lily Blau

Jeffrey Abramson

Jack Blocker

Mauricio Abril

Tracy Bloom

Carmen Abuzid

Josie Bloomfield

Luis Acosta

Alexander Blumberg

Kate Adam

Hannah Boal

Kimberly Adelman

Jill Boberg

Erna Adelson

Saenah Boch

Michelle Agresti

Kevin Bolanos Orozco

Joanna Aguirre

William Boldizar

Madeeha Ahmed

Jaime Bolker

Edward Albright

Cynthia Boorujy

Sarah Albritton

Chloe Borenstein-Lawee

Hannah Alicea

Julia Bossi

Reema Almalik

Anna Boudinot

Daniel Ames

Madeline Bouton

Nicholas Anagnos

Hanna Bowens

Jane Anderson

Dayna Bowers

Sally Anderson

John Bowie

Omar Andrade

Catherine Boyd

Isabella Andreoni

Meryl Branch-McTiernan

Julie Ansell

Chris Brandt

Ashlyn Anstee

Pamela Brenna

Joseph Anton

Kathrine Briedis

Ruben Anzures Oyorzabal

William Brinkman

Paloma Anzurez

Alexandra Brisacher

Noelle Armstrong

Rhys Broussard

Stefania Ascoli

Elise Brown

Alexis August

Michael Brown

Alan Aung

Garrett Bruen

Erin Austin

Lauren Bruns

Alexandra Bach

Daniela Bucio

Leenie Baker

Kristina Budelis

Kristen Balagtas

Emily Bui

Anna Ballatore

Tristan Bulatao

Kathy Ballsun

Haley Bulen

Nadia Bamdad

Hayley Burgess

Adam Barakat

Gwendolyn Burke

Anastasia Baran

Zachary Burns

Ellie Barancik

Madeline Bury

Lijah Barasz

Samantha Bush

Natalie Barrios

Stephanie Busto

Austin Barsophy

Kevin Butler

Michael Batchelder

Miguel Camnitzer

Shannen Battle

Dylan Campbell

Linda Baughn

Meghan Campbell

Elizabeth Baxa

Crystal Campos

Karen Beavers

Stephanie Carlisi

Mary Becker

Monica Carolan

Katherine Bedrosian

Pia Carretta

Natalia Bell

Mike Carrig

Sarah Benjamin

Allyson Carroll

Christopher Bentley

Anne Carroll

Claire Berger

Andrew Carter

Sheila Berman

Sofia Cassidy

Ruth Bernstein

Catherine Castellanos

Ravi Bhatia

Karime Castillo Cardenas

Brian Biancardi

Melina Mae Castorillo

Dina Biblarz

Mary Grace Cerni

Chethana Chandrashekar

Frannie Deckas

Jake Fiedler

DeAnna Gravillis

Bri Holmes

Kate Chao

Kristine deGuzman

Elizabeth Fink

Valerie Green

Alice Hom

Benjamin Chapman

Gabriella Del Greco

Andrea Finlayson

Francesca Greggs

Mark Hong

Caitlin Charles

Maria DeLuca

Allison Fischer

Joy Gregory

Seonna Hong

Anahi Chavarria

Andrew Demas

Lisa Fisher

Grant Grieshaber

Laura Horstmann

Emely Chavarria

Jonathan Deng

Samuel Fishman

Alexandra Grossi

John Houchin

Alyssa Chavez

Laramie Dennis

Nicholas Fletcher

Ross Groves

Alexander Hren-Boulis

Martin Chavez

Rajan Desai

Michael Flores

Kristina Gsell

Jamie Hsu

Ashla Chavez Razzano

Corinne DeTurk

Jasmyne Flournoy

Yue Guan

Caizhen Huang

Jenny Chen

John Dewey

Athena Fong

Katherine Guemes

Mingyi Huang

Carly Chevalier

Elizabeth Dewolf

Geoffrey Fong

Ryan Guggenheim

Tiffani Huerta

Steven Chew

Patrick Diaz

Joshua Forman

Donna Gulnac

Emily Hughes

Derrick Chien

Andrew Dines

Rachel Forman

Amy Gunson

Phil Hughes

Cameron Chin

Gabriel Dino

Michael Fortino

Nathan Guo

Min Hur

Albert Ching

Maria Dominguez

Danielle Fox

Lorely Guzman

Jefferson Huynh

