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Last updated on September 30, 2008

Girls Write Now (GWN) is a nonprofit volunteer mentoring organization that has been matching bright, creative teenage girls from New York City’s public high schools with professional women writers in the community since 1998. Through weekly one-on-one mentoring sessions, monthly genre-based workshops held at Teachers & Writers Collaborative, and cultural fieldtrips, college seminars, and public readings, the program provides a safe and supportive environment where girls can expand their natural writing talents, develop independent creative voices, and build confidence in making healthy choices in school, career, and life.

Description:
Girls Write Now connects our young aspiring writers to accomplished women, to encourage self-expression and charting a bright future. Our program has four components:

-One-on-one Mentoring: We pair at-risk girls (mentees) and professional women volunteers (mentors) according to their interests. These pairs engage in writing/editing sessions once a week throughout the school year. These projects are incorporated into a writing portfolio, edited with the help of the girls’ mentors, to prepare them for job interviews, internships, contests, scholarships and the like.

-Writing Workshops: Our genre-based workshops (attended by mentees and mentors) are held one Saturday a month at Teachers & Writers Collaborative. Fiction, poetry, playwriting, memoir and journalism are used to explore issues and themes such as social justice, gender, race, and religion.

-Special Events: GWN sponsors college and career seminars, individual college counseling sessions with a certified guidance counselor, cultural field trips, and three annual readings of original student works.

-Girls Life Adventure: Girls Life Adventure (GLA) is a free arts based/life skills program for teenage girls in NYC. Co-created by Girls Write Now and viBe Theater Experience, GLA guides girls through writing and performance workshops and publications in order to discover both practical and creative solutions to the most important of everyday challenges. Each bi-monthly "quest" is strategically located throughout NYC, and led by a team of youth leaders, teaching artists, and experts from the community. GLA equips and inspires girls to find beauty and poetry in the adventure that is each girl's life.

History:
The organization started almost 10 years ago in order to provide New York City at-risk high school girls with a valuable extended writing program. The unique concept proved magical from the start although the infrastructure and programming have been refined and strengthened each season. To date we have served over 500 members.

Contact people:

Maya Nussbaum, Executive Director, (212) 691-6590 x202, (email) Michele Thomas, Communications Director, (917) 375-6254, (email) Allison Heiny, Enrollment Director, (212) 329-8344, (email)

Office fax number: (212) 675-0171

Address:

520 Eighth Avenue, Suite 2020 New York, NY 10018 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.girlswritenow.org

Directions:

Nearest Metro/Subway Stop: A/C/E, 1/2/3, N/R/Q/W train to 34th St./Penn Station,   Walk distance (in minutes): 2-5

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