WRITERS ROOM 19-20 Impact Report

WR 19 20 IMPACT REPORT

Writers Room is a university-community literary arts program engaged in creative placemaking and art for social justice. We are a diverse, intergenerational collective whose work demonstrates a desire for collaborative opportunities in our joint communities.

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Mission The mission of Writers Room is to develop inclusive, intergenerational, co-creative places that foster connection and community. When all stories are valued, emerging and more experienced writers can recognize and share in each other’s gifts.

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“We Exist in Multitudes” created in response to the mural “Boy with the Raised Arm” by Sidney Goodman (1990) at 40th and Powelton done in collaboration with Mural Arts Philadelphia and People’s Paper Co-op.

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Contents OUR STORY

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COVID-19 RESPONSE

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FUNDRAISING

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ACADEMIC MISSION

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CONFERENCE ON COMMUNITY WRITING

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PROGRAMMING + RESEARCH

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OUR TEAM + PARTNERS

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LOOKING AHEAD

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WR IMPACT REPORT

OUR STORY Writers Room (WR) is a university-community literary arts program established in 2014 by Rachel Wenrick in Drexel’s College of Arts and Sciences. Initially begun at the Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnerships, it has successfully brought students, faculty, and staff together with local residents for productive conversation through a range of programs, from side-by-side classes, to monthly writing workshops, visiting writers, and cultural events. WR provides its members with the time, space, and expertise required to tell their stories, listen to others’ stories, and examine their experiences for commonality, discord, and meaning.

WR has expanded significantly since its launch six years ago, growing from providing monthly writing workshops that engage Drexel students alongside other members of the West Philadelphia community, to becoming an experiential home for students from across majors and colleges—a place for them to make meaningful connections between their educations and their civic lives. WR also provides a platform to support, amplify, and celebrate the intellectual work of faculty and staff across the university.

Simultaneously, WR has created the vision and cross-sector partnerships needed to build an innovative shared housing network that will respond to the urgent need for affordable housing and aging-in-place options in West Philadelphia and position Drexel as a model for colleges and universities across the nation.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have already highlighted disparities across the complex lines of class, gender, race, age, and geography. In the midst of this intensified stratification, WR’s ability to bring diverse interests together to address everyone’s needs and ask what-is-possible is more valuable than ever.

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TRIPOD writers-in-residence + WR team at the Dornsife Center during the national Conference on Community Writing, October 2019.

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COVID-19 RESPONSE At the start of lockdown, WR pivoted to online and call-in programming, expanding our reach and deepening engagement. This rapid, innovative shift has created new opportunities to address urgent need, allowing WR to respond quickly and co-create solutions with its members for the surrounding community. While we continue to focus on writing/ storytelling and its ability to build connection, WR’s research team is examining the ways in which an intergenerational cooperative can build a larger care network and reduce disruption and disconnection during this unprecedented time.

COURSES Throughout spring term, University Writing Program Faculty Fellow Valerie Fox led workshops with visiting writers Husnaa Hashim and Kelly McQuain: Writing from Home and Home Spaces. These classes explored how ideas of home are changing over time as well as how we’re maintaining community in light of social distancing measures.

In the spirit of in-person WR workshops, participants write, share, and continue to experiment with new genres. Writing from participants will be collected for publication in a handmade book as culmination.

Additional funding for the series was provided by Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

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PROGRAMMING Since March, WR has been holding weekly Friday writing workshops and reading discussions via Zoom. Led by different students/alumni, community residents, and partner faculty each week, these meetings have continued throughout the summer at the request of our members.

In addition, WR undergraduate students continue to host a virtual open mic each month that has drawn writers from across the city. Our annual publication of work, Anthology 6, was released in June with a reading and celebration livestreamed to our Facebook page.

RESEARCH WR successfully appealed to CNCS to repurpose funds from our research grant to support the Mantua Civic Association’s capacity to respond to the community’s greatest need, food insecurity. Led

by Dr. Ayana Allen-Handy, WR’s research team is currently examining the ways in which an intergenerational cooperative can build a larger care network and reduce disruption and disconnection during this unprecedented time.

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING Our current Co-op, Dominique Shatkin ’23, a Global Studies major, contributed to this effort, helping to connect isolated seniors in West Philadelphia to both community and resources (including groceries) while working remotely from her family farm in Rhode Island. This learning experience—responsive, impactful, allowing her to make connections between her studies, her childhood, and civic action—will profoundly inform the rest of her education, and her life, long after she graduates Drexel.

