Cosmic Writers 2022 Annual Report by cosmicwriters

2022AnnualReport

A LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

DearCosmicWriterscommunity,

Overthepastyear CosmicWriters’firstyearasanindependentnonprofit I’vehadthejoyof witnessingthegrowthofmorethan500youngwriters TherearesomanywaysthatIcouldsummarize CosmicWriters’workin2022,butIthinkthatthetruestwaytodoitisbydescribingsomeoftheyoung writerswhomIadmiremost.

MyraandMahikaareelementary-school-agedsiblingsfromNewJerseywhoshoneduringthefantasy workshopsinourvirtualWordCamp.Theywrotefantasticaltalesaboutwaternymphsandcavesfullof mysteriouscrystals Andtheirinstructorstoldmethattheypushedeachothertobethemostcreative versionsofthemselveswitheachstorytheywrote

Lynnisa12thgraderfromNanjing,China,whoblewmeawaywithbothherhorrorstoriesandher dedicationinaDarkFictionworkshopweranoverthesummer.The12-hourtimedifferencewasno matchforLynn’spassionasshewokeupbefore6amtoparticipateinourpeerfeedbacksessions.

Francisisa6thgraderfromPhiladelphiawhofirstjoinedusforanafterschoolprogramathisschoolin thespringof2022 Inhisfirstworkshopwithus,“WritingfromNonhumanPerspectives,”hewrotean atmosphericstoryaboutanalienwhowasforcedtoleaveitshomeplanet Franciswasnervousabout sharinghisworkoutloud,though,eveninfrontofhispeers.ThenIwatchedFrancis’sconfidence skyrocketoverthecourseofthenextfewmonths.Heparticipatedinfourmoreworkshopswithus,and bytheendofthesummer,FranciswasreadinghiswritinginourCosmicCarnivalforanaudienceof familiesfromalloverPhiladelphia.

ThereismuchthatmakesmeproudaboutthisfirstyearofCosmicWriters I’mproudofourwide varietyofworkshops,rangingfromanature-writingcampinFDRParktoaseriesofhip-hoppoetry afterschoolprogramsthroughoutPhiladelphia.I’mproudofourinstructornetwork,composedof collegestudentswhoarecommittedtoinspiringcreativityintheiryoungersiblings’generation.I’m proudofourmanypartnershipswithschools,libraries,andcommunityorganizations,nowthroughout fivedifferentstates,unifiedbyourbeliefthatwritinghasthepowertochangelives.

Andmostofall,ofcourse,Iamproudofouryoung writers.Itisthegreatesthonorintheworldfor CosmicWriterstocomeofagealongsidetalented, passionateindividualslikethese

Sincerely,

RowanaMiller

FounderandExecutiveDirector,CosmicWriters

Rowana

Ourhybridstructuremakesourprogramsaccessibleto studentsindistrictswithoutlocalextracurricularopportunities, ndourcurriculaaredesignedtobeflexibletotheneedsand kgroundsofmanydifferenttypesofstudents.

jobstocollegestuden artsandwriting.

rolemodelstoourparticipants M remoteand/orshort-termwork providethejobflexibilityandpa thatallemployeesdeserve,butth accessibletocollegestudentsint

Providingwell-payin

Allourinstructorsarecollegestu

MISSION singcreativewritingtoempower childreningradesK–12.

Ensuringthatengaging,accessible writingopportunitiesareavailable tochildrenfromalllocationsand socioeconomicbackgrounds.

Wehelpkidsdevelopstrongcommunicationskills, creativethinkingskills,andloveofwordsfromthetime theylearntowrite.

Meetingchildrenwheretheyare,both geographicallyandpedagogically CULTIVATE THE JOY OF WRITING.

