Since 2011, 916 Ink has led the effort to empower children and youth in Sacramento through a unique creative writing program that increases literacy rates, self-confidence, academic engagement, empathy, and communication skills. Participants in our workshops learn to love the written word and are transformed into published authors in the process.
In early 2021, we reached a milestone of 200 books published, serving nearly 4,500 students in the Sacramento region.
2020 brought numerous challenges, as it did for us all, but we successfully transformed our programs for a virtual environment, helping to improve literacy and social-emotional skills for hundreds of youths across the region. Data shows that a 916 Ink workshop increases self-confidence, heals trauma, and teaches empathy, listening, and literacy skills. Our safe environment provides youth a place for expression and teaches them to "take the yes," a motto created to help youth silence their inner critics.
916 Ink's curriculum asks students to reflect upon their own "hero's journey," which is a mode of storytelling meant to explore how one individual can play different roles in life. By encouraging students to write about their own journey, students begin to see the different facets of their identity and can create a story that positions them as the hero of their own lives.
916 Ink wants to create readers by fostering a love of language, oral and written. By its nature, writing is a curious act that involves human connection and empathy. Instilling a curiosity in the power of stories in a young person can lead them to take charge of their life and change their narrative by becoming the heroes in their own stories. We don't just make students better readers and writers. We make them more open and honest communicators. To further expand on our mission, in 2020 we added a reading tutoring pilot program, with Read On! Early results are proving positive, and we have decided to continue and expand this program.
916 Ink is Sacramento’s arts-based creative writing and literacy tutoring nonprofit that provides workshops and tutoring to transform Sacramento youth into strong readers, confident communicators, and published authors. Our programs increase literacy skills, improve vocabulary, teach empathy, positively impact social and emotional learning, and expand communication skills. We envision a Sacramento region where every child and teen is given access to a culturally relevant creative writing program that leads them to believe in themselves and to understand the power of the written word.
Creative Writing Programs:
Students receive academic engagement and social-emotional skill building instruction. Each session includes grade level–appropriate sample readings, multiple writing prompts, and sharing/feedback sessions for each student. Our staff/fellows lead students in revision-based activities and one-on-one connections to trusted adults to refine up to three pieces of their work for publication. They will collaborate with their peers to assemble their anthology, offer creative suggestions about the layout of their book, and learn how to perform their work for an audience in preparation for the book release event. Book release events serve to expose the larger community to the artistic merit and importance of the student's work while also legitimizing the efforts and voice of the students who participate.
Literacy Tutoring Programs:
Elementary school-aged, striving readers who read at a beginning first grade to end of fifth grade level are matched with well-trained tutors, for a minimum of thirty-six tutoring sessions to provide evidence-based tutoring lessons that are proven to reduce the reading gap. Students receive two, 45-minute tutoring sessions, per week for the length of their involvement. Children who are frequent readers fare better in terms of mental health, including feeling proud and excited. Whereas infrequent readers reported more instances of feeling lonely, sad, depressed nervous/anxious. Reading increases a child’s capacity for critical thinking, develops empathy skills, gives them the support they need during challenging times, and builds much needed resilience.
916 Ink recognizes that communities of color in Sacramento have been left behind by decades of systemic racism and oppression. Of particular concern to our organization are the academic achievement and literacy gaps. Fewer than half of Sacramento County third graders read at grade level, and these rates are significantly lower for students of color. To advance our mission of empowering youth through creative writing, we know we must specifically address injustice and racial inequity.
In 2020, 916 Ink's staff collaborated to redefine our organizational values, resulting in a commitment to equity, empowerment, and empathy. Our focus on equity has led us to prioritize accommodations for participants and staff who may need them, and we developed structures for community feedback and culturally appropriate outreach. Utilizing these values as a framework ensures that accessibility and inclusion are better integrated into our daily work and our legacy.
Our workshops operate as a writing community with two trained facilitators participating fully in each session. This approach removes many barriers between instructor and student, allowing for freer and more honest self-expression. We are intentional about facilitator and volunteer placements, taking care to select individuals who come from the communities we serve. Additionally, students are encouraged to write in their own authentic voice, whether that is writing entirely in a language other than English, using cultural terms or slang, or incorporating their preferred dialect of English. Our emphasis that each student “write what needs to be written" means that the student makes all decisions about what pieces they choose to work further on and what gets published. Through these tactics, we affirm our commitment to lifting up the voices of youth of color and supporting our schools and communities in shifting the landscape of inequity.
Organization name
916 Ink
2011
Tax id (EIN)
46-0705510
Mission Category
Education
Operating Budget
$1,000,001-$5 million
Organization Need
Funding: Program, Funding: Unrestricted
Demographics Served
Youth & Children, Low-income individuals/families, LGBTQIA+
Local Counties Served
Placer, Sacramento, Yolo
Equity Statement
Equity Statement
Address
3301 37th Ave. Room 14Sacramento, CA, US
Rancho Cordova, CA, US
Elk Grove, CA, US
Stockton, CA, US