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WR IMPACT REPORT

FUNDRAISING With the support of the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, and the College of Arts and Sciences, WR has created a bridge for the University that connects students, faculty, and staff with its neighboring community through writing/storytelling. As a result, WR has attracted significant external funding, foundational interest, and a network of stakeholders unified in civic engagement. We have developed a model for departments and programs to utilize meaningful civic engagement as a means for foundational support.

During its two-year initial funding period, WR has raised $335,083 in external support and has increased its external funding sources by 26%. At the same time WR increased its foundational support by 53%. This includes two new awards from the Philadelphia Cultural Fund supporting general operating and youth arts initiatives.

This significant growth will continue through the next several years as we embark on a landmark cooperative living project that has been forwardfunded for a third year by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the federal agency that funds AmeriCorps. TD Charitable Foundation has just renewed funding for a third-straight year of programming connected to this work.

WR’s groundbreaking work as a diverse intergenerational collective has garnered corporate support from Canon USA and The Study Hotels and there is great potential for additional sponsorships. WR is currently working with Institutional Advancement to identify B-Corp prospects.

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Provost’s Office 26%

Corporate 5.7%

Federal 51.9%

Foundation 16.4%

Provost’s Office 20.6%

Corporate 4.1%

Foundation 27.8%

Federal 47.4%

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ACADEMIC MISSION STUDENT ENGAGEMENT + EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING WR students develop creativity, adaptability, emotional intelligence, and the ability to collaborate with diverse partners. These skills are not only in demand in the workforce and necessary for a successful career, they also help form the foundation for a meaningful life.

Every term WR hosts multiple events, including field trips to museums and historical sites, longer weekend workshops presenting different storytelling forms, symposia on issues that affect the larger community.

All events include workshop components. Students may help facilitate these events and produce both documentary and reflective texts to aid them in integrating this new experiential knowledge into their academic studies and their own lived experience. Six undergraduates across majors and years have formalized their leadership roles within WR as members of the Student Engagement Committee.

Since 2018, WR has engaged students through meaningful co-op experiences. With the exception of the initial cycle supported by the Lenfest Center for Cultural Partnerships, these positions have been unpaid and limited to students who can work without financial compensation.

To continue expansion and align with CoAS and the University’s interest in developing experiential learning experiences, WR envisions engaging at minimum one paid and one unpaid co-op for FY21 and FY22.

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Alumni Fellow Kyle Howey ’19 + Program Assistant Nick Vonk ’21 at the Just My Type Valentine’s event at WR Studio in MacAlister Hall, February 2020.

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COSMO RANDAZZO BS CHEMICAL ENGINEERING ’24

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“Writers Room has proven to hold the communal, creative, and caring values I could only have dreamed of experiencing after years of keeping my writing—my life, frankly—between me, myself, and my laptop.”

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COURSES WR’s courses and programming provide immersive learning experiences that are deepened and enriched by authentic engagement with community, inspiring and emboldening students to become leaders who create a more equitable world.This year WR has formalized our curricular offerings by proposing a variable credit studio class (0-3 credits) and 1-credit laboratory. Both course proposals have been approved by the University’s curriculum committee and will be regularly offered starting in Fall term 2020.

WRIT 290: Writers Room Studio As part of this studio class, students attend WR programming for the term and participate in a guided revision process that includes one-onone sessions with a faculty member, culminating in a revised piece for publication in Anthology.

WRIT 280: Writers Room Lab This 1-credit laboratory asks students to take the academic knowledge they are acquiring and apply it in their communities. This credit attaches to other courses across the University to encourage interdisciplinary and cross-sector learning.

FACULTY ENGAGEMENT WR provides a platform to support, amplify, and celebrate the intellectual work of faculty and staff across the University. WR facilitates faculty development through opportunities to co-create programs with our diverse intergenerational community, engage with a committed network of partners, and pursue funding external funding.

WR’s collaboration with the Department of English & Philosophy and University Writing Program’s Faculty Writing Fellows remains beneficial for all parties.

Faculty Writing Fellows are WR key personnel, designing and delivering curricular initiatives and community-facing programming. In addition, Faculty Writing Fellows provide increased capacity to pursue funding opportunities and develop innovative programming that attracts students and community partners. Finally, this relationship allows the fellows to simultaneously advance their own research and creative projects. This year, Valerie Fox was awarded a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and Kirsten Kaschock was named a 2019 Pew Fellow of the Arts.