OUR TENETS BUILD A FOUNDATION OF LITERACY. Helpingchildrenbecomestrong writers,readers,andthinkers. EQUITY THROUGH ACCESSIBILITY. Craftingfunenvironmentsthatcreate positiveconnotationsaroundwriting. CREATIVITY COMES FIRST. Encouragingimaginativeandcritical thinkingsothatallchildrenknowthat theirvoicesmatter OUR PARTNERS 3

ElizaBKirkbride ElementarySchool

Werun20+in-personworkshopswithschools,libraries,and communityorganizationsinPhiladelphia,rangingfromahip-hoppoetry afterschoolprogramtoaclimate-writingconference Weholdourfirstin-personworkshopsinNewYorkCity OUR GROWTH WordCampisbornasavirtualwritingcamptoservechildren duringthefirstsummerofthepandemic WordCampcontinuesthroughJuly2021asaprogramofthe KellyWritersHouseattheUniversityofPennsylvania CosmicWriterslaunchesasanindependentnonprofit CosmicWriterswinsthePresident'sEngagementPrizefromtheUniversity ofPennsylvania,whichprovidesa$200,000granttotheorganization Weholdourfirstin-personprogramsatKirkbrideElementarySchooland thePhiladelphiaFreeLibrary SUMMER 2020 SPRING 2022 FALL 2022 WINTER 2022 Thelaunchofprofessionaldevelopmentforteachersandlibrarians ThecreationandsaleofofficialCosmicWriterscurriculatobeusedin classroomsaroundthecountry Furtherin-personexpansionintotheNewYorkareaandbeyond THE FUTURE Werunourfirstfullseasonofprograms,includinga13-workshopvirtual WordCampandanin-personnature-writingcamp WeholdourfirstannualCosmicCarnivalinPhiladelphia'sFDRPark, featuringcreativewritinggames,bookandschoolsupplygiveaways,and readingsbyourtalentedparticipants SUMMER 2022 4

OUR STORY

CosmicWritersemergedduringthefirstfewmonthsoftheCOVID-19pandemic.InAprilof2020, schoolwasbeginningtowinddownfortheyear,andsummercampsweregettingcancelled.The summerstretchedahead:longmonthswherekidswouldhavefewopportunitiestokeeptheirminds activeorinteractwithotherstheirage SoCosmicWritersExecutiveDirector RowanaMiller,thenasophomoreattheUniversityofPennsylvania appliedforagrantfromPenn’sKellyWritersHouseto andrunthefirstseasonofWordCamp,withthegoal creatinganengagingonlinecommunityduringa difficultsummer.

ButwhenshespreadthewordaboutWordCamp tofamiliesandeducators,theydidn’tjustsay, “Thisisagreatpandemicopportunity.”

Aswefoundout,mostkidsdidn’thaveaccessto high-qualitycreativewritingeducation The majorityofexistingprogramswereeitherexpensive orbasedin-personinmajorcities,leavinghuge numbersofyoungwriterswithoutopportunitiesto developtheirskills.

SoinsteadofendingWordCampasin-personcampsbegantoopenupagainin summer2021,weexpandedit.Ourworkshopscontinuedtofillup,andour camperscontinuedtoamazeuswiththeirwriting Atthatpoint,wehad enoughspacefor120campers,butweknewthatthereweremanymorekids whowouldbenefitfromprogramminglikeours

THEY SAID, “THIS IS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY."

THE ANSWER WAS COSMIC WRITERS.

We’renowaregisterednonprofitinPennsylvania,offering multiplepathwaysforchildrentoexperienceourcreative writingprograms InadditiontoWordCamp,which remainsourflagshipprogram,wenowworkwith schools,libraries,andcommunityorganizations acrossthecountrytoprovideprogramming totheyouththeyserve.

Webelievethatcreativewritingisoneofthe singlemostpowerfultoolsforbringingout thebestinstudents.Creativewriting boostschildren’sliteracy,communication, problem-solving,innovation,andleadershipskills.Itempowerschildrentobecome notonlystrongwritersbutstrongthinkers

AND WE THINK THAT'S WORLD-CHANGING.

SO WE ASKED OURSELVES: HOW CAN WE PROVIDE CREATIVE WRITING EDUCATION TO EVERY CHILD WHO NEEDS IT?

