October 9, 2025 • 30 mins
Community DC Host Dennis Glasgow welcomes to the program Robyn Lingo, who is the executive director for 826dc, a nonprofit that provides free writing and publishing programs for students ages 6-18 in Washington, D.C. to build their writing skills and confidence. Over the next 30 mins we’ll talk about what 826dc is, what they offer and how you and your child can be participate in one of their many programs and we should also mention that you can buy finished books by the children in the magic shop as you enter 826DC.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community d C.
I'm your host Dennis Glasgow. This morning, we welcome to
the show for the first time Robin Lingo, who is
the executive director for eight two six d C, a
nonprofit that provides free writing and publishing programs from student
ages six to eighteen in Washington, d C to build
their writing skills and their confidence. Over the next thirty minutes,
we'll talk about what A two six d C is,
(00:24):
what they offer, and how you and your chock can
participate in one of their many cool programs. And we
should also mention that you can buy the finished books
by the children in the magic shop as you enter
A two six d C. Here's my conversation with Robin.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Good morning, Robin. Right, well, it's great to have you
board first time on the show in Community DC, and
I am stoked to have you aboard. And you know,
(00:46):
when I found out about having you on the program
and A two six DC, I didn't know a lot
about it. And I think there's some of our listeners
that do know about it, but there's a lot that
probably don't. And that's why you're here to educate us
over the next thirty minutes. So tell us just about
the origin of A two six DC and what it
is when it started, and then we'll get into what
it is now and all the cool things that you're
(01:06):
doing right now, which is really incredible. But what's the
origin story?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Great, So, HWO six d C is a youth writing
program and we've been around in DC for fifteen years,
but we actually belonged to a national network that was
started by the author Dave Edgars and his friend and
educator Nina B.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Campbell, and they started the first A two six in.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
San Francisco, and they wanted to open a youth writing
program and place for young people in the Mission neighborhood
in San Francisco to get homework help.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
But the only space they could find was a space
that was zoned for commercial use on.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Valencia Street, and so they opened a whimsical pirate shop
in the front that the young people enter through to
the back where you get a magical space for imagination,
create fun and learning in an.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Individualized support setting.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
And so that became the first eight two six Valencia
because that is their address. And then there have been
chapters that have sprung up across the country since then.
And we've been here in d C for fifteen years
and are in the Columbia Heights neighborhood, and all the
eight to six chapters all have a whimsical fund the
storefront that is an area for the community to engage
(02:28):
with us and also for our young people to get
to enter into a space that is joyful, imaginative and
opens their mind to the world of possibility and dreaming.
And our space in DC is a magic shop that
the students enter into and then you enter into our
writing lab.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
I love that. I was wonderful, you know when I
was on the website a little bit earlier, and I'm
looking at it now. Young people have important things to say,
and I think you and I would be on the
same page. And I have a twenty two year old daughter.
And one of the things that I noticed, you know,
with generation, they didn't read and write as much as
I did. And I'm you know, I'm from the original
generation X. So we did a lot of that because
(03:09):
there was no internet and you had books, and there
was more reading and writing back then, so that this
program exactually exists for young people. I think is just fascinating.
So what I'd like to ask you first about is
the mission and vision of it and what.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Are those Yeah, So our mission is to ensure that
every young person in DC has a lasting and positive
relationship with writing that really catalyzes their ability to move
into the future of their choosing. I mean, writing, like
you said, is so many things. It is critical thinking,
(03:44):
it is creation, it is summarizing, it is sharing your
mind with the world. And it's such an important skill
for young people to be able to have, to be
able to move through the world as somebody who knows
the importance of their own voice, who knows that they
have something that people want to listen to and hear
(04:07):
and absorb, and that you also have this skill that
is so critical to all of the ways that we
move through our lives as professional adults.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Writing is such a key professional skill, but.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
It's also such a core to I think of writing
as core to our humanity, Like how do you want
to share.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Your mind with the world?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
And I want to make sure that every young person
in our city has that skill and that power and
that they know that their voice matters. And so we
think of writing as such an important tool to all
of those outcomes. I'll just lastly say that I think,
especially in this particular moment we're living in and very
(04:50):
much in our local community here in the Washington, DC area,
there is so much change happening and a lot of uncertainty.
And writing is also healing. Writing is reflection and space
to process and understand yourself and the world. And so
we want to be making a space for young people
(05:11):
to have the full power of writing, and we do
think of that as just so core to our mission
and making sure that young people, all young people have
equitable access to writing education.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Well I love that, and well said. So before we
get into programs and we're going to talk about servial
that you offer, which is very cool, I want to
talk about criteria because I think we've got everybody's attention.
How cool this is when it comes to criteria as
far as ages and how they reach out to you
and start a program. How does it all work?
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah? Great.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
So we work with students kindergarten through twelfth grade and
really that whole span, and we also do our work
both in and outside of schools.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
So we run.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Imaginative, fun, joyful writing programs that young people can access
at our space in Columbia Heights through our after school
programming and through open writing workshops that are open to
anybody who is interested in coming in and having that opportunity.
And then we also partner deeply with schools and teachers
so that our student centered writing that starts really from
(06:17):
a place of helping young people love writing and enjoy
it and see it as part of their right and
their ability to communicate with the world. We bring that
directly into schools by partnering with teachers, so we run
some creative writing classes and journalism classes at various schools
across the city, as well as providing just individualized or
(06:40):
extra writing support in a classroom for a teacher, and
do a lot of partnering also with schools around helping
young people important and important moments in their life, like
when they're applying to high school or college and having
some extra individualized support for those writing applications.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
It's a good segue, and I realize that young people
are always good at feedback, especially when they're doing something
that you know is cool and I know it's cool,
but maybe they don't know it or can't express it.