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ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT WR room prides itself in providing graduates opportunities and fellowships that develop agile, culturally sensitive alumni through its robust programmatic offerings and partner network. WR has a high level of involvement from our alums, who remain regular participants after graduating from the University.

During their time as students, they develop meaningful relationships with community residents and faculty members alike. They learn what it means to be a good neighbor and a truly engaged member of community. As a result, our alumni maintain a genuine investment in the program, and return often even as they move into new chapters of their lives.

The Alumni Fellowship offers a new or recent Drexel graduate the opportunity to work meaningfully in community-engaged scholarship and practice and to disseminate their work to a local and national audience through a oneyear appointment. Designed as a springboard to graduate school or the professions, Alumni Fellows receives deep mentorship throughout their year and gain a wide range of skills that positions them for success postgraduation. WR is actively fundraising to continue offering this experience to more recent graduates.

Lauren Lowe ’17 + Alumni Fellow Kyle Howey ’19 at the Academy of Natural Sciences during the Conference on Community Writing, October 2019.

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“The culture of Writers Room is such that you are constantly learning from the wealth of educators and storytellers around you. Before you know it, you’ve got someone you can turn to for guidance in the same moment that someone else is looking to you for the same.”

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DEVIN WELSH BA ENGLISH ’20

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WR IMPACT REPORT

PROGRAMMING

CONFERENCE ON COMMUNITY WRITING 2019 In October, WR hosted the 2019 national Conference on Community Writing (CCW) at Drexel, the Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnerships, and at partner sites on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway: Academy of Natural Sciences, the Free Library of Philadelphia, and the Barnes Foundation. This 3-day event— designed and executed by WR’s team of students/alumni, faculty/staff and neighborhood residents—brought together teachers, scholars, artists, activists, and community organizers from across the country, positioning Drexel as a model of a higher education institution that connects meaningfully with communities. This unique conference put Philadelphia centerstage to have participants experience the city as they addressed issues that confront writing programs across the country: immigration, racism, gentrification, and the need for science literacy.

Utilizing long-standing relationships with community partners, Writers Room secured $81,547 in in-kind contributions for the conference, covering 57% of conference costs. These in-kind costs included $18, 712 in generous support from Writers Room for conference staffing, photography, and audio-visual services.

In addition, Writers Room internally raised 12% of the $23,175 in sponsorship revenue for the conference, with support from Pennoni Honors College, Department of English and Philosophy, Lindy Center for Civic Engagement, CCUE/School of Education, and the College of Arts and Sciences. With these significant cost savings, Writers Room produced $29,145 in revenue for the Coalition for Community Writing, an outstanding return for an event of its kind.

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WR students/alumni outside of the Free Library of Philadelphia, Parkway Central branch following Michelle Ortiz’s keynote + Home mural activation during the Conference on Community Writing, October 2019.

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DEEPTHINK TANKS

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS FOR DECOLONIAL AND ANTI-RACIST TEACHING BARNES FOUNDATION

BUILDING CAPACITY FOR ADVOCACY: RESEARCH TO ACTION IN SCIENCE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES

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OUR STRUGGLE, OUR JOY: IMMIGRANT ACTIVISM, STORYSHARING, AND COMMUNITY BUILDING FREE LIBRARY OF PHILADELPHIA, PARKWAY CENTRAL

RESISTING GENTRIFICATION: SHARING OUR STORIES DORNSIFE CENTER FOR NEIGHBORHOOD PARTNERSHIPS

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Lindy Center Executive Director Jennifer Johnson Kebea moderates a panel session with TRIPOD writers-in-re at the Conference on Community Writing, Octob

esidence ber 2019.

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“Having attended many conferences during my years in academia, I have rarely attended a conference whose organizers so fully realized the ethos of the event as did the organizers of the Conference on Community Writing in Philadelphia. From the choice of plenary speakers to the calendar of events to the community venues in which the conference sessions took place, each decision upheld and underscored the values shared by the coordinators and attendees of the conference. While this was the first time I attended the conference, it will surely not be the last.�

MARK MCBETH, PhD

Associate Professor of English, John Jay College of Criminal Justice/ CUNY English PhD Program, CUNY Graduate Center

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“As a student who was fairly new to Writers Room, the 2019 Conference on Community Writing felt like a test of my fit with the WR team, and it absolutely erased my timidity. When I first stumbled into the studio, I nervously asked what Writers Room was, and by the end of the conference, I knew the answer. We came together to host hundreds of people that all had one word in mind: home, and that’s what it felt like for me. Over the course of those three days, I felt that I had been adopted into a new kind of family.”

