Community Writing Center
The Community Writing Center takes the University Writing Center beyond campus into the surrounding community.
About
The Duquesne University Community Writing Center provides after-school writing education for underserved youth and their families in the Hill District as well as support to secondary school writing centers in the greater Pittsburgh region. The Center's mission is to improve literacy acquisition and development through creative programming that makes confident and enthusiastic writers.
Launched in fall 2020, the Duquesne University Writing Center's Community Writing Center (CWC) offers writing instruction and creative writing workshops for children and their families in the Pittsburgh community. Building upon the mission of the University's on-campus Writing Center, the CWC seeks to develop the writing skills of community members through providing assistance with schoolwork, professional applications, résumés, web sites, presentations, and other creative endeavors.
Programming
Fall 2020 Work
In Fall 2020, five staff members worked with ACH Clear Pathways' Smile cohort, students age 5-8 years old on their ELA (English Language Arts) schoolwork; "All about Me" creative writing books for ACH Clear Pathways' fall showcase; and other literacy activities, including spoken word poetry and rap.
Spring 2021 Work
In Spring 2021, CWC staff members worked with ACH Clear Pathways students 9-12 years old on their ELA (English Language Arts) schoolwork and other literacy games and activities, including poetry writing, narrative writing, and multimodal storytelling. Work with Peters Township Middle School Writing Center coaches entailed mentoring them to work as tutors at their own writing center through roleplaying and scenario responses. CWC staff members also conducted consulting sessions with the Peters Township students on their own writing to demonstrate best practices for writing center work.
Photos are courtesy of Takara Canty, Taylor Waits, and Megan Williams.