YourWords STL

We are committed to bridging racial, cultural, and economic divides, by honing the ability of people to tell their stories, while providing opportunities for the community to listen.

How We Make an Impact

In our structured workshops, workshop leaders guide students in drafting and editing creative writing pieces.
Our trained tutors provide one-on-one guidance and general homework help, giving students the encouragement and insights they need to succeed.
Our collaborative writing projects develop racial literacy and empathy among elementary and middle school students located on opposite sides of the Delmar Divide.

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Join us as we bridge divides in the St. Louis community.

 

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From the Blog

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 […]

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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

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Why I Tutor

Guest blog from YourWords AmeriCorps Vista, Kim Daniel
From elementary school until sophomore year of high school, regardless of applied effort, punishment, or parental lectures, I failed to produce anything more than individual “A” grades, never cumulative “A’s” for the quarter or the semester. Therefore, to my amazement, when my

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Bessel van der Kolk. M.D.
Language gives us the power to change ourselves and others by communicating our experiences, helping us to define what we know, and finding a common sense of meaning.
Rebecca Wallace-Segall
Human beings yearn to share, reflect, and understand one another, and they use these reflections to improve the state of things, both personal and public.
Kathryn Feldt
YourWordsSTL gives young people a way to find and use their authentic voices, to process their emotions, and to feel hope and confidence in the future.
Bessel van der Kolk M.D.
Feeling listened to and understood changes our physiology; being able to articulate a complex feeling, and having our feelings recognized, lights up our limbic brain and creates an a-ha moment.