TEEN READING
Teen Reading Lounge (TRL), is PA Humanities’ award-winning, interactive reading and discussion program for teens ages 12-to-18. PA Humanities collaboratively developed the program with artists, educators, humanities scholars, and library professionals to build the capacity of Pennsylvania libraries to serve the 12-to-18 age group, an underserved audience at the time. PA Humanities hoped to demonstrate the role the humanities played in building critical social emotional learning skills in youth. Core elements of the TRL learning experience remain the same today as when it first launched: youth select special readings based on their interests, and participate in hands-on learning activities that deepen their understanding of the reading’s themes. Sites enlist one or two adult facilitators, often from the community, to help guide youth in discussion and learning. In more recent years, and based on evaluation, discussions associated with themes from the readings have sparked development of local civic engagement projects, showing that the humanities can directly lead to action. We now see teens identifying local issues like hunger, bullying, and blight, and crafting creative responses that support neighbors in need. To date, over 90 organizations from 33 counties have hosted TRL, and youth hailing from urban, suburban, and rural communities have participated. Librarians, educators, artists, community leaders, historians, and authors have all taken part in the program. Investment in the program has been substantial as well. PA Humanities, the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and individual funders have dedicated over $700,000 in support of the program, much of this going directly to host sites. PA Humanities has also dedicated considerable human and financial resources to providing professional development (training, coaching, and technical assistance) for host sites.
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