Empowering urban youth through the mastery of language and cultural literacy.

The Power Writers Program

Fosters literate, ethical and critically conscious young men and women who will be fully prepared to participate in our society. Young people who do not have power over the story that dominates their lives, the power to retell it, rethink it, deconstruct it and change it as times change, are truly powerless, because they cannot imagine a future. This is particularly true for those teenagers who face the gravest challenges living in our nation’s most impoverished and dangerous communities.

The Abolitionist leader Frederick Douglas once wrote,

“It is easier to raise strong children than to fix broken men.”

“Through Poetry, personal expression, social awareness, and a strong support network that embraces the participant’s need for a creative voice and their struggle against life’s raw social challenges, the Power Writers Program actualizes the wisdom of Douglas.” – Gene Adams, Dir. of Collaborative Education Programs, Bronx Community College

The Power Writers Program teaches effective and practical mastery of the four language literacies, Reading, Writing, Public Speaking and Active Listening and our goal is to give the student participants a deep sense of ownership of the world around them and a deep appreciation of their personal life narrative.