Michael Chiusano

Barbara Don

Jaime Fox

Liz Gyori

Ryan Hynes

Candice Cho

Peter Donald

Eden Franz

Beth Hagenlocker

Carlos Inda

Terrence Cho

Loretta Donelan

Lisa Freedland

Noah Haidle

Ellen Isaacs

Jacqueline Choe

Janice Dow

Stephanie Freier

Susan Hamilburg

Austin Isaacsohn

Eugene Choi

Lauren Dowd

Anne Freiermuth

Emma Hammond

Emily Jackson

Susannah Chovnick

Samantha Drake

Nicholas Freilich

Hannah Han

Kirsten Jacobson

Scott Christian

Sijia Du

Katy French

Rebecca Han

Margarita Jaghatspanyan

Carolyn Chuang

Amy Duchene

Alessio Frenda

Kerry Hannawell

Marshall James

Natriya Chunapongse

Michael Dunbar

Leah Frires

Larry Hansen

Mike Jamoom

Hana Chung

Tiare Dunlap

Emily Frisbie

Theodore Hargis

Natalie Jansen

Tony Chung

Evan Dunsky

Jon Frye

Abby Harris

Anita Jaskol

Abigail Clem

To Duong

Julia Funk

Justine Harris

Brooke Jenkins

Jane Clements

Brianna Dupper

Anna Furman

Haley Hartwell

Hayley Johnson

Katy Clemons

Sarah Durfee

Matthew Gallaugher

Ghazal Hashemi

Morgan Johnson

Scott Clendenin

Brooke Edwards

Gabriela Gallegos

Christine Hassay

Corinne Jones

Jocelyn Coffin

Audrey Egekeze

Estefania Gallo

Nyasha Hatendi

Michael Jorgensen

Kiara Cogar

Stephen Eichenbaum

Henry Gao

Katy Haute

Jasmin Joseph

Louis Cohen

Evelyn Ellias

Aliah Gaoteote

Isabel Havens

Helin Jung

Sharon Cohen

Elizabeth Ellis

Andrew Garcia

Carole Hawkes

Eleanor Kahn

Mara Collins

Sierra Enticknap

Dioseline Garcia

Gloria Hayat

Jessie Kahnweiler

Matt Conway

Yunsun Eoh

Evelyn Garcia

Alexandra Haydinger

Brad Kaiserman

Erin Cooney

Rosaleen EscareĂąo

Shannon Gatewood

Michael Hayes

Sravan Kakani

Mallory Corben

Katie Escher

Ben Geiger

Mark Timothy Hayward

Alexsandr Kanevskiy

Stephanie Corena

Rebecca Escoto

Jessie Geoffray

Richard Hefter

Anita Kantrowitz

Vanessa Covarrubias

Savannah Esparza

Kiki Georgiou

Felicity Helfand

Komal Kapoor

Chris Craig

Ruby Espinoza

Eric Gerdts

Fatima Hemdan

Kathleen Katims

Molly Cravens

Abby Esrock

Andrew Geroch

Edward Herda

Sierra Kay

Trevor Crown

Erica Estève

Molly Gerth

Abraham Hernandez

Jessie Keary

Ottavia Crucitti

Lukas Ettlin

Lily Gibson

Cindy Hernandez

Jessamine Kelley

David Cuellar

Benjamin Evans

Theodore Gideonse

Hector Hernandez

Brigid Kelly

Mai Dabbas

Sheila Fallah

Nora Gilbert

Mikki Hernandez

Samantha Kelsey

Debbie Dao

Juliana Farello

Arianna Gill

Tania Herrera

Jessica Kemmerling

Virali Dave

Ashleigh Fata

Tashenique Gillard

Brian Hewitt

Hunter Kennedy

Idelle Davidson

Sheldon Feinerman

Kaitlin Gladd

Helena Hickok

Zachary Kenner

Carol Davis

Michael Feinstein

Meredith Goldberg-Morse

John Hicks

Max Kerwien

Lindsey Davis

Alyssa Felix-Arreola

Joan Goldfeder

Ian Hilby

Hannah Kessel

Marina Davis

Joe Ferencz

Natalay Goldstein

Edgar Hirst

Nancy Keystone

Aaliyah Davy

David Ferino

Briana Gomez

Robin Hirst

Sean Khansari

Ethan Dawes

Sofia Ferrandiz

Jairo Gomez

Eric Hiss

Matthew Kim

Zachary Dawes

Anna Ferrarie

