Write to Change is celebrating its 30th Anniversary!

For the past thirty years, Write to Change has supported young people and their mentors by providing learning and leadership opportunities to use literacy and the arts to encourage social change that makes a difference in their communities and the world.
 
In 1994, Write to Change, founded by Dixie Goswami and Rocky Gooch, began encouraging and supporting schools and other organizations to:

• promote youth action research, public service writing, and publishing projects;
• to link literacy programs in rural areas to national and international networks; and
• and to provide targeted funding for projects and materials and for creating demonstration sites.

 
“Youth are resources to be tapped, not problems to be solved,” says Dixie Goswami, co-founder of both Write to Change and Middlebury Bread Loaf School of English’s Bread Loaf Teacher Network (BLTN, founded in 1993). Dixie has for decades invited teachers to work collectively and collaboratively with youth in diverse settings, united by this vision. 

Today, Write to Change is networked with youth advocacy organizations, programs, and individuals to achieve its mission. These individuals and organizations include Lou Bernieri with Andover Bread Loaf, the Middlebury Bread Loaf Teacher Network, and the Middlebury BLTN NextGen Youth Leadership Network.
 
Below are highlights of several projects that Write to Change supported over the past three decades.

• Write to Change NextGen Aiken SC Social Action Team.
  2017-present 

Established by Write to Change in 2017, the Write to Change NextGen Aiken SC Social Action Team is led by Kayla Hyatt-Hostetler, who is an accomplished teacher at Aiken High School and Site Mentor for the Middlebury BLTN NextGen Youth Leadership Network. Watch the NextGen Aiken video “A Brighter Future: Hope for the Youth” for more information about this work.

Middlebury BLTN Next Generation Leadership Network brings together community educators and young people, digitally and in person, from Lawrence, MA, Atlanta, GA, Louisville, KY, Santa Fe, NM, the Navajo Nation, Aiken, SC, and Burlington, VT, to address issues identified by youth, and to advocate collectively and powerfully for social justice.

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Write to Change NextGen Aiken SC Social Action Team, 2017-present

These young people and their mentors contribute to inclusive regional and national networks and are dedicated to getting the word out about issues and assets in their communities in ways that inspire and raise awareness in other youth and adults. 

“Our goal is to pour love and opportunities into the youth in our community.”
- Dr. Kayla Hyatt-Hostetler, Director, Write to Change NextGen Aiken SC Social Action Team

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• Orangeburg Oral History Project: On Ma’ Journey Now: A Family Journey from Slavery to Artivism.
  2022-present

In October 2023, Write to Change, in partnership with the Douglas Oral History Project, hosted the premiere of On Ma’ Journey Now: A Family Journey from Slavery to Artivism featuring Dr. Yvette McDaniel’s oral history and her call for youth inclusion. The event took place in Orangeburg, South Carolina at the historic Holy Trinity Church as part of the SC Humanities Festival. Check out the documentary trailer and information about the premiere.

• Civil Rights and Social Justice Youth Media Summit with South Carolina Educational Television (SCETV).

In March 2013, S.C. high school students interviewed several of the state’s civil rights icons, including Judge Ernest A. Finney Jr., the first black justice appointed to South Carolina's Supreme Court, and Civil Rights photographer Cecil Williams. The interviews are archived on SCETV’s website KnowItAll.org. Write to Change was a co-sponsor of this project.

• A Young Naturalist's Guide to Living Things of the South Carolina Lowcountry.

In 1996, Write to Change partnered with the students and teachers at St. James Santee Elementary School in Charleston County to develop a guide book to identify local flora and fauna through trips to the University of South Carolina’s International Center for Public Health Research. The publication received the SCETV NatureScene award from Rudy Mancke. The Guide can be downloaded at no cost from the Write to Change website. A hard copy can be ordered from the Village Museum in McClellanville.

• Early Write to Change Projects

Early projects included Writing and Performing across Cultures; Writing for the Community; the Project for Literacy, Athletics, the Arts, and Youth Services (PLAYS); and Writing for a Healthy Community.
 
According to Dixie Goswami, young people are the most underused resources in democratic, public education. Write to Change promotes young people as policy makers and problem solvers. Through the authenticity of their experiences and stories, they give us a perspective that only they have.

In 2024, as part of the 30th year anniversary, we are sharpening Write to Change's focus on youth learning, leadership, and service – and strengthening Write to Change's connections with other youth advocacy networks and organizations. 
 
We continue to support and learn from youth and their mentors who are creating, writing, and speaking in and about their communities as an act of resistance and trust-building.
 
We invite you to join us as we celebrate 30 years of Write to Change!
 
Thank you,

Sara June Goldstein 
Executive Director
 
Dixie Goswami 
Director Emerita