NICK VONK

BS Screenwriting/Playwriting ’21 Program Assistant, Fall/Winter Co-op

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Mural installation with Nick Vonk ’21, Michelle Ortiz, and Carol Richardson McCullough at the Free LIbrary of Philadelphia, Parkway Central branch, October 2019. The Home mural was the first large-scale public art installation at the Heim Center for Cultural and Civic Engagement, created as part of WR’s Connected Communities program series.

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Kirsten Kaschock leads the writers-in-residence during the closing reading at Dornsife during the Confer Community Writing, Octob

rence on ber 2019.

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“As a writer-in-residence I met students and community members engaged in artmaking as a way of not only perceiving but immersing themselves in a keen understanding of community and local contexts. In this space there is a sense of trust in all of our capacities to generate meaningful and beautiful art, and most of us are hard-put to find such spaces in our everyday contexts. I feel lucky to have spent time with Writers Room.�

AMANDA FIELDS MFA, PhD

Assistant Professor of English + Writing Center Director, Central Connecticut State University

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PROGRAMMING

CONNECTED COMMUNITIES Our 2018-2019 HOME symposium series allowed us to partner with neighborhood civic organizations and other experts across the university and city to discuss the past, present, and future of housing in this historically rich area.

This year, we continued those conversations with the Connected Communities program series supported by the TD Charitable Foundation.

These workshops utilized the tools of writing to address the most vital concerns of all our participants, including the desire for alternative affordable housing options in West Philadelphia.

SERIES HIGHLIGHTS: MURAL PAINTING WITH MICHELLE ORTIZ September 10, 2019 At the kick-off, artist Michelle Angela Ortiz led a mural painting session with WR founding members and community residents Jordan McCullough and Carol Richardson McCullough, exploring ideas of home and what it means to each of us. The mural was installed at the Free Library of Philadelphia, Parkway Central Branch as part of the national Conference on Community Writing.

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Artist + activist Michelle Ortiz leads a paint day at Dornsife as part of the Connected Communities kick-off, September 2019.

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DESIGN-BUILD WORKSHOP WITH TINY WPA November 11, 2019 Lancaster Avenue-based nonprofit organization Tiny WPA led a designbuild workshop at WR studio in MacAlister Hall to create a communal table that will become the center of our Writers House. Through a collaborative space-making process, members of the Building Hero Project and WR teams create improvements to the studio to support our collaborative programming.

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VISITING ARTISTS DANNI MORRIS + ANDREA WALLS January 6-10, 2020 TRIPOD writers-in-residence hosted visiting artists Danni Morris + Andrea Walls in collaboration with Philadelphia Photo Arts Center and the Women’s Mobile Museum. Throughout the week Morris + Walls worked one-on-one with the TRIPOD writers to refine and develop ongoing projects, offering the tools to create new narratives about their histories and potential futures in West Philadelphia. They also lead January First Tuesday, a writing workshop in response to visual art.

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PROGRAMMING

THE STUDY x WR RESIDENCY WR and The Study at University City have partnered to create a new writer-in-residence program that provides writers dedicated time and space to advance their work. In addition to a one-week complimentary stay in a room with a dedicated writing space, each experience culminates in a public event for hotel and invited guests. Up to three residencies will be offered each year and writers of all forms are encouraged to apply.

“We need some thoughtful approaches to storytelling. We need that from our deep thinkers and cultural preservationists and artistic narrators. We need more from them, so we need to give them the sustenance, the hospitality, the kindness.�

ANDREA WALLS INAUGURAL WRITER-IN-RESIDENCE

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Carol Richardson McCullough + Janae Kindt ’20 discuss Andrea Walls’ gallery show at the Study at University City, December 2019.

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PROGRAMMING

TRIPOD In October 2019, WR welcomed its third generation of writers-inresidence for TRIPOD, the once-pilot project launched in 2017 with support from Canon. Creative teams of Drexel students, local residents, YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School students, and Paul Robeson High School students met weekly on Fridays throughout the year and other planned times to explore the city together, photographing and writing about their experiences as they document their intertwined neighborhoods. This socio-economically, religiously, and racially diverse cohort focuses on multi-vocal and multi-media storytelling.