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

ADVENTURES IN NATURE

Overthesummer,youngwriters inventedtime-travelingalteregosto explorethepast,present,andfutureof FDRPark Theirstoriesrangedfrom historicalfictionaboutthefoundingof theparktoeco-optimismaboutwhatit willlooklikeinyearstocome.

ACTING IT OUT

IncollaborationwiththeWestParkCultural Center,weranamonologue-writingworkshop for4th–6thgradersattheMarthaWashington SchoolinWestPhiladelphia Wefocusedon writingforthefirstmonthoftheprogram,and aWestParkteachingartisttaughtperformance forthenextmonth.Theworkshopculminated inashowcaseoftheparticipants'original monologues.

PLANET OF THE YOUTH

Climatewritingcanbenaturepoetry Itcanalsobepost-apocalypticfiction AspartofthePennDepartmentof EnvironmentalHumanities' MyClimateStoryproject,wetaught 10differentgenresofclimatewriting ataconferencefor300+highschoolers fromalloverPhiladelphia

DARK FICTION ON DISCORD

"LookTowardtheDarkness,"anexplorationof darkfiction,wasourfirstDiscord-based workshopforteenagers.Participantsfrom Kentucky,USAtoNanjing,Chinacollaboratedto writehorrorstoriesandcreatemagicalbestiaries. Oneoftheirmagicalbeastsisfeaturedhere: ahadzavak,inventedbyaPhillyparticipantand illustratedbyoneofherNanjingpeers

KIDZINE

LastMay,wewereincrediblyproudto launchKidZine:apublication celebratingtheartandwritingofour participants Publishedincollaboration withReadingRecycled,KidZine featuressomeoftheshowstoppers createdinourworkshops.Andthebest part?It'sdistributedthroughout Philadelphia,sothatkidscanbe inspiredbyeachother'smasterpieces

BEATS & RHYMES

Ourmosthighly-requestedworkshop of2022wasBeats&Rhymes,ahiphoppoetryworkshopforelementary schoolers Buddingrappersfromacross Philadelphiahavelearnedtoharness theirmusicaltalentforwriting.

13 49 28 5 countries represented workshops run students served states represented

WORD CAMP

Pictured:middle-schoolers'Zoombackgroundsfeaturetheirfavoritevillainsin "BecomingtheBadGuy."

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL WORKSHOPS FountainofCreativity: FindingInspiration InventanAdventure: FantasyWriting MainCharacterFactory: Character-Building TaleswithaTwist: FolkloricandFairytale Writing MIDDLE SCHOOL WORKSHOPS BecomingtheBadGuy: Villain-Building HotOffthePress: Journalism Magic&Mischief: FantasyWorldbuilding "TheSelf": ContemporaryPoetry HIGH SCHOOL WORKSHOPS BelowtheTipofthe Iceberg:Identityand PersonalNarrative Writing NotJustForLaughs: SatireandHumor Writing SeeingandBeing: VisualPoetry TheArtandScienceof FictionalWorlds:Sci-Fi andFantasyWriting ThePowerof Podcasting: AudioStorytelling TheOtherSideisn'twhatitseems, either.It'saworldofdoppelgangers. Theghostsbecomethehumansthey usedtobeandcontinueonlivinglike theydidn'tevendie.Whywouldthere bedoppelgangers?WhatistheOther Sidetryingtobecome? It'sscaryhere.Therearealotofbad ghostshere. ThelegendsoftheOtherSidesaidthat thiswasahappyplacetofinallyrest. Thelegendsarewrong.–SophieSong,9thgrade writteninTheArtandScienceofFictionalWorlds Ihikedthroughthemountainous cterrainsofthemagicalcave.Insidethe mavewerepeculiarstalactitesandblind icroscopicanimals.Ontheadventure, IsawatalkingfishnamedSamuel. "Hello,Naeto,whatbringsyoutomy cave?" "Iamonanadventuretofind mysteriouscreatures." o"DoIcountasamysteriouscreature, rareyoulookingforsomethingelse, myboy?" –NaetoAkobi,5thgrade writteninFountainofCreativity 10

