Beltway RESOURCE BANK
Community Outreach Organizations in DC, MD, VA
Americans for the Arts
Advocacy group located in DC and NYC. Promotes October as National Arts and Humanities Month, advocates for arts education in primary education, publishes information on the economic impact of the arts. http://www.artsusa.orgBethesda Beatniks Dinner Club
Organization serving mental health consumers, their family members, and friends. Holds dinners twice a month, plus special events such as an annual open mic poetry marathon.
http://www.bethesdabeatniks.orgCentroNía
A multicultural learning center that trains volunteers for one-on-one tutoring in reading and math for students in Columbia Heights and Shaw in grades 1-12.
http://www.centronia.org/html/volunteer_program.htmlChildren's National Medical Center
For over twenty years, Children's National Medical Center has sponsored New Horisons, an arts education and cultural enrichment program that hosts exhibitions, performances, and Artists/Writers/Musicians/Dancers/Theatre Professionals-in-Residence.
111 Michigan Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20010-2970 (202) 884-3225.DC Creative Writing Workshop
Hires 4 professional writers annually to work with students from Hart MS, Simon Elementary, and Ballou HS in Southeast DC, both in class and after school. Publishes a literary journal, hArtworks; offers a 6 week workshop in Holocaust Studies, "Teaching Tolerance," with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum; and runs a Reading Resource Center.
http://www.dccww.org/DC Scores
Promotes soccer and creative writing to elementary school students, ages 8 to 12, at multiple locations throughout the city. Contact Sherie Williams at (202) 548-0101.
http://www.americascores.org/index.php?id=123DC Writers' Corps
Hires writers to teach in community settings that range from recreation centers and libraries to homeless shelters and social service organizations. Runs extensive poetry clubs and poetry slams in DC middle schools. Kenneth Carroll, Director.
http://www.dcwriterscorps.orgHigher Achievement
Program for DC students in grades 5-8 emphasizing academics, the arts, and leadership. Runs after school and summer programs. Regularly includes poetry in the curriculum.
http://higherachievement.orgThe Humanities Project
This Artists-in-the-Schools program serves the Arlington Public Schools, with short and long-term residencies in the literary arts (as well as performing and visual arts). Hires writers for its roster annually. Mary Eckstein, Coordinator.
http://www.humanitiesproject.orgLiteracy Volunteers and Advocates
Provides free classroom instruction and one-to-one tutuoring for adults in DC with limited literacy who wish to improve basic reading and writing skills. An accredited affiliate of ProLiteracy America.
http://www.lvanca.orgMotheread and Fatheread
Adult literacy program for parents, sponsored by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.
http://www.motheread.orgThe Patricia M. Sitar Center for the Arts
Arts center for children and youth from diverse ethnic, racial, and economic backgrounds. Offers workshops in writing, as well as music, dance, drama, and visual art.
http://www.sitarcenter.orgPEN/Faulkner Writers in Schools
Sponsors conversations with nationally-known authors, intensive three-day workshops and semester-long residencies in urban public high schools since 1989. Such authors as Amiri Baraka, Sandra Cisneros, and Edward Hirsch have participated.
http://www.penfaulkner.org/writersinschools.htmRiver of Words
An environmental art and poetry program created to promote watershed awareness. Sponsors a national annual art and poetry contest for school children, offers curriculum to educators. Located in California, but affiliated with the Library of Congress Center for the Book, this organization was initiated by former Poet Laureate Robert Hass. Annual awards ceremony in DC.
Maryland state chapter: http://www.dnr.state.md.us/education/are/rowSmith Farm Center for the Healing Arts
Artists and arts educators in the visual, performing, and literary arts hired for residencies working on-site with adult patients at the Washington Cancer Institute and Howard University Cancer Center.
http://www.SmithFarm.comSwapping Stories
An intergenerational oral history and storytelling project. Judy Thibalt Klevins, Coordinator.
http://www.swappingstories.orgWashington Literacy Council
Trains volunteers to teach basic reading and writing to adult students. 62% of the DC population fall into the two lowest levels of reading proficiency, the lowest adult literacy rate of any city in the United States. Also lists links to literacy providers in VA and MD.
http://www.washingtonliteracycouncil.orgYoung Women's Drumming Empowerment Project
Summer workshops in the Columbia Heights neighborhood for young women (ages 13-18) in African and Latin hand drums and percussion, as well as poetry, song, movement, and team building. Also sponsors performances throughout the year.
http://www.youngwomendrum.org