I imagine when you hear from educators and parents and
families or just people that are watching these kids do
these incredible things. The feedback must be extraordinary about how
(07:20):
it's changing everybody's life and maybe the kid might not
know it, but some wonderful things are wrapping.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Can you talk about feedback? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (07:28):
So, I mean I actually thought you were going to
go a different way about that question about feedback.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
So I'm going to tell you two different things.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Please, yeah, go ahead?
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Is that?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
So?
Speaker 3 (07:38):
I think one of the pieces that is coolest about
our work is that young people don't just write and
we put it on a shelf.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
We publish young people's work.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
So in most of our programs, the work that young
people do in getting a chance to create poems, short stories, essays, letters,
we put that into books that we publish and we
send out into the world.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
I'll talk more at the end about the way I
love that, Yeah, some of our cool books.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
So I think in terms of how students can see
the impact of our work that the fact that you
leave our program as a published author is something that
young people can take with them into that life of possibility.
It is knowing that you have accomplished something that you
have left the lasting story impression words for the world
(08:29):
to encounter and learn from.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
And you know, you.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Can't take that sense of agency and voice and power
away from students once they know that they are in
a published book. And we also create lots of opportunities
for young people to read their work in public settings
as well, so that they can also see what happens
when you read your poem, you read your essay in
front of an audience, and people absorb it and react
(08:56):
to it and come and talk to you. But you know,
there are so many academic outcomes of our work as well.
Young people really grow in all of their key literacy
skills in terms of their writing knowledge and ability in
just content in appropriate, how you answer prompt in the
(09:17):
right way, your fluency, your vocabulary, all the core sort of.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Academic parts of writing.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
As a twin component to literacy is reading. I think
when we talk about literacy sometimes we think most about reading,
but writing is equally important. We need to be able
to read and absorb, and we need to be able
to write and share out our opinion and thoughts about that.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
It also has.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Really important impacts in terms of increasing students own motivation
and engagement in their own learning. I think anytime we
provide opportunities for young people to see learning and skill
building as really connected to what they want to do
in the world and what they want to move into
(10:03):
and their aspirations and goals, it becomes so much more tangible.
And then there's this like fire that you can't you
can't extinguish. And then lastly, that piece really around social
emotional healing. You know, the last five ten years have
been a lot and a lot for young people and
writing is a healing process.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Writing is processing.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Writing is getting a chance to, you know, take what
you have experienced and put it on the page so
that you can, you know, leave it behind, so that
you can take it into a different level of resiliency
and power.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Healing.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Writing just provides such an important part of the healing process,
and so we really see that in the impacts that
students have from our spaces and our writing programs. Lastly,
I just I will say, because we are a writing organization,
we know that writing is not a one and done
an experience. So when you said feedback, one of the
(11:04):
things that is core to our work is editing, and
we edit and work with students to edit their own work,
and I think that's such a key part of our work,
as well as knowing that really refining and working on
something takes time, and it takes feedback from others. It
takes you putting something down on paper, walking away, coming
(11:26):
back looking at it again, thinking about how could I
make my point in a more succinct or clear way,
or is there some piece of this description that could
be clear with different vocabulary. And we do that editing
and revision process in partnership with students where we're asking questions,
(11:46):
we're probing, or have volunteers who come in and help
us do some copy editing with students, but it's really
centered around not correcting students' work, but leading them through
a journey of how you revise and improve over time.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Well, I want to talk a little bit more about
all the programs, because you have some amazing things going on.
But one of the things that really caught me is
you were going through that explanation about feedback and everything.
And I've talked to psychologists and I've also read about
this from my family and also just in general that
just when you simply journal for kids that can't kind
of get things out and maybe talk to their parents
or a guardian or even their friends. Writing something down
(12:25):
about your feelings, good, bad, or indifferent is absolute paramount
for mental health.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Right absolutely.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
And I think you know, like I said in this moment,
for our local community, we are so honored to create
this space for young people to just have a space
that they get to come and be their full authentic self,
exactly who they are, and have that chance to journal
to create new worlds.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
I talk a lot about like.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Especially for well, I was gonna say especially for our
younger students, but it's true for our high school students too.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
There's so much sort of.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Writing about new worlds with fictional realities, and you know
there's dragons and space and outer space and other things
that are outside of their current reality. But give them
a chance to process this world in a different way,
(13:25):
in a way in which creativity and imagination are part
of the healing process.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And you know,
the other takeaway that I would probably have that you
know you could elaborate on from all your experiences and
professionalism about what you do is that you know everybody
who's been a kid before. When you're in a group,
some people might think that something like this is nerdy
or dumb or stupid, and you get to go to
your place and actually, you know, kind of explore who