“Ilikedhowyouweregivenseveral strategiestoexpressyourwritinginanonoverwhelmingway.Ialsoreallyenjoyed theopportunitytowrite,andnotfeel pressureaboutgradesorwhattowrite.” STUDENTS SAY... "Itfeltcomfortable,like everyonebelonged there.Ididn’tfeelleft out,orlikemyskills weresubpar.” "Iwanttopractice everysingleday.SoI amgoingtopractice anytimeIwantand nobodyisgoingto stopmefromdoingit." 11

INSTRUCTORS SAY...

"Inoticedhowthequieterkidsbeganto speakupmoreinworkshopdiscussions asthedaysprogressed,anditwasn't justthesamefewkidstalkingevery time.Ifeltlikethatwasbecausethe workshopenvironmentwasvery comfortableandwelcoming.Especially bytheendoftheweek,thekidshadalot tosaywhenIcalledonthem."

myfirst opwith candI telylovedit! yappreciated alanceof personal ityand /guidance . "

teachers 9th–12thgrade students K–8thgrade students collegestudent instructors trainingsoncreative writingcurriculum design trainingsonteaching creativewriting creativewriting workshops,virtual andin-person opportunitiesfor performanceand publication writingasasource ofjoy flexiblecurricula& student-directed learning unconditional positiveregard unitingchildren acrossboundaries creative& empoweredteaching improvedwriting quality:fluency, clarity,&impact increasedwriting confidence increasedpassionfor writing INPUTS INTERVENTIONS VALUES IMPACTS IMPACT MEASURES before/after writing assessments before/after student/parent surveys long-term career outcomes teacher& instructor reflections testscores THEORY OF CHANGE 13 HowCosmicWritersismakinganimpact.

IntheearlydaysofCosmicWriters,wenoticedacommonalityonDay1ofourworkshops: studentswouldsitparalyzedinfrontofpiecesofblankpaper,afraidtostartwritingforfear thatit"wouldn'tbegoodenough"Tous,whenstudentswritemorerobustlyattheendof ourworkshop,itmeansthattheyhavecometobelievethattheirideashavevalue,thatthey haveconfidenceinwhattheyhavetosay,andthattheydonotfearjudgmentforputting theirideasonpaper. OneofourcorebeliefsatCosmicWritersisthatconfidenceinwritingiskeytoselfexpression Ifstudentsbelievethattheyarestrongwriters,theywillalsobelievethattheyare strongthinkersandthattheirideasareworthwhile Ourinstructorsaretrainedtotreattheir studentswithunconditionalpositiveregardandtoholdthebeliefthateachoftheirstudents isuniquelybrilliant.Weuseself-reportmetricsforconfidenceaswellasproximatemeasures toensureourwritersleaveourworkshopsmoreconfidentintheirwritingthantheywere whentheycamein. CONFIDENCE ROBUSTNESS IN EXPRESSION OUR METRICS FLESCH-KINCAID GRADE LEVEL TheFlesch-KincaidGradeLevel(FKGL)testisawidely-usedformulatoevaluatethegrade levelofapieceofwriting.SincetheFKGLscalematchesupwithUSgradelevel,we comparestudents'FKGLscoresbeforeandafterCosmicWritersworkshopstoquantifythe increasesinthecomplexityandsophisticationoftheirwriting 14

69%ofourstudentsreported increasedconfidenceinwriting 77%ofourstudentsreported increasedenjoymentofwriting 59%ofourstudentsreportedthatthey metsomebodywithdifferentideas thanthemselves 77%ofourstudentsreportedthey werelikelytocontinuewriting aftertheworkshop OUR IMPACT 15

FOLLOWING A SIX-SESSION COSMIC WRITERS WORKSHOP... THREEOUTOFFOUR studentsproducemore WORDS PER MINUTE Theaveragestudentincreases 0.6 GRADELEVELS ontheFlesch-KincaidScale Theaveragestudentdemonstratesa 70% INCREASEINCOMMAND ofthetargetgenre Studentwritingsamplesareonaverage 32% LONGERANDMOREROBUST thanonthefirstdayof theworkshop 16

FINANCIALS REVENUE EXPENSES

RevenueEarned:11.6%

2022 BUDGET: $167,000 GRANTS AND AWARDS 17

IndividualContributions:34.4% InstitutionalContributions:53.9%

Administrative:77.7% Programming:18.4% Fundraising:4.1%

THANK YOU TO OUR GENEROUS DONORS!