Willy Gomez

Alli Hoang

Stewart Kim

Colby Day

Patrick Ferrell

Sofi Goode

Anthony Hoang

William Kim

Carly De Castro

Rachel Ferrell

Josh Gordon

Mary Hoff

Janna King

Christina de la Cruz

Grace Fetterman

Larry Gordon

Fritz Hoffine

Andrew Kirchner

Yesica De Lucas

Carol Feucht

Tea Gostomski

Ashley Hogrebe

Bob Klier

Zachary Dean

Jason Feuerstein

Chelsey Grasso

Daniele Hollander

Thorin Klosowski

47

Maya Konstantino

Megan Loreto

Rebecca McTavish

Nancy Ocana

Christine Quigless

Savannah Kopp

Arlene Lorre

Kelly Mcvey

Chinazaekpere Okafor

David Rabinowitz

Samuel Kordower Chaimson

Mariha Lowe

Marie Medevielle

Patricia Olguin

Asya Rachitsky

Kiera Kosciolek

Kate Luhr

Sabrina Medina

Matt Olmstead

India Radfar

Elmast Kozloyan

Manuel Luis

Adalid Medina Calvillo

Raquel Olvera

Golbarg Rahimi

Mehul Krishna

Breda Lund

Tsewone Melaku

Catherine Omega

Meaghan Ralston

Michaela Kuelbs

Sebastian Lutz

Philip Melanson

Giulia Orsenigo

Karan Rami

Jonathan Kuhn

Allison Lynch

Ivanna Mendez

Yukiko Osawa

Edward Ramirez

Alexandra Kundrat

Esther MacGregor

Alba Menendez Pereda

Joana Osorio

Sarah Ramos

Audrey Kuo

Hilary MacGregor

Sarah Meraz

Ximena Osorio

Karly Ranek

Caitlin Kustes

Lynnette Mack

Michelle Meyers

Matthew Osten

Mickey Rapkin

Janson Lalich

Mason Maguire

Gillian Miller

Ayana Otokiti

Josh Rapp

Robert Lamirande

Alyssa Maio

Samuel Miller

Ariana Padilla

Erica Rawles

Margaret Lange

Alvin Makori

Bryce Miller-Booker

Edward Paige

Jordan Rawlins

Sarah Larkin

Carly Mallenbaum

Taylor Mills

Rohit Palekar

Abigail Read

John Latimore

Devon Maloney

Rebecca Millstein

Mark Palko

Taryn Reed

Ginger Lawrence

Matt Mancini

Bethanie Milteer

Keane Palmer

Margaret Reeve

Monica Lawson

Kevin Manning

Alexander Mirecki

Teresa Pangallozzi

Sophia Reeves

Matthew Lazo

Gabriela Marcial

Veronika Miroshnichenko

Elaine Park

Rebecca Rehfeld

Dana Leahy

Amorette Marcus

Mary Missig

Graham Parkes

Daisy Reid

Grant Lease

Julie Marcus

Schuyler Mitchell

Adam Parton

Marley Reifert

Heather Lee

Lisa Marfisi

James Molinaro

Yogesh Patwari

Kelly Reilly

Michelle Lee

Dan Margolis

Avery Monsen

Ashley Paul

Emily Reinis

Shamir Lee

Katie Markovich

Brett Moody

Ali Pearl

Alexander Reisfield

Stephanie Lee

Muffy Marracco

Mia Moore

Julie Pearson

Amira Resnick

Yennie Lee

Stephanie Marrufo

Josh Moorhead

Daniel Perez

Samantha Resnick

Cassidy Lehrman

Reno Marsh

Jasmine Morada

Jesse Perlstein

Diana Reynolds

Tomo Lekovic

Kiana Martin

Skylar Morgen

Rachel Perry

Sara Reynolds

Carolina Leon

Dolce Martin-Moreno

Delaney Morris

Nathan Pesina

Naomi Reznik

Nicole Leon

Daniela Martinez

Jordan Morris

Travis Peters

James Rickman

Sam Lerner

Gabriella Martinez

William Morrissey

Cheryl Petersen

Roberta Ritz

Lauren Lesko

Jasmine Martinez

Katherine Mues

Lucas Peterson

Chelsea Rivera

Josh Lesser

Lisset Martinez

Megan Muetterties

Susan Petrella

Stephanie Rivera

David Levi