you are without any kind of judgment from your peer group,
(13:51):
which is also paramount hard to do. But it's another
wonderful thing that you offer up when you're a kid
and you know there's a lot of peer pressure out there.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Right And actually, so you know, as I said, in
terms of our programs, we run our after school Writing Lab,
which is at our space in Columbia Hates. But we also,
as I was talking about, push into classrooms in schools,
and so last school year for our program called our
Young Author's Book Project, which is one of our longest
engagements with a class or a school that results in
(14:22):
a professionally bound published book, we worked with the entire
tenth grade of Phelps High School on young people writing
narrative poetry around the theme the Life I Choose. And
young people first got a chance to think about what
are those critical decisions, moments, events in.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
My life that have shaped who I am and who I.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Want to be, And then they learned over the course
of a whole school year about narrative poetry looked at
mentor techts had a chance to look at music and
hip hop and old and new poems and think about
the different ways that people used structure and stanza and
verse and words to convey their life. And then they
(15:10):
all wrote their own. And the reason I'm bringing up
this project and program is because I think it goes
to what you were saying of, Like, you might not
think that every tenth grader was going to be excited
about narrative.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Poetry, and I can't buy you.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
They probably weren't when we first entered the classroom, but
every young person had a chance to use that vehicle
to explore themselves. And there are beautiful poems from some
of the young boys in that class on their basketball games,
on the moment that they thought they were going to
(15:46):
win a game and they didn't, or their opportunities on
the soccer field, where what it meant to work in
a team. There's a beautiful piece from a young woman
about being on the cheerleading squad. There are pieces about
their first experiences on an amusement park, Like they all
(16:08):
found a way to use narrative poetry as something for them,
And I was really just moved in that experience over
the classroom, over the year in the classroom of seeing
that that maybe embarrassment or writing is nerdy really shed
away as they got to see every one of their
(16:29):
peers do it and everyone use it for.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Their own purpose well.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
And that also goes to thing about young people too,
that you know, you're still exploring all your feelings that
you have as a young person and going through so
many things that you do from the young people you
work with right through high school, in middle school and
in high school. I mean, we've all been there. It
can be a war zone in your head. And that
you can articulate that and get your feelings down about
(16:55):
all that as you get to watch that must be
just paramount to some of these kids once again their
mental health health, but also exploring all these new things
that they've never had been able to do before. Robin.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
A remarkable program and I'm so proud of that book.
It's called now I See with Open Eyes, which is
a line from one of their poems. And we actually
had the process was covered by this local or by
a national education media site called K twelve Dive that
did a piece looking at how the project really pulled
(17:27):
young people from a space of thinking that they weren't writers,
or that they didn't they weren't good at it, to
this place of really feeling a sense of pride and accomplishment.
And also just like now I can use writing for
everything that I want.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
And I am so proud of that process.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
And also I just really highly recommend that book to
anybody who wants to have an inside look at what.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
It means to be a teenager in our city. It's
just each student's.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Poem is so unique and distinct and really poignant and moving.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
That's really wonderful. Now you've edged on some of your programs,
so I'd like you to talk about a few others.
But I know you have the in school writing and
editing and publishing they've talked about. You do have field Trips,
the Young Author Book project that you had talked about,
after school writing labs and writing work days. Can you
talk about the others that would just mention anything else
you'd like to kind of highlight.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
So the one other that you mentioned is our field
trip program, and this is one of my favorites as well.
This is a program we do for a whole class
comes to our space our after school writing lab, which
is a bright, beautiful, creative, magical space, and they as
a class get to learn about the core components of
(18:42):
storytelling together and then collaboratively write a story. So they
mostly we're talking about elementary school students. They come in
and they learn about how every story has characters, every
story has a setting, every story has a conflict, and
then they collaboratively bring storm what those would be. And
you could not imagine the I mean just completely whacky,
(19:11):
beautiful things.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
That get created in those stories.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
You know.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
There's sometimes I was in my office once last school
year we had a great story storytelling field trip. Came
in and there was a yetti and a unicorn that
we're on a trek up a mountain, and then they
met a bear and they weren't sure whether or not
the bear was trying to trick them or was trying
(19:37):
to help them. There was once we did a big
storytelling field trip actually at the National Book Festival in
collaboration with the Library of Congress earlier this month, and
that one we had a big crowd of both young people.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
And student and their parents doing it together.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
And there were some butterflies that lived in the magical
world of butterffect who were trying to fight off a
butterfly killer. And you know, it's just it's a beautiful
way for young people to learn about storytelling from the
place of doing. And that's what I love about our
(20:15):
work is it's not you know, all of the learning
is centered in young people getting a chance to be
the author, to be the writer, to be the storyteller themselves,
and in our field trips programs, those also result in
a published book that we give to every young person
in that class.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
I love that. I wanted to talk to you about staff,
about who you work with and how they work with
the kids, because I'm sure the parents and educators are
saying this is all cool, but you know who's working
with them, and what kind of background do they have,
and how do they follow up with them and keep
an eye on their writings and say this is cool,
you can work on this. How does that all work
with your staff?