DanielAlder KristenAldrich MelanieAllen

NaomiAndrews DanielBrownsteinAngeli FrancaAngeli VicenteAngeli LuisaAngeli Sandro&ValeriaAngeli

Dan&KarenAnna JessicaAnna DerekAskey CharlieBagin ReginaBaker ElizabethBass ToviahBass BarbaraBass LindsayBassett LeahBaxter LisaBelzberg LaurieBieber JuliaBloch LauraBogdan JillBoorse BruceBrownstein FrancesBrownstein RobinBrownstein PeterBurwasser AndrewCapaccio JohnCarroll YiweiChai ShizhouChen SusanChira DianeChudley JadenCloobeck TerriDavis DermisDeJesus AmberDean SophiaDegrands CathyDunn JayElias EstherFein AlFilreis MaryFleming

LucaFontes NeilFrancis JohnGamba JamieGangel AntoniaGazola JuliusGenachowski AnneGere LorettaGlucksman ArleneGoldsmith VictoriaGordon XanderGottfried TimGough TamaraGray-Phillips EmilyGreenhouse QuinnGruber WinifredGunsalus KimHartman GarrettHincken JerryJacobs YouseffJakher HelenJeoung SarahJones Jamie-LeeJosselyn LaureenJosselyn JennieKassanoff StacyKastner KeshavaKatti Chaim&CarolKaufmann JoshuaKim KateKolbusz GeetaKothari NicoleKukesh VinodKumar WandaKus NeilLader SydneyLaurence WilliamLautert MarthaLedger KateLevin BettyLindley HannahLitchfield IzzyLopez JessicaLowenthal CarolLynton

GillianMaimon PatrickManning ShawnManning JoeManning MichaelManning PatrickManning DavidMarchino DavidMarchino AaronMarcus JalmaMarcus JackieMarino-Thomas KristenMartin SarahMasino CaseyN May PhelanMcCormack RobertMcCormack

Winifred&JosephMccormack EdwardV McCormack EdwardR McCormack RobertMcCormack LauraMcKenna JuliaMcWilliams DebraMigdal JohnLaurenceMiller MamieMorgan JeanneMulvanerty DivineNdombo MaryO'Connor RehanaOdendaal SophiaOpatska MichelleOres EduardoOrtuño MukulPandya SejinPark DevenParker NicholasPeile HollyPeterson WadePfau BenjaminW Pietrzyk ZoePlantevin AlexPotter LisaQuattlebaum AnnaQuindlen NovaRenSuma

KarenRile ValerieRoss MichelleRoth JamesRubin JillRuedyWelch MollyRussakoff JakeRutkowski

JulianaSaretta StacySchiff JillSchubert SamanthaSchuler AmandaSilberling SusanSilver HowardSilver JoelleSilverman Robert&KaraSilverman

Sandra&AlanSilverman JamesSimons HeeKwonSong MarkSquilla ZoeStoller CatherineSuehnholz RachelSwym CrystalSwym LaurenThacker NatashaTheofanidis JaneTreuhaft MattVallone TiffanyVanAlst FayyazVellani LisaWarshaw EllenWeber QuentinWedderburn MonishaWeerasundara JacobWeisberg AubreyWhite MicheleWillens KathleenWillett JaniceWillett AdrienneWinney LisaWolfe TiffanyYau SophieYoung MuhanZhang

JOIN THE CREATIVE WRITING REVOLUTION AT COSMICWRITERS.ORG/DONATE