Ask a group of middle school students what music they like to listen to and you might anticipate answers like Megan Thee Stallion, Drake, Taylor Swift, Harry Styles. I asked the young people from LinkSTL’s Summercamp at Clay Community Resource Center (CCRC) what song they’d like to listen to during […]
Give the Gift of a Better Future this #GivingTuesday
This #GivingTuesday, St. Louis’ underserved youth need your help. Education is one of the strongest predictors of future career success, upward mobility, and health. But under-resourced schools, poverty, and toxic stress (like abuse, neglect, and other violence) hinder the ability of the most at-risk students to learn and succeed, […]
Free Tutoring at Clay Community Resource Center!
YourWords STL has partnered with SLU, St. Louis Public Schools, and Link STL to provide tutoring and creative writing workshops at our new location with Clay Community Resource Center in Hyde Park! We are offering free tutoring from 3:30-5:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Clay Community Resource Center is a […]
#GivingTuesday 2021 is approaching!
In the past 20 months, all of humanity has had to grow and adapt in order to keep going. In March 2020, YWSTL had to quickly grow from 2.5 hours of tutoring per week to 3 hours of virtual tutoring per day. We’ve since quadrupled our tutoring pool, created a […]
Volunteer Spotlight
YWSTL is excited to profile the work of Olivia DePaul, one of our most dedicated, patient, and engaging volunteers! Olivia tutors the young people at Marygrove Children’s Home, a residential facility in Florissant, MO, for children who have been placed in foster care or experienced trauma. Our “on-call” tutor, Olivia […]
Words in the Time of COVID
By Lydia Paar, Summer Creative Writing Workshop Leader
It’s been awhile since I read Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s classic epidemic novel, Love in the Time of Cholera, but what I recall about it is distance: correspondence over letters–words which keep two lovers in contact over years of circumstantial separation. I think
Unheard Voices: You Don’t Know My Story
A local Emmy-award winning filmmaker, Daniel Blake Smith, has theatrically staged the real-life stories of the young men who reside at Marygrove Children’s Home, in Florissant, Missouri. By way of a collaboration with YourWords STL, PRIME Theater, and Marygrove Children’s Home, two performances of Unheard Voices: You Don’t Know My […]
Good Times
Guest blog from Workshop Leader, Donna PattonReggie escorted five girls into the back office at Lift for Life gym. The office was small and crowded, full of files and donated items like gloves and mouthwash. Boys loudly chattered and played basketball on the other side of the thin office wall. […]
#GivingTuesday is here!
In 2017, YourWords STL provided:- A full year of weekly one-on-one tutoring at Drury House for 16-20-year-old young men at Marygrove Children’s Home- A full year of creative writing workshops at Drury House with two chapbooks currently in production led by Dr. Anna Ojascastro Guzon and Joey Ferber- Our inaugural […]
Fall Semester in the Books
Guest blog from Workshop Leader, Joey FerberSemester by semester, YourWords STL contributes to the ongoing St. Louis movement fighting for youth literacy and creativity. The energy and spirit of the organization in tandem with its students’ skill and passion create a feedback loop of inspiration. As options open and ideas […]