Speaker 3 (20:53):
Yeah, So, I'm just really the luckiest to have such
a talented and dedicated and creative staff, and our program
staff all have a background in writing. Many of them
are writers themselves, and they work either through our in
school work where they go into a classroom and partner
(21:16):
collaboratively with a teacher where we're really using the teacher
as a core partner of ours of what are their
goals and objectives for that class, and then creating curriculum
together and then bringing additional resource and so our staff
for lots of our in school work are working with
the same teacher or librarian or principal or school leader
(21:38):
throughout the course of a year. And then in our
after school writing lab, we have a wonderful staff member
who runs that program who is just done a beautiful
job of creating community so that we have twenty five
young people on each day in our space that are
joined by our staff, that are joined by adults volunteers,
(22:01):
by college student interns, and by students from K through
eighth grade. So it's this beautiful multi generational space where
everyone is learning from each other and our staff is
staying in constant communication with parents and families about how
their young pre person is growing and developing. And we
get such great feedback from parents about what they've seen
(22:23):
the transformation in their students as they've gone through this
process in terms of confidence, in terms of skills, in
terms of desire to go to school feeling like adults
care about them and that they have a sense of belonging.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Our big outcomes that come from all of our work.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Well, that's pretty huge. And I imagine that when you
hear from parents and educators, because we all know we
have a lot of two working parent families, or maybe
there's a single parent. They're working, and teachers only have
so much time in the day, you know, between teaching
and grades. When they find out what you guys do,
they must be elated that we've got. It's this extra
(23:00):
funnel that we can have kids learn to write and
do cool things that we just don't have the time
for exactly.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
And actually you're touching on a piece. I was just
earlier this morning doing a presentation. We in our after
school writing lab, we partner with a local elementary school
where we actually have some staff who go and pick
up the young people from that elementary school and walk
them to our after school program because we know that
(23:32):
for so many working parents, three point thirty is not
a time that you can move your third grader from
school to the after school enrichment programs that they need
and deserve. And so you know, it caused us extra
money to be able to staff that and to ensure
that we can provide that safe transportation. But it's important
(23:52):
to us that our programs be open to all families
and that transportation, even walking transportation in a safe way,
isn't a barrier for anybody.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Well, this is a good segue because we always like
to ask about how you're funded and how people can
donate and volunteer. I know there's a lot there, so
let's dig into it. How does everybody become involved in
how are you funded?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (24:15):
So we make up more funding through a variety of
different sources, but over a third of our funding comes
from the community, from individuals who care about this work
and who want to see a city where there is
equitable access to literacy education and where every young person
(24:36):
knows the power of their voice.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
So you can.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Find out about our work. Our website is super easy.
It's a two six DC dot org and from there
there are opportunities to contribute both as a donor and
as volunteers. We use volunteers in all of our program
and would love to have more people who can come
in and be that extra adult for a young person.
(25:00):
You get to sit with them one on one and
read their beautiful words and read their creative stories and
provide feedback and encouragement and help with homework.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
You can also volunteer in.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Ways that are sometimes easier for those of us with
traditional working schedules. We use a lot of adults to
be virtual copy editors and to provide feedback that way,
and then for events that we have throughout the community.
But we really welcome the whole community in because we
know that individualized attention is just such a core part
(25:36):
of our work and our mission. But you can we
love to have the support of the community to do
the work that we do, especially in this moment when
resources are tight and things are hard throughout our local economy,
like we are working hard to be able to not
(25:56):
only continue and maintain our our programs, but to expand it.
The demand for our program has been growing exponentially in
the last six months. We've had so much outreach from parents,
from families, from schools. At the same time that the
funding atmosphere is more uncertain yeah and tighter than it's
(26:19):
ever been, and so we're just trying hard to make
sure that people know about us. You said at the beginning,
you hadn't heard that much about a two sixty c
and I think that's true for so many people. And
so it is my personal mission to be our giant
microphone wherever I can, because I love our work and
I want to invite more people in.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Well, you're a great spokesperson for this, and also this
is what iheard. Does we're a great megaphone too that
we can get the word out there. And I think
you're going to get a couple of phone calls that
people are interested. And I did want to ask you
about that, because we'll get the website one more time.
There is a big blue button donate in the right
hand corner of the website, and Robin will give that
website one more time if you already haven't googled it,
and it's easy to navigate. It's really cool, a lot
(26:59):
of information about we talked and more on there. But
if there is a small business, a meetium business, or
large business, or maybe just a business person says, you
know what, Robin, you got on my attention. You're doing
some cool things. I want to help out. Can they
reach out directly to you? And if so, how do
they do that?
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Yes, I would love that that would be delightful. You
can reach me is equally easy. My email is Robin
rob y n at A two six DC dot org,
so it's just my first name, Robin with a Y
at a two six DC dot org. There's also an
easy email on our website that's just an info account
(27:38):
like info at and that will also reach me. We
love to have local businesses and corporations involved. We actually
run a couple of really fun, whimsical community based fundraising
events that we're always looking for partners in the local community.
They will both happen later in the sort of early
(27:59):
spring and spring of twenty twenty six, but one of
them is called Paddlestar Galactica, which is a fun ping
pong and pickleball tournament, and we love to have local
businesses who want to have a team and you get
to come out and have a fun day playing ping
pong and being competitive. And the twist is the more
(28:21):
money your team raises, the more you can buy some
cheats so you can ensure that the team you're playing
has to play one handed, you can make them be blindfolded,
you can get some extra points, so it's just a
fun way and we love to have corporate sponsors or
local businesses that just want to have a paddle Star team.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
Outstanding Well. Listen, Robin, we only have about a minute left.
I've really enjoyed the conversation. I want to get some
final thoughts and recap what we talked about. The website
one more time, and if there's any socials, we can
share that too. But the floor is yours great.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
So our website is www at A six DC dot org.
You can find us on all of the social media
platforms at A two six d C is our handle
for Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and again you can reach me
and I always love getting to talk to members of
(29:19):
our community about our work and ways that you can
get involved. And my email is just Rob Yan at
A six DC dot org. We would love to have
you involved in our work.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Out Standing Well, Robin, thanks for being on the program
and all you and your staff do. It's just wonderful.
When I found out about you and what you do,
I said, I live in Northwest DC and even though
I have a grown child, this is just really cool.