In addition, Natasha Hajo ’19 served as an ArtistYear AmeriCorps Teaching Fellow for the 2019-2020 academic year, working as a writer-in-residence at Paul Robeson High School and continuing her collaboration with WR as an alumni through TRIPOD. She is the third consecutive ArtistYear Fellow that WR has supported in this role.

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Paul Robeson High School seniors Niyai Walker-Cruz, John McDonald, and Tymir Gullette with ArtistYear Fellow Natasha Hajo ’19 during the Conference on Community Writing, October 2019.

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Paul Robeson High School senior Niyai Walker-Cruz takes a photo during a TRIPOD field trip to the Institute of Contemporary Art, February 2020.

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Writers-in-Residence DHAZIR ACOSTA YOUTHBUILD ’20 BRENDA BAILEY COMMUNITY RESIDENT ATTICUS BERRY BS PHOTOGRAPHY ’20 NORMAN CAIN COMMUNITY RESIDENT ROSALYN CLIETT COMMUNITY RESIDENT KEYSSH DATTS ROBESON HIGH SCHOOL ’19 TIFFANY ELLIS BS BIOLOGY ’22 TYMIR GULLETTE ROBESON HIGH SCHOOL ’20 CHAD HARDY YOUTHBUILD ’20 WARREN HOWZELL COMMUNITY RESIDENT YUSHA JOHNSON YOUTHBUILD ’19 MALLIKA KODAVATIGANTI BS BIOLOGY ’21

EMANUAL MARQUEZ BSBA TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION & SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT ’24 CAROL RICHARDSON MCCULLOUGH COMMUNITY RESIDENT JORDAN MCCULLOUGH COMMUNITY RESIDENT JOHN MCDONALD ROBESON HIGH SCHOOL ’20 LOWELL NOTTAGE YOUTHBUILD ’19 CAROL PEÑA COMMUNITY RESIDENT VICTORIA HUGGINS PEURIFOY COMMUNITY RESIDENT JARETT SPELLER COMMUNITY RESIDENT MIRACLE SPENCE YOUTHBUILD ’20 NIYAI WALKER-CRUZ ROBESON HIGH SCHOOL ’20 DEVIN WELSH BA ENGLISH ’20

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PROGRAMMING

FIRST TUESDAYS Since 2014, WR has run ten free First Tuesday workshops every year at the Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnerships. Students help plan and facilitate the workshops and collect and transcribe work produced at the workshops for WR’s yearly Anthology.

Recent guest workshop leaders have included Youth Poet Laureate of Philadelphia, Husnaa Hashim, Mark Strandquist and Courtney Bowles of People’s Paper Co-op, and Andrea Walls and Danielle Morris of Women’s Mobile Museum.

On Third Thursdays, readings and seminars are facilitated by faculty and students at Writers Room Studio. These monthly events serve as the bedrock of WR, welcoming new members into the community and offering them a succinct but meaningful writing experience they can choose to return to and build on.

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Brenda Bailey and Rosalyn Cliett write together during a First Tuesday visual narrative workshop at the Dornsife Center, October 2019.

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PROGRAMMING

RESEARCH In collaboration with the School of Education (SoE), WR embarked on Year 2 of a Community-led Participatory Action Research (CLPAR) study that brings together an intergenerational university-community research team to investigate the landscape of residential displacement and affordable housing options in the rapidly gentrifying federally designated West Philadelphia Promise Zone. This project seeks to illuminate the existing housing options that are available, how well these options are understood by residents in need, and whether the community is interested in alternative options, specifically in university-community cooperative living.

Ayana Allen-Handy, PhD, an assistant professor in Drexel’s SoE, leads the project, while the TRIPOD writers form the core group of researchers.

Rachel Wenrick, founding director of Writers Room, is co-PI, and Kirsten Kaschock, PhD, assistant teaching professor of English, and D.S. Nicholas, RA, AIA, NCARB, an assistant professor in the Westphal College of Media Arts and Design, are senior personnel. Community leaders Carol Richardson McCullough, founding member of Writers Room, and De’Wayne Drummond, president of the Mantua Civic Association, also serve as senior personnel on the project.

While WR continues to focus on writing/storytelling and its ability to build connection, this rapid, innovative shift has created new opportunities to address urgent needs. WR and SoE have successfully appealed to CNCS to repurpose funds from their research grant to support the Mantua Civic Association’s capacity to respond to the community’s greatest need, food insecurity.

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A sample postcard created by Carol Richardson McCullough for a story-sharing project with senior neighbors living in Mantua—a way of staying connected during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, April 2020.

