January Newsletter
Dear Friend,
Happy new year, 826 community! We are looking ahead to new priorities and opportunities in 2021, and we are excited to share them with you. Here are some things we are diving into this year:
Whole-Family Engagement. One unexpected benefit from a very unexpected past year is that we've been in closer contact with our youth and families than ever before due to the need for enhanced check-ins and increasingly responsive services. This year, we're going to build on this foundation with focus groups, events, and programming designed to engage not just young people, but whole families.
Strategic Planning. Thanks to our board, staff, students, and community of supporters, we achieved the milestones set in our 2016–2020 strategic plan. Now it's time to chart a new course for 826 MSP's future. We will spend the spring and summer gathering stakeholder feedback and then craft our priorities for the next three years in the fall.
Young Authors' Book Project. Typically, YABP takes place with a class or group of classes. However, this year, in partnership with Wise Ink Creative Publishing's Exodus Project, we will instead be partnering with 10 self-identifying Black, high-school-aged youth who will serve as an editorial board. In partnership with 826 staff, volunteers, and a guest artist, these students will create a call for submissions from Black-identifying youth throughout the Twin Cities on themes of identity and liberation.
It's going to be a good year, with new opportunities to amplify the voices of the next generation of Twin Cities writers. Stay tuned on our progress, and thanks for your ongoing support and belief in our work.
-the 826 MSP crew
Student Spotlight
This piece was published in our December 2020 chapbook, Speed My Happiness to Everyone. Order your copy today!
Product Spotlight
Youth Poet Laureate and 826 National board member, Amanda Gorman, wrote the foreword for Poets in Revolt!. Our very own South High student, Mariah Valenzuela, was featured in this publication with her piece, "What Walking The Red Road Means To Me Is". Pre-order your copy today!
(above) Amanda Gorman reads "The Hill We Climb" at the inauguration. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Upcoming Events
New volunteer orientation January 29, 3-4:30. Email Ellen to RSVP!
New volunteer orientation February 1, 6-7:30. Email Ellen to RSVP!
826 MSP closed for Presidents' Day February 15.
Supporter Spotlight
The 826 MSP board of directors helps set the strategic direction for our organization. We are excited to be bringing on three new board members who have all been partners with 826 MSP for many years.
SEAN GOLDEN is a doctoral student in Literacy Education at the University of Minnesota. There he explores how storytelling (in all its forms) can help to (re)story narratives to breathe life into the Black Queer Diaspora– for all the queer kids out there still searching. Sean is a member of the impact committee and joined the board in 2021.
DARA BEEVAS is the co-founder and Chief Strategic Officer of Wise Ink, as well as an entrepreneur, writer, and passionate publisher who speaks about the intersection of storytelling, entrepreneurialism and publishing on purpose. Dara is a member of the governance committee and joined the board in 2021.
CARSON FAUST is a member of the Edisto Natchez-Kusso tribe of South Carolina. He works in philanthropy in the Twin Cities, and served as a teaching artist for 826 MSP before joining the board in 2021. Carson serves on the development committee.