It's the extra things that we don't have from our
current education system that you do when you fill in
those gaps, and I imagine educators and parents and guardians
are just stoked at all the amazing things that you're
(29:52):
offering all our young people out there. So thanks for
what you do and I hope we can get you
back on the program again. But thanks again for joining
us on Community DC.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Thank you, thank you,
Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community d C.
I'm your host Dennis Glasgow. This morning, we welcome to
the show for the first time Robin Lingo, who is
the executive director for eight two six d C, a
nonprofit that provides free writing and publishing programs from student
ages six to eighteen in Washington, d C to build
their writing skills and their confidence. Over the next thirty minutes,
we'll talk about what A two six d C is,
(00:24):
what they offer, and how you and your chock can
participate in one of their many cool programs. And we
should also mention that you can buy the finished books
by the children in the magic shop as you enter
A two six d C. Here's my conversation with Robin.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Good morning, Robin. Right, well, it's great to have you
board first time on the show in Community DC, and
I am stoked to have you aboard. And you know,
(00:46):
when I found out about having you on the program
and A two six DC, I didn't know a lot
about it. And I think there's some of our listeners
that do know about it, but there's a lot that
probably don't. And that's why you're here to educate us
over the next thirty minutes. So tell us just about
the origin of A two six DC and what it
is when it started, and then we'll get into what
it is now and all the cool things that you're
(01:06):
doing right now, which is really incredible. But what's the
origin story?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Great, So, HWO six d C is a youth writing
program and we've been around in DC for fifteen years,
but we actually belonged to a national network that was
started by the author Dave Edgars and his friend and
educator Nina B.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Campbell, and they started the first A two six in.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
San Francisco, and they wanted to open a youth writing
program and place for young people in the Mission neighborhood
in San Francisco to get homework help.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
But the only space they could find was a space
that was zoned for commercial use on.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Valencia Street, and so they opened a whimsical pirate shop
in the front that the young people enter through to
the back where you get a magical space for imagination,
create fun and learning in an.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Individualized support setting.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
And so that became the first eight two six Valencia
because that is their address. And then there have been
chapters that have sprung up across the country since then.
And we've been here in d C for fifteen years
and are in the Columbia Heights neighborhood, and all the
eight to six chapters all have a whimsical fund the
storefront that is an area for the community to engage
(02:28):
with us and also for our young people to get
to enter into a space that is joyful, imaginative and
opens their mind to the world of possibility and dreaming.
And our space in DC is a magic shop that
the students enter into and then you enter into our
writing lab.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
I love that. I was wonderful, you know when I
was on the website a little bit earlier, and I'm
looking at it now. Young people have important things to say,
and I think you and I would be on the
same page. And I have a twenty two year old daughter.
And one of the things that I noticed, you know,
with generation, they didn't read and write as much as
I did. And I'm you know, I'm from the original
generation X. So we did a lot of that because
(03:09):
there was no internet and you had books, and there
was more reading and writing back then, so that this
program exactually exists for young people. I think is just fascinating.
So what I'd like to ask you first about is
the mission and vision of it and what.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Are those Yeah, So our mission is to ensure that
every young person in DC has a lasting and positive
relationship with writing that really catalyzes their ability to move
into the future of their choosing. I mean, writing, like
you said, is so many things. It is critical thinking,
(03:44):
it is creation, it is summarizing, it is sharing your
mind with the world. And it's such an important skill
for young people to be able to have, to be
able to move through the world as somebody who knows
the importance of their own voice, who knows that they
have something that people want to listen to and hear
(04:07):
and absorb, and that you also have this skill that
is so critical to all of the ways that we
move through our lives as professional adults.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Writing is such a key professional skill, but.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
It's also such a core to I think of writing
as core to our humanity, Like how do you want
to share.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Your mind with the world?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
And I want to make sure that every young person
in our city has that skill and that power and
that they know that their voice matters. And so we
think of writing as such an important tool to all
of those outcomes. I'll just lastly say that I think,
especially in this particular moment we're living in and very
(04:50):
much in our local community here in the Washington, DC area,
there is so much change happening and a lot of uncertainty.
And writing is also healing. Writing is reflection and space
to process and understand yourself and the world. And so
we want to be making a space for young people
(05:11):
to have the full power of writing, and we do
think of that as just so core to our mission
and making sure that young people, all young people have
equitable access to writing education.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Well I love that, and well said. So before we
get into programs and we're going to talk about servial
that you offer, which is very cool, I want to
talk about criteria because I think we've got everybody's attention.
How cool this is when it comes to criteria as
far as ages and how they reach out to you
and start a program. How does it all work?
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah? Great.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
So we work with students kindergarten through twelfth grade and
really that whole span, and we also do our work
both in and outside of schools.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
So we run.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Imaginative, fun, joyful writing programs that young people can access
at our space in Columbia Heights through our after school
programming and through open writing workshops that are open to
anybody who is interested in coming in and having that opportunity.
And then we also partner deeply with schools and teachers
so that our student centered writing that starts really from
(06:17):
a place of helping young people love writing and enjoy
it and see it as part of their right and
their ability to communicate with the world. We bring that
directly into schools by partnering with teachers, so we run
some creative writing classes and journalism classes at various schools
across the city, as well as providing just individualized or
(06:40):
extra writing support in a classroom for a teacher, and
do a lot of partnering also with schools around helping
young people important and important moments in their life, like
when they're applying to high school or college and having
some extra individualized support for those writing applications.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
It's a good segue, and I realize that young people
are always good at feedback, especially when they're doing something
that you know is cool and I know it's cool,
but maybe they don't know it or can't express it.