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OUR TEAM RACHEL WENRICK FOUNDING DIRECTOR PATRICE WORTHY ’12 ASSISTANT DIRECTOR KIRSTEN KASCHOCK FACULTY DIRECTOR + UWP FACULTY FELLOW VALERIE FOX UWP FACULTY FELLOW CAROL RICHARDSON MCCULLOUGH CULTURAL LIAISON LAUREN LOWE ’17 COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR KYLE HOWEY ’19 ALUMNI FELLOW TIFFANY ELLIS ’22 DREXEL COMMUNITY SCHOLAR NICK VONK ’21 PROGRAM ASSISTANT, FALL/WINTER CO-OP DOMINIQUE SHATKIN ’23 PROGRAM ASSISTANT, SPRING/SUMMER CO-OP

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Members of the WR + Dornsife Center teams together after successfully hosting the 3-day Conference on Community Writing, October 2019.

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PARTNERS We are grateful to our network of partners who worked with us to create the year’s extensive slate of programming.

Funders: Canon USA, Corporation for National and Community Service, Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, The Study at University City, TD Charitable Foundation Civic: Mantua Civic Association, People’s Emergency Center, Powelton Village Civic Association Education: Academy of Natural Sciences, Agewell Collaboratory, College of Nursing & Health Professions, Department of Architecture, Design & Urbanism, Department of English & Philosophy, Department of History, Design Research MS, Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnerships, Dornsife School of Public Health, Head Start of Philadelphia, Lindy Center for Civic Engagement, Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation, MAD Dragon Community Recording, Paul Robeson High School, Pennoni Honors College, School of Education, Urban Strategy MS, University Writing Program, Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, YouthBuild Philadelphia Arts + Culture: ArtistYear, Barnes Foundation, Free Library of Philadelphia, The Head & The Hand Press, Institute of Contemporary Art, Mural Arts Philadelphia, Painted Bride Quarterly, People’s Paper Co-op, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philly Typewriter, Preservation Alliance, The Soapbox, Tiny WPA, West Powelton Drummers, Women’s Mobile Museum

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Westphal faculty members Uk Jung ’08 + D.S. Nicholas conduct a homesharing case study at Helma Weeks’ home in Powelton Village, March 2020.

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LOOKING AHEAD TRIPOD Year 4: Canon Solutions America, which has supported TRIPOD, our intergenerational writing and photography project, is continuing sponsorship for a fourth year.

Open Pilot: Supported by the TD Charitable Foundation, the Open Pilot program builds on ongoing research, funding, and creative community awareness building driven by leaders from Drexel and the Mantua and Powelton communities in West Philadelphia. Our objective is to create two homesharing models with homes committed by local civic leaders and long-term neighborhood residents. Open Pilot is crucial to informing the next phase of our work: the creation of a network of home-sharers as an alternative affordable housing strategy, cohered by multimodal storytelling programming and a desire for a more connected world.

Inaugural Fellows Cohort: Supported by external funding, Writers Room is offering fellows positions for the 2020–2021 academic year to students, faculty, scholars, artists, and practitioners who are committed to developing inclusive, intergenerational, co-creative places that foster connection and community. These fellows serve as Writers Room collaborators and are deeply engaged in our programming, coursework, or research.

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Paul Robeson High School c/o ’19 alums Keyssh Datts + Dejah Jade with Kyle Howey ’19 and Nick Vonk ’21 on the way to the Dornsife Center for First Tuesday, November 2019.

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Credits Photos p. 2-3 Devin Welsh

p. 27 Rachel Wenrick

p. 4 Mark Strandquist p.7 Nick Vonk p. 13 Devin Welsh p. 14 Rachel Wenrick p. 17 Nick Vonk p. 19 Kyle Howey p. 21 Briyanna Hymms p. 22 (top) Fidel Boamah p. 22 (bottom) Kyle Howey p. 23 (top) Keyssh Datts p. 23 (bottom) Natasha Hajo p. 24 Lauren Lowe

p. 28 Devin Welsh p. 31 Devin Welsh p. 32 Rachel Wenrick p. 33 Nick Vonk p. 35 Kyle Howey p. 37 Lauren Lowe p. 38 Tymir Gullette p. 41 Kyle Howey p. 43 Carol Richardson McCullough p. 45 Janel McCloskey p. 47 Devin Welsh p. 49 Rachel Wenrick

Text Written by Kirsten Kaschock, Lauren Lowe, Rachel Wenrick, and Patrice Worthy.

WE START WITH STORY.

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