Melanie Martinez

Erin Mulrooney

Nicole Petrie

Nicole Robbins

Daniel Levin

Noah Martinez

Mykah Murphy

Daniel Pfau

Scarlett Robertson

Jenna Levin

Angela Martinez Morales

Noelle Murrain

Hayley Phelan

Steven Robillard

Nicole Levin

Irene Mason

Jessica Najarro

Grant Phillips

Brett Robinson

Meredith Levine

Ana Paola Mata

Eli Nash

Kristine Phoenix-Artinian

Sarah Robinson

Isaac Levy-Rubinett

Nora Mathison

Sibylla Nash

Alison Pill

Maya Robles

Eileen Lewis

Susan Mathison

Brooke Nelson

Kathryn Pinto

Jennifer Roche

Jason Li

Akiko Matsumoto

Joseph Nelson

Jenna Pittaway

Kellie Roddy

Andrew Liang

Jeremy Mattheis

Justine Neubarth

Greg Pizzurro

Barbara Rodrigues Mota

Nan Liberman

Amy Matthews

Crystal Nguyen

Lindsay Plake

Jose Rodriguez

James Liddell

Carol Matthews-Nicoli

Hanh Nguyen

Molly Platnick

Maria Rodriguez

Morgan Lim

Matthew Mayer

Marie Nguyen

Aryn Plax

Adam Romero

Angela Lin

Maxwell Maynard

Victoria Nguyen

Leslie Plesetz

Allison Romero

Patty Lin

Shannon McCarty

Vina Nguyen

Ari Polgar

Ariana Romo

Daniel Liu

Elizabeth Mccoy

Charles Niami

Chelsea Pollard

Elise Roncace

Lucy Liversidge

Stacy McDonald

Melissa Niles

Megan Pollin

Isaac Rooks

Calvin Lo

Mac McDonough

Alyssa Nishi

Michael Pollock

Samantha Rooks

Kimberly Loera

Candice Mcfadyen

Yasmeen Nizam

Brittany Poole

Ellie Marie Rosas

Camryn Longworth

Ryan Mcgranahan

Carolina Nobili

Denise Poon

Claudia Rose

Isabella Lopez

Joanna Mckelvey

Alexis Nunez

Robyn Popp

Allegra Rosenberg

Jennifer Lopez

Lucy Mckendrick

Cristina Nunez

Christopher Porcaro

Mike Rosenthal

John Lopez

Robert Mckenzie

Kenneth Nunez

Arathzy Portillo

Maxine Rosin

Vincent Lopez

Michaela Mcleod

Jennifer O’brien

Jillian Powell

Kaelyn Ross

Yvette Lopez

Kelly Mcmahon Pye

Zharia O’neal

Marijah Pruitt

Hannah Roth

Joanna Lopez-Rascon

Christian McOmber

Carol Oblath

Peijie Qiu

Nathan Rott

48

Britta Rowings

Sara Sifuentes

Mia Taylor

Peter Wendel

Jo Roy

Maryna Silchenko

Jeremiah Teems-Robinson

Elizabeth Wendorf

Ryan Rozar

Melissa Silva

Margie Templeton

Alicia Wensley

Juan Rubalcava

Elise Silver

Layhannara Tep

Garrett Werner

Rachel Rubin

Christina Simelaro

Charlie Tercek

Amy Westermann

Tessa Rudolph

Ella Sinfield

Amber Thompson

Jeffrey White

Daniris Ryan

Mac Singer

Anna Thompson

Sarah White

Erin Ryan

Aakriti Singh

Lewis Thompson

Steff White

Ona Rynearson

Rajitmeet Singh

Sean Tidwell

Amanda Wilgus

Hassan Saab

Wilhelm Sitz

Natasha Tieu

Marilyn Wilker

Alison Safa

Kulsoom Sizar

Tran Tieu

Michelle Wilker

Amanda Salako

Charles Sklar

Alex Torres

Todd Wilkinson

Laura Salazar

Caroline Slocumb

Hong Tran

Anna Williams

Jack Salisbury

Spencer Slovic

Phoenix Tso

Daniel Williams

Colleen Sam

Averill Smith

Katie Tsui

Matthew Williams

Kandace Samaan

Lauren Smith

Maylin Tu

Robin Willis

Cathy Sammons

Ryan Smith

Anna Tugnoli Chiat

Michael Wilson

Jacqueline Samols

Tiff Smith

Catherine Tung

Martha Windahl