I imagine when you hear from educators and parents and
families or just people that are watching these kids do
these incredible things. The feedback must be extraordinary about how
(07:20):
it's changing everybody's life and maybe the kid might not
know it, but some wonderful things are wrapping.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Can you talk about feedback? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (07:28):
So, I mean I actually thought you were going to
go a different way about that question about feedback.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
So I'm going to tell you two different things.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Please, yeah, go ahead?
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Is that?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
So?
Speaker 3 (07:38):
I think one of the pieces that is coolest about
our work is that young people don't just write and
we put it on a shelf.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
We publish young people's work.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
So in most of our programs, the work that young
people do in getting a chance to create poems, short stories, essays, letters,
we put that into books that we publish and we
send out into the world.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
I'll talk more at the end about the way I
love that, Yeah, some of our cool books.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
So I think in terms of how students can see
the impact of our work that the fact that you
leave our program as a published author is something that
young people can take with them into that life of possibility.
It is knowing that you have accomplished something that you
have left the lasting story impression words for the world
(08:29):
to encounter and learn from.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
And you know, you.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Can't take that sense of agency and voice and power
away from students once they know that they are in
a published book. And we also create lots of opportunities
for young people to read their work in public settings
as well, so that they can also see what happens
when you read your poem, you read your essay in
front of an audience, and people absorb it and react
(08:56):
to it and come and talk to you. But you know,
there are so many academic outcomes of our work as well.
Young people really grow in all of their key literacy
skills in terms of their writing knowledge and ability in
just content in appropriate, how you answer prompt in the
(09:17):
right way, your fluency, your vocabulary, all the core sort of.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Academic parts of writing.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
As a twin component to literacy is reading. I think
when we talk about literacy sometimes we think most about reading,
but writing is equally important. We need to be able
to read and absorb, and we need to be able
to write and share out our opinion and thoughts about that.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
It also has.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Really important impacts in terms of increasing students own motivation
and engagement in their own learning. I think anytime we
provide opportunities for young people to see learning and skill
building as really connected to what they want to do
in the world and what they want to move into
(10:03):
and their aspirations and goals, it becomes so much more tangible.
And then there's this like fire that you can't you
can't extinguish. And then lastly, that piece really around social
emotional healing. You know, the last five ten years have
been a lot and a lot for young people and
writing is a healing process.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Writing is processing.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Writing is getting a chance to, you know, take what
you have experienced and put it on the page so
that you can, you know, leave it behind, so that
you can take it into a different level of resiliency
and power.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Healing.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Writing just provides such an important part of the healing process,
and so we really see that in the impacts that
students have from our spaces and our writing programs. Lastly,
I just I will say, because we are a writing organization,
we know that writing is not a one and done
an experience. So when you said feedback, one of the
(11:04):
things that is core to our work is editing, and
we edit and work with students to edit their own work,
and I think that's such a key part of our work,
as well as knowing that really refining and working on
something takes time, and it takes feedback from others. It
takes you putting something down on paper, walking away, coming
(11:26):
back looking at it again, thinking about how could I
make my point in a more succinct or clear way,
or is there some piece of this description that could
be clear with different vocabulary. And we do that editing
and revision process in partnership with students where we're asking questions,
(11:46):
we're probing, or have volunteers who come in and help
us do some copy editing with students, but it's really
centered around not correcting students' work, but leading them through
a journey of how you revise and improve over time.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Well, I want to talk a little bit more about
all the programs, because you have some amazing things going on.
But one of the things that really caught me is
you were going through that explanation about feedback and everything.
And I've talked to psychologists and I've also read about
this from my family and also just in general that
just when you simply journal for kids that can't kind
of get things out and maybe talk to their parents
or a guardian or even their friends. Writing something down
(12:25):
about your feelings, good, bad, or indifferent is absolute paramount
for mental health.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Right absolutely.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
And I think you know, like I said in this moment,
for our local community, we are so honored to create
this space for young people to just have a space
that they get to come and be their full authentic self,
exactly who they are, and have that chance to journal
to create new worlds.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
I talk a lot about like.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Especially for well, I was gonna say especially for our
younger students, but it's true for our high school students too.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
There's so much sort of.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Writing about new worlds with fictional realities, and you know
there's dragons and space and outer space and other things
that are outside of their current reality. But give them
a chance to process this world in a different way,
(13:25):
in a way in which creativity and imagination are part
of the healing process.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And you know,
the other takeaway that I would probably have that you
know you could elaborate on from all your experiences and
professionalism about what you do is that you know everybody
who's been a kid before. When you're in a group,
some people might think that something like this is nerdy
or dumb or stupid, and you get to go to
your place and actually, you know, kind of explore who
you are without any kind of judgment from your peer group,
(13:51):
which is also paramount hard to do. But it's another
wonderful thing that you offer up when you're a kid
and you know there's a lot of peer pressure out there.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Right And actually, so you know, as I said, in
terms of our programs, we run our after school Writing Lab,
which is at our space in Columbia Hates. But we also,
as I was talking about, push into classrooms in schools,
and so last school year for our program called our
Young Author's Book Project, which is one of our longest
engagements with a class or a school that results in
(14:22):
a professionally bound published book, we worked with the entire
tenth grade of Phelps High School on young people writing
narrative poetry around the theme the Life I Choose. And
young people first got a chance to think about what
are those critical decisions, moments, events in.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
My life that have shaped who I am and who I.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Want to be, And then they learned over the course
of a whole school year about narrative poetry looked at
mentor techts had a chance to look at music and
hip hop and old and new poems and think about
the different ways that people used structure and stanza and
verse and words to convey their life. And then they
(15:10):
all wrote their own. And the reason I'm bringing up
this project and program is because I think it goes
to what you were saying of, Like, you might not
think that every tenth grader was going to be excited
about narrative.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Poetry, and I can't buy you.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
They probably weren't when we first entered the classroom, but
every young person had a chance to use that vehicle
to explore themselves. And there are beautiful poems from some
of the young boys in that class on their basketball games,
on the moment that they thought they were going to
(15:46):
win a game and they didn't, or their opportunities on
the soccer field, where what it meant to work in
a team. There's a beautiful piece from a young woman
about being on the cheerleading squad. There are pieces about
their first experiences on an amusement park, Like they all
(16:08):
found a way to use narrative poetry as something for them,
And I was really just moved in that experience over
the classroom, over the year in the classroom of seeing
that that maybe embarrassment or writing is nerdy really shed
away as they got to see every one of their
(16:29):
peers do it and everyone use it for.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Their own purpose well.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
And that also goes to thing about young people too,
that you know, you're still exploring all your feelings that
you have as a young person and going through so
many things that you do from the young people you
work with right through high school, in middle school and
in high school. I mean, we've all been there. It
can be a war zone in your head. And that
you can articulate that and get your feelings down about
(16:55):
all that as you get to watch that must be
just paramount to some of these kids once again their
mental health health, but also exploring all these new things
that they've never had been able to do before. Robin.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
A remarkable program and I'm so proud of that book.
It's called now I See with Open Eyes, which is
a line from one of their poems. And we actually
had the process was covered by this local or by
a national education media site called K twelve Dive that
did a piece looking at how the project really pulled
(17:27):
young people from a space of thinking that they weren't writers,
or that they didn't they weren't good at it, to
this place of really feeling a sense of pride and accomplishment.
And also just like now I can use writing for
everything that I want.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
And I am so proud of that process.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
And also I just really highly recommend that book to
anybody who wants to have an inside look at what.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
It means to be a teenager in our city. It's
just each student's.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Poem is so unique and distinct and really poignant and moving.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
That's really wonderful. Now you've edged on some of your programs,
so I'd like you to talk about a few others.
But I know you have the in school writing and
editing and publishing they've talked about. You do have field Trips,
the Young Author Book project that you had talked about,
after school writing labs and writing work days. Can you
talk about the others that would just mention anything else
you'd like to kind of highlight.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
So the one other that you mentioned is our field
trip program, and this is one of my favorites as well.
This is a program we do for a whole class
comes to our space our after school writing lab, which
is a bright, beautiful, creative, magical space, and they as
a class get to learn about the core components of
(18:42):
storytelling together and then collaboratively write a story. So they
mostly we're talking about elementary school students. They come in
and they learn about how every story has characters, every
story has a setting, every story has a conflict, and
then they collaboratively bring storm what those would be. And
you could not imagine the I mean just completely whacky,
(19:11):
beautiful things.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
That get created in those stories.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
You know.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
There's sometimes I was in my office once last school
year we had a great story storytelling field trip. Came
in and there was a yetti and a unicorn that
we're on a trek up a mountain, and then they
met a bear and they weren't sure whether or not
the bear was trying to trick them or was trying
(19:37):
to help them. There was once we did a big
storytelling field trip actually at the National Book Festival in
collaboration with the Library of Congress earlier this month, and
that one we had a big crowd of both young people.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
And student and their parents doing it together.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
And there were some butterflies that lived in the magical
world of butterffect who were trying to fight off a
butterfly killer. And you know, it's just it's a beautiful
way for young people to learn about storytelling from the
place of doing. And that's what I love about our
(20:15):
work is it's not you know, all of the learning
is centered in young people getting a chance to be
the author, to be the writer, to be the storyteller themselves,
and in our field trips programs, those also result in
a published book that we give to every young person
in that class.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
I love that. I wanted to talk to you about staff,
about who you work with and how they work with
the kids, because I'm sure the parents and educators are
saying this is all cool, but you know who's working
with them, and what kind of background do they have,
and how do they follow up with them and keep
an eye on their writings and say this is cool,
you can work on this. How does that all work
with your staff?