Alon Samuel

David Snow

Richard Turner

Taylor Winnie

Brenda Sanchez

Poe Snyder

Susan Turner Jones

Carole Winter

Natalie Sanchez

Michael Sokol

Jailene Tzintzun

Laryssa Wirstiuk

Cameron Sanders

Mercedes Solaberrieta

Samiha Uddin

Tessa Withorn

Ari Saperstein

Crystal Solis

Conner Ueberroth

Jason Wong

Amelia Sargent

Eunjung Song

Lena Uemura

Trevor Worthy

Charlyne Sarmiento

Amir Sorouri

Robin Urevich

Jeff Wynne

Rachel Sarnoff

Samantha Sosa

Kiri Van Santen

Allen Xu

Brian Saucedo

Sophia Spagna

Alec Vandenberg

Reda Yahoum

Gabriel Say

Stephen St John

Cat Vasko

Mariah Yamamoto

Tori Schachne

Hilary Staff

Amy Vasquez

Thomas Yang

Dean Schenker

Cat Stanley

Maria (Silvia) Vasquez

Sarah Yarkin

Jordan Schiff

Julie Stark

Claudia Vega

Maher Yassine

Anita Schillhorn

Keith Staskiewicz

Rachel Vegas

Orit Yefet

Erica Schlaikjer

Donald Steele

Leticia Velasquez

Christian Yetter

Amy Schleunes

Justin Steinfelder

Jennifer Velez

Aaron Yeung

Charlie Schneider

Mia Stenger

Mira Velimirovic

Hosoo Yoo

Stacy Scholder

Megan Stephan

Sophia Venables

Jenay Yuen

Judith Schomp

Natasha Stephan

Gregory Verini

Taylor Zabloski

Alison Schouten

Kyle Stephenson

Debra Vilinsky

Daniela Zaccheo

Ben Schwartz

Jessica Stern

Susan Villar

Deborah Zajdman

Noelle Schwarz

Julian Stern

Alison Vingiano

Tessa Zajicek

Debora Scorsone

Konstantin Steshenko

Michelle Vo

Alexandra Zarchy

Jeffrey Seavey

Liam Stewart

Rebecca Von Behren

John Zaykowski

Ellen Seiden

Max Stivers

Mackenzie Wagoner

Anastasia Zaynullina

Lee Seligmann

Haley Stoessl

Deena Wahba

Jaicab Zelaya

Baisakhi Sengupta

Ellen Stolar

Donald Walker

Carol Zhang

Mia Serafino

Jonathan Stuart

Samantha Walker

Mengtong Zhang

Elizabeth Shapiro

Rudy Summers

Gillian Walters

Xinwen Zhang

Ghazal Sheei

William Swadley

Linglong Wang

Zhuliang Zhang

Anna Sheffer

Wilson Swain

Rui Wang

Frank Zhou

Yiqiu Shen

Daniel Sweren-Becker

Kyle Warren

Yingyi Zhu

Paula Sherrin

Casey Swing

Anna Washenko

Kerstin Zilm

Eileen Shields

Fatemeh Tadjiki

Andrew Watt

Nicole Zimmermann

Jung Woo Shin

Olivia Tai

Charlotte Wayne

Jennifer Zinn

Marie Shook

Sarah Takagaki

Lilly Weidhaas

Jenny Ziomek

Naomi Shroff-Mehta

Erika Takase

Jill Weinberger

Hannah Zipperman

Debra Shrout

Susan Tamir

Isaac Weingart

Nathaniel Zlicha

Hannah Shtein

Angela Tapia

Arleen Weinstock

Daniel Zomparelli

Irwin Shubert

Cheyenne Taylor

Scott Weismann

49

Staff Joel Arquillos

Lauren Humphrey

Mike Dunbar

Rebecca Escoto

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

INSTITUTIONAL GIVING MANAGER

SENIOR PROGRAMS & OPERATIONS

PROGRAM COORDINATOR, TUTORING

COORDINATOR, FIELD TRIPS IN MAR

IN MAR VISTA

Beatriz Garcia

LaTesha Knighten

DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS &

IN-SCHOOLS PROGRAM MANAGER

DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR

Carinne Mangold

PROGRAMS & OPERATIONS

STORE MANAGER

COORDINATOR, TUTORING &

Marina Aguayo

WORKSHOPS IN ECHO PARK

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS

DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMENT & EVENTS

Isabella Andreoni Pedro Estrada

OPERATIONS, MAR VISTA

Shawn Silver

VISTA

Aldo Puicon DESIGN MANAGER

Marisa Urrutia Gedney

COORDINATOR

Cecilia Gamiño

AMERICORPS VISTA

PROGRAM COORDINATOR, TUTORING

DIRECTOR OF IN-SCHOOL PROGRAMS &

Rachel Mendelsohn

COLLEGE ACCESS

DESIGN MANAGER

& WORKSHOPS IN MAR VISTA

DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR

Cathy Mayer Mariesa Arrañaga Kubasek

T Sarmina

PROGRAM COORDINATOR, FIELD TRIPS

VOLUNTEER MANAGER

PROGRAM MANAGER, WRITERS’ ROOM

IN ECHO PARK

AT MANUAL ARTS

Nadia Bamdad-Delgado Wendy Alvarado

MANAGER, ECHO PARK

IN-SCHOOLS VOLUNTEER RETENTION AND MANAGEMENT COORDINATOR

Cheryl Klein

AMERICORPS VISTA

Ariana Ponce VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR

Jennie Najarro

SENIOR PROGRAMS & WRITING

Gladys Garcia-Olivo

AMERICORPS VISTA

VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR, MAR VISTA

Paula Quiroz Maricruz Pool-Chan

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS

PROGRAM COORDINATOR, TUTORING

COORDINATOR

DEVELOPMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

Angelica Butiu-Coronado

MANAGER

PROGRAM COORDINATOR, WRITERS’

Cynthia Aguilar

ROOM ROOSEVELT HIGH SCHOOL

PROGRAM COORDINATOR, TUTORING

AMERICORPS VISTA

IN ECHO PARK

Board

YOUTH ADVISORY BOARD ECHO PARK Genesis L. Ana M.L. Yamilka M.L. Gaby M. Ivan P. Jose R. Gaby R. Natalie S.

MAR VISTA Vanessa A. Katherine G. Leonora G. Monserrat L. Karla T. Nadia V. Nasim Z.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Jodie Evans, President Henry V. Chase, Treasurer Susan Ko, Secretary Benjamin Au Matthew Cherniss Chad DePue

Dave Eggers, Emeritus Terena Thyne Eisner Scott A. Ginsburg Claire Hoffman Susan Ko Louis Lucido

Frankie Quintero Eileen Shields Holly A. Thomas Sarah Rosenwald Varet

ADVISORY BOARD J.J. Abrams Judd Apatow Miguel Arteta Mac Barnett Steve Barr Joshuah Bearman Amy Brooks Father Greg Boyle, SJ Stefan G. Bucher Mark Flanagan Ben Goldhirsh Rebecca Goldman Ellen Goldsmith-Vein

DeAnna Gravillis Spike Jonze Miranda July Catherine Keener Keith Knight Al Madrigal Krystyn Madrigal Tara Roth Katie McGrath R. Scott Mitchell Lani Monos B.J. Novak Miwa Okumura

Jane Patterson Keri Putnam Sylvie Rabineau Sonja Rasula Luis J. Rodriguez Terri Hernandez Rosales Brad Simpson J. Ryan Stradal Natalie Tran Sarah Vowell Sally Willcox

1714 W. Sunset Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90026 826LA.org Tax ID 38-3722092

826LA’s mission is to support students ages 6-18 with their creative and expository writing skills and to help teachers inspire their students to write.

All of 826LA’s programs are free of charge, and are held at centers in Mar Vista and Echo Park and at Writers’ Rooms at Manual Arts High School in South Los Angeles and Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights.

L E A R N MORE AT 826 L A . OR G