Speaker 3 (20:53):
Yeah, So, I'm just really the luckiest to have such
a talented and dedicated and creative staff, and our program
staff all have a background in writing. Many of them
are writers themselves, and they work either through our in
school work where they go into a classroom and partner
(21:16):
collaboratively with a teacher where we're really using the teacher
as a core partner of ours of what are their
goals and objectives for that class, and then creating curriculum
together and then bringing additional resource and so our staff
for lots of our in school work are working with
the same teacher or librarian or principal or school leader
(21:38):
throughout the course of a year. And then in our
after school writing lab, we have a wonderful staff member
who runs that program who is just done a beautiful
job of creating community so that we have twenty five
young people on each day in our space that are
joined by our staff, that are joined by adults volunteers,
(22:01):
by college student interns, and by students from K through
eighth grade. So it's this beautiful multi generational space where
everyone is learning from each other and our staff is
staying in constant communication with parents and families about how
their young pre person is growing and developing. And we
get such great feedback from parents about what they've seen
(22:23):
the transformation in their students as they've gone through this
process in terms of confidence, in terms of skills, in
terms of desire to go to school feeling like adults
care about them and that they have a sense of belonging.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Our big outcomes that come from all of our work.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Well, that's pretty huge. And I imagine that when you
hear from parents and educators, because we all know we
have a lot of two working parent families, or maybe
there's a single parent. They're working, and teachers only have
so much time in the day, you know, between teaching
and grades. When they find out what you guys do,
they must be elated that we've got. It's this extra
(23:00):
funnel that we can have kids learn to write and
do cool things that we just don't have the time
for exactly.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
And actually you're touching on a piece. I was just
earlier this morning doing a presentation. We in our after
school writing lab, we partner with a local elementary school
where we actually have some staff who go and pick
up the young people from that elementary school and walk
them to our after school program because we know that
(23:32):
for so many working parents, three point thirty is not
a time that you can move your third grader from
school to the after school enrichment programs that they need
and deserve. And so you know, it caused us extra
money to be able to staff that and to ensure
that we can provide that safe transportation. But it's important
(23:52):
to us that our programs be open to all families
and that transportation, even walking transportation in a safe way,
isn't a barrier for anybody.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Well, this is a good segue because we always like
to ask about how you're funded and how people can
donate and volunteer. I know there's a lot there, so
let's dig into it. How does everybody become involved in
how are you funded?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (24:15):
So we make up more funding through a variety of
different sources, but over a third of our funding comes
from the community, from individuals who care about this work
and who want to see a city where there is
equitable access to literacy education and where every young person
(24:36):
knows the power of their voice.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
So you can.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Find out about our work. Our website is super easy.
It's a two six DC dot org and from there
there are opportunities to contribute both as a donor and
as volunteers. We use volunteers in all of our program
and would love to have more people who can come
in and be that extra adult for a young person.
(25:00):
You get to sit with them one on one and
read their beautiful words and read their creative stories and
provide feedback and encouragement and help with homework.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
You can also volunteer in.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Ways that are sometimes easier for those of us with
traditional working schedules. We use a lot of adults to
be virtual copy editors and to provide feedback that way,
and then for events that we have throughout the community.
But we really welcome the whole community in because we
know that individualized attention is just such a core part
(25:36):
of our work and our mission. But you can we
love to have the support of the community to do
the work that we do, especially in this moment when
resources are tight and things are hard throughout our local economy,
like we are working hard to be able to not
(25:56):
only continue and maintain our our programs, but to expand it.
The demand for our program has been growing exponentially in
the last six months. We've had so much outreach from parents,
from families, from schools. At the same time that the
funding atmosphere is more uncertain yeah and tighter than it's
(26:19):
ever been, and so we're just trying hard to make
sure that people know about us. You said at the beginning,
you hadn't heard that much about a two sixty c
and I think that's true for so many people. And
so it is my personal mission to be our giant
microphone wherever I can, because I love our work and
I want to invite more people in.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Well, you're a great spokesperson for this, and also this
is what iheard. Does we're a great megaphone too that
we can get the word out there. And I think
you're going to get a couple of phone calls that
people are interested. And I did want to ask you
about that, because we'll get the website one more time.
There is a big blue button donate in the right
hand corner of the website, and Robin will give that
website one more time if you already haven't googled it,
and it's easy to navigate. It's really cool, a lot
(26:59):
of information about we talked and more on there. But
if there is a small business, a meetium business, or
large business, or maybe just a business person says, you
know what, Robin, you got on my attention. You're doing
some cool things. I want to help out. Can they
reach out directly to you? And if so, how do
they do that?
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Yes, I would love that that would be delightful. You
can reach me is equally easy. My email is Robin
rob y n at A two six DC dot org,
so it's just my first name, Robin with a Y
at a two six DC dot org. There's also an
easy email on our website that's just an info account
(27:38):
like info at and that will also reach me. We
love to have local businesses and corporations involved. We actually
run a couple of really fun, whimsical community based fundraising
events that we're always looking for partners in the local community.
They will both happen later in the sort of early
(27:59):
spring and spring of twenty twenty six, but one of
them is called Paddlestar Galactica, which is a fun ping
pong and pickleball tournament, and we love to have local
businesses who want to have a team and you get
to come out and have a fun day playing ping
pong and being competitive. And the twist is the more
(28:21):
money your team raises, the more you can buy some
cheats so you can ensure that the team you're playing
has to play one handed, you can make them be blindfolded,
you can get some extra points, so it's just a
fun way and we love to have corporate sponsors or
local businesses that just want to have a paddle Star team.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
Outstanding Well. Listen, Robin, we only have about a minute left.
I've really enjoyed the conversation. I want to get some
final thoughts and recap what we talked about. The website
one more time, and if there's any socials, we can
share that too. But the floor is yours great.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
So our website is www at A six DC dot org.
You can find us on all of the social media
platforms at A two six d C is our handle
for Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and again you can reach me
and I always love getting to talk to members of
(29:19):
our community about our work and ways that you can
get involved. And my email is just Rob Yan at
A six DC dot org. We would love to have
you involved in our work.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Out Standing Well, Robin, thanks for being on the program
and all you and your staff do. It's just wonderful.
When I found out about you and what you do,
I said, I live in Northwest DC and even though
I have a grown child, this is just really cool.
It's the extra things that we don't have from our
current education system that you do when you fill in
those gaps, and I imagine educators and parents and guardians
are just stoked at all the amazing things that you're
(29:52):
offering all our young people out there. So thanks for
what you do and I hope we can get you
back on the program again. But thanks again for joining
us on Community DC.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Thank you, thank you,
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